Towns, Giannis, Embiid or Porzingis: Who Ya Got as Best Young Cornerstone?

[Roy H.]

Towns. He just up prime KG numbers in his second season. KGs best season was 24/13/5.  Towns just did 25/12/2.7. Greek freak is easily out coached. Just force him to shoot outside. Towns has it all. He just needs to tweak his defense, and learn to pass better but he is still young. Embiid is a joke who will retire in 2 years after getting injured twice more. And porzingis is a hard read but will probably be a all star a few times

KG numbers, without KG impact.  Towns is more like Kevin Love at this stage.

[Somebody]

We always mention Jaylen Brown's work ethic when projecting him.  I don't hear much about Towns being unique in that regard one way or the other.  But I always hear about the incredible work ethic of Giannis.  That's got to mean something.  So basically it's a question of if Giannis is more likely to learn to shoot or if Towns is more likely to learn to hustle on defense.

Towns has an incredible work ethic as well, KG applauded him for that during his final season with the Wolves. Imo Jaylen's work ethic is the most insane out of the 3, he wakes up at 5am in the morning to practice and fasts on water.

[Somebody]

Towns. He just up prime KG numbers in his second season. KGs best season was 24/13/5.  Towns just did 25/12/2.7. Greek freak is easily out coached. Just force him to shoot outside. Towns has it all. He just needs to tweak his defense, and learn to pass better but he is still young. Embiid is a joke who will retire in 2 years after getting injured twice more. And porzingis is a hard read but will probably be a all star a few times

KG numbers, without KG impact.  Towns is more like Kevin Love at this stage.

True but I don't think Kevin Love ever had those handles.

[mr. dee]

Embiid if he stays healthy. But I'll go with a proven commodity in Giannis. Towns and Porzingis haven't proven anything yet that they can take their team to the playoffs as the main guy. Giannis literally took a bunch of scrubs to the playoffs.

[Birdman]

Towns

[moiso]

We always mention Jaylen Brown's work ethic when projecting him.  I don't hear much about Towns being unique in that regard one way or the other.  But I always hear about the incredible work ethic of Giannis.  That's got to mean something.  So basically it's a question of if Giannis is more likely to learn to shoot or if Towns is more likely to learn to hustle on defense.

Towns has an incredible work ethic as well, KG applauded him for that during his final season with the Wolves. Imo Jaylen's work ethic is the most insane out of the 3, he wakes up at 5am in the morning to practice and fasts on water.

The water fast seems like more of a detriment to me.  I know that Giannis works out after games until like 3am.

[Eddie20]

Towns. He just up prime KG numbers in his second season. KGs best season was 24/13/5.  Towns just did 25/12/2.7. Greek freak is easily out coached. Just force him to shoot outside. Towns has it all. He just needs to tweak his defense, and learn to pass better but he is still young. Embiid is a joke who will retire in 2 years after getting injured twice more. And porzingis is a hard read but will probably be a all star a few times

KG numbers, without KG impact.  Towns is more like Kevin Love at this stage.

So Towns is like, say Cousins minus the meltdowns?

[Roy H.]

Towns. He just up prime KG numbers in his second season. KGs best season was 24/13/5.  Towns just did 25/12/2.7. Greek freak is easily out coached. Just force him to shoot outside. Towns has it all. He just needs to tweak his defense, and learn to pass better but he is still young. Embiid is a joke who will retire in 2 years after getting injured twice more. And porzingis is a hard read but will probably be a all star a few times

KG numbers, without KG impact.  Towns is more like Kevin Love at this stage.

So Towns is like, say Cousins minus the meltdowns?

Cousins is a really good defender.  Towns isn't yet.

[Eddie20]

Towns. He just up prime KG numbers in his second season. KGs best season was 24/13/5.  Towns just did 25/12/2.7. Greek freak is easily out coached. Just force him to shoot outside. Towns has it all. He just needs to tweak his defense, and learn to pass better but he is still young. Embiid is a joke who will retire in 2 years after getting injured twice more. And porzingis is a hard read but will probably be a all star a few times

KG numbers, without KG impact.  Towns is more like Kevin Love at this stage.

So Towns is like, say Cousins minus the meltdowns?

Cousins is a really good defender.  Towns isn't yet.

Disregard. Thought you said rebounding. That said, I don't think either is good defensively. Towns has been really lackadaisical at times, while Cousins takes too many plays off due to temper tantrums and is a liability in the pick and roll.

[greece66]

giannis

[gift]

If they're all healthy, I'd take Embiid. Realistically I'd go with Giannis.

[fairweatherfan]

If you assume equal health, I'd probably have to go Embiid.

With their actual durability, I would go:

1. Towns (our good coaching and mentorship would help him flourish)
1a. Giannis (very tough choice)
3. Embiid
4. Porzingis

Curious if anyone would rank Jokic at or above any of the names on this list. For me he's awfully close to Porzingis.

[Jvalin]

Giannis, but I'm Greek and I've happened to grow up in the same neighborhood as he did, so I'm not so sure I can be 100% objective on this one. I 'd love to see Giannis playing for the C's even when he 'll be in his late 30s or something.

[moiso]

Not sure why anyone would assume a healthy Embiid in answering this question.  He hasn't been healthy and I don't think any GM would take a gamble on choosing a guy who played 30 games in 3 years to be the cornerstone over Giannis and Towns.

[Rosco917]

I'll go with Towns too. He'll get better and better on both sides of the ball.

Embiid will always be on the IR list. The 76ers have tried every injury protection safeguard possible in the last 3 years. And still he he can't stay healthy.  The history on his type injury on players at his size, isn't very good either.