They were supposed to be! They had a ton of young talent. But clearly they weren’t coached so that didn’t matter. I really liked Savir Wheeler but yeah they were largely bad.
I forgot Anthony Edwards was the same as Lamelo Ball in that he reclassed up too. He was supposed to be a senior in high school this year too. I like both enough Id he happy taking a shot on either one. Not many else I can say that about in this class.
What talent did they have besides Edwards? A couple decent guys but they weren’t projected to make the tournament by really anyone.
Savir Wheeler, Christian Brown, Hammonds who just declared. Crump and Walton were supposed to be good too. I was really high on Jaykwon Walton coming out of high school. He killed it in the UAA.
Overestimated the youth talent and the complete lack of returning talent. Just really liked the freshman coming in
Yeah they weren’t projected highly by anyone else
Who do people think would be the most likely team to move up in the draft to either the top three or top pick overall?
You can build around a center in today’s NBA — that center just can’t be Drummond. You could build not only a team, but a title contender around Embiid, Jokic, KAT, and Anthony Davis (if viewing him as a center, which I’d say is pretty clearly his best position).
Who is a center you can build around in today’s NBA? Anthony Davis is a perimeter big so he’s a unicorn. Jokic is a point-center with his passing ability. A center who averages 18 and 15 would’ve been a stud a couple decades ago. None of the best teams in the NBA are built around centers. I just saw KAT mentioned. He is a perfect example that you CAN’T build a championship team around a center. Minnesota is trash. Even AD’s teams sucked until he joined Lebron. Embiid hasn’t won anything in a crappy Eastern conference. Also, Wiseman is none of these.
Any of the guys you listed
What have any of them done as the key piece? AD was routinely a 7-9 seed and a first round exit. Embiid hasn’t even made a Eastern finals in a mediocre conference with multiple all stars on the roster. KAT is in line for a top 5 pick his year as Minnesota was horrible. He also didn’t win anything when Jimmy Butler was on the roster with him. Jokic is the best example, but technically he hasn’t won anything yet either. Wiseman is also NOTHING like Jokic, nor is anyone else.
Well, if you’re going to build a team around a center, you still need to build the team. Pistons are a prime example of failing to do that.
I think you can build around a unicorn C, but that ain’t James Wiseman
You can’t build around a completely inept defensive center like KAT.
He had a pretty decent A/TO ratio but his shooting stats were atrocious. 38% overall and 25% from 3. And he took almost 7 3’s a game. If he can improve his touch and his shot-selection, you may have something there.
If you’re the Pistons and you just gave up the league’s best offensive rebounder, I think you’re hoping to find someone that can shoot.
I don’t know where the NBL ranks vs. high-level D1 but I’d guess it’s pretty close one way or the other.
He is, in my opinion, the most skilled offensive big man… ever. He can literally do every thing well that you could ever want a big man to do on offense — post-up, spot up, pick & pop, take guys off the dribble, rebound, set up teammates, etc. etc. He also does things no big man has really ever done consistently well, like shoot step-back threes or run off pindowns. He is like 5% points from the free throw line from being 50-40-90 and he is 6’11. And he averages 27-11-4.5. And he is still 24, not in his prime. That’s insane.
I think he is slightly below average on defense and not as bad as his reputation. He doesn’t try as hard as he should at times, but in a better situation (more competitive in the standings or different culture) he could certainly average or maybe better, if the scheme is appropriate for his lack of lateral agility on defense. Regardless, if he had better teammates — he played ~55 games with Jimmy Butler for one season and they won 47 games in a historically good Western Conference. The rest of that team was trash and that’s the only time he has played with anyone close to a top 20 player.
You can easily build a contender, not necessarily a title favorite, but a very good team around an all-world offensive player like Towns.
Did you ever watch Hakeem play? He could do all those things (in a tougher era) and he was far more athletic than KAT.
I mean Hakeem is obviously fantastic but he obviously could not shoot like KAT who is probably the best shooting 7 footer ever with Dirk
He was a fine jump-shooter. If 3’s had been a priority in his era, I think he would’ve adjusted easily.
Andre Drummond owned KAT, so I’m not buying this argument.
https://www.landofbasketball.com/games_between/andre_drummond_vs_karl_anthony_towns.htm
He was a worse FT shooter (by far) and he hit 25 3s in his career. Even if you think he had a “fine” jump shot coming to the conclusion that he would have approached KAT’s shooting is an impossible argument to make.
I think debating players across eras in extremely reductive anyway
So you’re saying Drummond is better than KAT?