Ryen Russillo’s NBA Draft Confidential: Scouts on Towns, Russell, and Okafor

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Some people think there is an argument, I don’t think there is an argument at all. I don’t see a downside to him.

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Not a special shooter. He’s good because he makes free throws, and that’s a barometer for me. If you can make them, it’s a sedentary shot, and it speaks about your stroke. You have time and you are compact. There’s a routine and a rhythm. Make free throws, you can make shots. Here is an example: [Georgia State’s] R.J. Hunter, I think, shot 87 percent from the free throw line [.878] and 29 percent from 3 (.305). That was this year, but in the past he was better. So we are like, This guy can make shots. For whatever reason, he didn’t. But I’m not going to discard him as a shooter, because his stroke is too good.

We watched Hunter in a workout, and we were like, This guy can really fricking shoot. Then you watch tape and you are like, Man, why did he take that shot? I get that the shot-clock-ending shot, you got to fricking take that one, but 10 seconds left and you are squeezing one? You are like, Hmm. You’d have to ask him and watch tape with him. Ask him what he’s doing.

I’ll never forget Ray Allen telling a story. You have no idea how hard it is to attempt 20 shots in a game. Try to get 20 quality shots? It’s impossible, no way. When you are the featured player, you are defended differently. Your goal in a game should be getting something he called “free looks” on wide-open shots, and make six of them, knowing that the other 12 are going to be contested, and they are so fricking hard to make. You might go fricking 3-for-12 or 4-for-12, but if you go 6-for-8? OK, now you are 9-for-20 or 10-for-20, and you’re whole again. So, on the night, you are 3-8 on your free looks and then 3-for-12 on your contested ones, then you have those fricking horrible shooting nights.

My point is Towns is a really good shooter

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Towns has a better face-up game from 15-17 feet, and he’s a little more versatile than Okafor, but Okafor is better in the post. Towns brings more skill — a good jump hook, a nice left hand. He has the edge defensively. If you look at his per-minute stats for blocks and rebounds, it’s incredible. He’s a rare commodity at center. I’d take him no. 1. But, man, [Kristaps] Porzingis is in the conversation.

Doesn’t seem like there are any negatives. I’ve seen him in the McDonald’s [All American] Game and four times this year. The way he conducts himself, the way he competes … the coach can yell at him, he puts up with it. He’s a team guy, says all the right things. He just seems like a solid kid.

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I really like Okafor, but you can’t take him over Towns. You just can’t do it.

The more I go back and watch Towns, the more I wonder why he isn’t being talked about as a franchise-changing player.

We aren’t even close to seeing what this kid is going to be.

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He is the best backcourt player in the draft. He is clearly the best point guard. High basketball IQ. Tremendous size. Great confidence about himself. He is more of a scorer than a shooter. I see the [James] Harden comparison. I think that’s fair, just with the way he plays.

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One of the best passers we have seen in college basketball in a long, long time. There are plays where he sees two passes ahead. He makes hockey passes.

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I go back and look at his team. They got drilled in the second round [of the NCAA tournament] by Arizona. Rondae [Hollis-Jefferson] and Stanley [Johnson] … they just climbed into his arse. Ohio State didn’t have an answer for them. OK, you can load up on him. Who are you going to throw it to? Shannon Scott, Sam Thompson, or Amir Williams? I mean, you can’t. Well, frick it, we are going to take our chances with this guy. He struggled. Now put him on the floor with NBA players. Try and load on him now.

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Love him. Love it all, especially his attitude. He looks like he is playing a different game than everyone else.

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He’s three on my board. He’s the best center in college. I see Towns as 4, maybe 5. Okafor is a 5 — no question. He’s an old-school big man. He knows how to use his body. He is going to score from 10-12 feet and in. I don’t want to use the comparison to Tim Duncan, but that’s how he is going to score. He is going to use the glass, use the elbows and the low post. In time, he is going to be a very tough cover one-on-one.

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Now I’ve heard, if you were to ask the Duke people, and they were to be honest with you, there’s not a great love for the game. Not like you’d think. Not a great passion. He’ll be there, and do the right things. But it’s like Jared Sullinger: I want to play, but I don’t want to lose weight. I don’t want to really get in shape. I want to do enough, but I’m not going to do extra. And that is concerning.

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He’s a really good player, but our league, it’s just different and people don’t get it. It’s 82 games, elite fricking players, and elite athletes, and travel.

My point about Okafor is that all that shite you can get away with at Duke, playing Georgia Tech who fricking blows, and BC — they stink — you can get away with it. When it’s nut-cracking time he revs it up, and I get all of that. There are very few nights off in our league. Sacramento blows, but if you don’t show up to play them, [DeMarcus] Cousins and Rudy Gay will fricking beat your arse.

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The problem for Okafor is that he is compared to Towns. Just because he’s lost some momentum in the draft process doesn’t mean he is a bad pick. He holds the ball like it’s a tennis ball. His hands are truly incredible. He catches everything. He had 10-year-veteran post moves a year out of high school. I realize everyone is killing his defense, and it is bad. But I won’t write off someone entirely until I see him suck on D in the league. The talk of the NBA changing is overblown here. Yes, it is changing, but it’s not closing the doors on a low-post talent like this.

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