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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-23-2014, 06:18 PM:

I would bet his teammates are going to be a big influence for Towns to watch and learn. He will have to learn or he will be sitting on the bench more than he would like.

Freshman Karl Anthony-Towns has skills that Kentucky coach John Calipari says are rare for a 7-foot center.

“He’s a skilled big player. If he gets it around the basket, he just has a knack for getting it in the basket,” said Calipari.

However, Calipari said his freshman needs to learn to “fight more” in practice with UK’s other interior players.

“To say that he’s ready to go off and do — you either fight or you get pushed to the side. Right now to be honest, Dakari (Johnson) is fighting like crazy and it’s a great thing for him to see,” Calipari said during the Southeastern Conference Media Days Wednesday. “You can read all these press clippings (about Towns), but everybody in the gym knows what Dakari is doing to you.

“You’re skilled. You can do this. But it all comes down to are you willing to fight?”

Calipari understands why Towns, who is already being projected as a possible top five pick in the 2015 NBA draft, is struggling to be more physical.

“He’s never had to be in practice with any other 7-footers. Anytime he turns around, there’s someone 7-foot and they’re 270 pounds,” Calipari said. “They’re not — (former UK) coach (Joe) Hall was in practice yesterday and made a great point. I’m trying to get them to throw it to the post more, and he says your issue is there’s a 7-footer or two in there, so you’re getting used to, ‘Well, I can’t really’ — you’re going to get in the game and there’s going to be a 6-7 guy he’s going against, and you’re going to be used to not throwing — and I said, ‘Well, it’s something that we’re really going to have to focus on’ because we are so big.

“But on this team, if you don’t ever fight for a position, we can’t ever throw to you. … It’s all that battle and fight. You’ve earned nothing yet. You’ve got to go do this. You’ve got to take what you want, and initially at practice you’re fighting each other, and you want that.”

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