From a two-big-man race between Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor to a muddier picture that’s pulled in guards D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay, the question of who will go first overall at the Barclays Center on June 25 is clearly far from settled. And that’s totally cool.
First, because arguing over the 2015 Draft’s No. 1 helps pass the eight-day expanse of basketball-lessness between the end of the Conference Finals and Cavs-Warriors Game 1. And second, because the neck-and-neck competition for the top spot encourages the likes of Towns and Russell to make like Zach LaVine and perform superhuman feats of skill and athleticism it in pre-draft workouts.
On Monday, the aforementioned Towns and Russell did just that, joined by Willie Cauley-Stein, and Towns made a compelling case for the Timberwolves to take him.
If a seven-footer stroking threes isn’t your thing, then watch the way Towns follows a buttery bit of play from Cauley-Stein.
That’s a ridiculous bit of ball-handling for a centre. Of course, workout videos should always be taken with a grain of salt. But ladies and gentlemen, you’re new frontrunner to go first overall, Karl-Anthony Towns.