DeLaSallians Sound Off On Upcoming NBA Draft
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Coach Dave Thorson is conducting his annual basketball camp at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis.
He is asked to turn his attention to two players he coached two years ago in Michael Jordan's Summer Camp.
One is Jahlil Okafor, the Duke freshman who could be the number-one overall pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
"He's got great hands, his footwork is great offensively," Thorson said. "He's going to force a double team every time he catches a ball in the lane, which immediately creates offense. And so that's what stands out to me."
A teammate on the same all-star team was Reid Travis, now at Stanford. He has played with and against Okafor.
"I guarded him earlier this year, and he's definitely a load down in the post," Travis said. "You talk about a guy who knows how to use his weight and his agility, and I think definitely another underrated part of his game is his athleticism."
Also on that team was Karl Anthony Towns, the Kentucky star that is more cerebral than most.
"Towns is so long and athletic. And I always look at the game from a defensive perspective, and I can tell you he is so versatile defensively," Thorson said. "[As a] screen-and-roll defender, he can be as good as it gets."
Long, lean and a big upside.
"He's a great guy, great teammate," Travis said. "The way he competes, he's definitely second to none. He definitely gives it all in the practices and the different camps that I've been at. But his game, more specifically, definitely a big guy that can finish right or left."
Travis knows this having played with both of them. They both carry with them a key ingredient.
"Those two definitely hate to lose," Travis said. "They just have that mentality."
The 2015 NBA Draft is June 25 in Brooklyn.