Grant Hill admitted he could be biased with his Duke connection, but if he were Phil Jackson and had the first pick in next month’s NBA draft, he’d take center Jahlil Okafor over Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns.
At this stage, most draft experts hold the opposite view entering Tuesday’s night’s draft lottery. Okafor may have won a national championship, but lost his standing as the undisputed No. 1 pick to Towns.
The Knicks sit as the second seed with a 38.7 percent chance of landing in the top two and getting a crack at the big-man pair Jackson craves. Jackson has hinted multiple times he’s leaning toward Towns because he’s a more accomplished defender.
“I would go with Okafor,’’ Hill, the CBS/TNT college basketball analyst, told The Post after the NBA Draft Combine ended Saturday in Chicago. “Between the two, he’s more ready to come in and leave an imprint and impact right from the start. Both will be great players, but Jahlil is more polished at this point and NBA-ready in the post than Towns. Towns at this point might have a nod on the defensive end but offensively it’s Okafor.’’
The draft isn’t until June 25, and Okafor still could see his name vault to No. 1, especially because his trainers claim he has lost weight since the NCAA title game. Hill broadcast the NCAA Tournament, including the Final Four when Okafor didn’t dazzle and got into major foul trouble in the championship game.
After the closest scrutiny, the 19-year-old freshman earned the tag of being a low-energy defender. It was noteworthy Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski took Okafor out of the game in the final minute for defensive reasons — not fouls.
“I saw him play a lot this year in person and on television,’’ Hill said. “I actually thought at the end of the year, the last six games, he actually did a pretty good job defensively. Early on, I thought it was his Achilles’ heel. A couple of things played a role in that. A big guy coming out of high school is still learning how to play defense.’’
Hill was a teammate of center Dwight Howard when Howard was a rookie in Orlando. Howard, who had entered the NBA out of high school, struggled on defense, according to Hill.
“That’s what Jahlil is going through,’’ Hill said. “And the team really needed Jahlil on the court and he was very selective in terms of blocking shots and being a rim protector for fear of fouls. But at the end of the season, his screen and roll defense improved.”
Because Towns played on Kentucky’s superteam, Hill didn’t get enough of a feel for his game, though NBA scouts peg Towns as having the higher upside because he has potential to be a monster defender, too.
“They’re both great players but it’s different circumstances,’’ Hill said. “Towns didn’t get a lot of minutes and the depth of Kentucky, there wasn’t a need on the offensive end. And he wasn’t needed from a minutes standpoint like Okafor was. I didn’t get a chance from an offensive end to see what he could do.’’
Jackson has stated he prefers drafting a big man who specializes on defense, ironically citing Tyson Chandler. Hill said he believes Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, whom the Knicks were scheduled to work out on Sunday, is more like Chandler than Towns or Okafor.
Jackson traded Chandler before the 2014 draft and a person at the combine familiar with Jackson’s thinking said despite that recent compliment, the Zen master wasn’t in love with Chandler on or off the court. Jackson, the source said, considered Chandler “a one-space rebounder’’ — meaning he only gets them in his immediate zone. Jackson also thought Chandler had “bad hands’’ and questioned his penchant for pointing fingers.
Hill said Cauley-Stein could turn out better than Chandler.
“There’s a lot of discussion about him,” Hill said. “How does his game translate to the next level? But he’s got tremendous instincts, super athletic, can guard multiple positions, a rim protector.
“He’s like a DeAndre Jordan, maybe not as physical. In the age we’re in with the screen and roll, he can fit into the right situation and environment.’’