You guys are crazy. Towns is one of the 15 best players on the world 3 years into his career. He is one of the best offensive players in all of basketball. His shooting is incredible. He is an excellent rebounder and credible passer. His defense needs work but he has the skill level to be at least passable if not better (and I do think the fact he plays with so many poor defenders makes him seem worse than he actually is). Jaylen Brown if everything goes right will be lucky to be as good as Towns is right now.
Disagree with that, but you don't seem to like Brown. Towns is an elite talent offensively and won the Skills competition a few years ago, but he hasn't made Minny much better. Why? Yes, if you are top-15 then you make any team better.
He was 3rd Team All NBA last year. That makes him one of the 15 best players and it is hard to argue his inclusion was a fluke (like say IT4's 2nd Team was) since he has gotten better each season. The Wolves were 13.5 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor then when he was off the floor (his +- with him on the floor was 6.2). That is pretty much the definition of making your team better.
And yet, with Jimmy Butler for 59 games (roughly the same as Kyrie, except he played in the playoffs), Wiggins, Teague, Dieng, Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford, they won 8 less games than the C's and Towns offense deteriorated in the playoffs. Capela neutralized him, and Houston had little trouble taking them out.
On the other hand, despite a difficult injury, Jaylen stepped up considerably in the playoffs and found a way to be the best player on the floor in several games. There was no comparison between the two teams in terms of competitiveness and performance.
Houston was the best team in basketball last year. The comparison between them and the teams the C's played is just silly. The C's are in the East, the Wolves are in the West again making a team win comparison silly (though Boston was 16-2 to start the year while it took the Wolves some time to find their groove with all their new players starting the year just 14-11). 12 games over .500 and just the 8th seed. Comparing teams like that is just silly.
And Towns still had a TS% of 54.2 against the Rockets. He scored 15.2 ppg on just 12 shots (wasn't very good from 3 but had just 11 attempts) and managed a "terrible" 13.4 rpg in the series. The Wolves tried to play the Rockets game and they just aren't as good as the Rockets. That was flat out a poor coaching job from Thibs.
Dude, can you quit with the "silly" crap? You can disagree, and you can point out counter arguments. That's good enough.
Houston was a lot better than the teams the C's played. I didn't say they were equal. But Minnesota did play, and they were disappointing. I pointed out that Towns did not step up, and did not play up to his normal level in the playoffs.
I did compare the C's to the Timberwolves. I do contend we were considerably better, and that raw talent was not the reason. We played harder, smarter and with more poise. Towns is the centerpiece of that team. Brown was a leader of the C's playoff surge. I think it speaks to a difference in the toughness and competitiveness of the two players.
and yet in the Celtics biggest game of the year, Brown was downright terrible. 13 points on 18 shots. -11 in a game the C's lost by 8. Embarrassed on their home floor in a winner take all game.
Towns first two games were bad offensively (though game 2 they got crushed and he only played like 23 minutes). Those of course were his first 2 playoff games ever. Games 3-5 were much better. 18/16 in the win (13 shots) and then the last 2 were 22/15 (15 shots) and 23/14 (14 shots). Those final 2 games he shot 60% or better.
Brown was not the only player laying bricks that game. You're coming across as though the failure to win that game was all on him which it was not. C's got that far into the playoffs thanks to Brown having some stellar games which are being ignored in your commentary.
No I was commenting on the toughness and competitiveness part of his statement and pointed out, correctly, that when Boston needed Brown the most in the biggest game of the year, he was awful. He certainly wasn't the only awful player in that game, but he was in fact awful. Where was Brown's toughness and competitiveness in that game? I mean he used 2 bad playoff games against Towns, why isn't it also fair to use bad games against Brown? That is why his argument is silly. He based it on a very small sample size against vastly different competition.
At the end of the day, Towns had a top 10 or 15 season in the league in his 3rd year at the age of 22. Brown has one less year, but he was no where near a top 15 player in the league and Towns had a significantly better 2nd year than Brown did as well (so it is reasonably to assume that Brown's 3rd year won't be as good as Towns' 3rd year).
Brown has a chance to be a very good, borderline great, player, in a very similar mold to that of Paul Pierce. Towns, though, has a chance to be a special player. A top 3 player in the league type player. An all time great offensive player that could be one of the greatest all around offensive players ever. He is just on a different tier than Brown is.
Had to toss another silly in there, didn't you. Lame.
Neither player has any cap on what they can become. Both players can level off at any time and both can become MVPs.
Towns has eye-popping offensive numbers. His downside is that his position is increasingly devalued in the modern game, and this is particularly stark because he is a below average defender. He does not impose himself on the game in the way you want a superstar to do. There is no getting around the fact that his awesome offensive game has not made anyone fear the Timberwolves. The alpha dog on Minnesota immediately became Jimmy Butler. No one sees Towns as his equal, despite his amazing talent.
You cite his bad games and Brown's bad game. Brown came out and tried to win. He took the 18 shots and the responsibility and they didn't go in. Towns, on the other hand, took less than 10 shots in each of the first two playoff games. He shrunk from the moment.
In traditional terms, it is obvious to prefer Towns. But the NBA has fundamentally changed. A guy like Brown, who probably will make multiple all-NBA defensive teams, is the best athlete on the team, is a leader, and has proven he has the talent to average over 20 PPG - that is not a player you give up. If we win the title, it will be because it will be overwhelming to play against 3 wings that are so big, athletic and two dimensional. The soul of this team will be the trio of Brown, Tatum and Hayward. There will be no compromise anywhere on the court.
Unless Towns changed fairly fundamentally, we'd be a team that would kill lesser teams but have big problems against GS and Houston.