Heading into the 2014-15 College Basketball season, Karl-Anthony Towns was somewhere in between Myles Turner and Trey Lyles as far as NBA big men prospects were concerned. Not quite on the level of Jahlil Okafor yet, Towns’ inside-outside game made him one of the most important first year players out of the gate, as he increasingly stepped his game up and found himself as arguably the best player on the nation’s best team.
From last November until today, the first day of the NBA season, Towns NBA upside trajectory has only gone higher, leading to him surpassing Okafor and the rest of his peers, and being selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the top pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Let’s find out why:
Why Was He Drafted?
As I mentioned above, Towns’ inside-outside game made him such an intriguing prospect entering his freshman year, as he proved to be a beast on the boards, a dependable defensive anchor, and a big man who not only could handle the ball and see the court well, but also knock down jumpers from mid-range and deeper. Then he hit the college ranks and became the most well-rounded center in all of amateur basketball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9MQURBHrnk
Leading the nation in defensive rating and win shares per 48-minutes, Towns proved to be one of the most productive players on the court in relatively no time. The star of the best defense in all of college basketball (even though it’s arguable Willie Cauley-Stein was the teams’ defensive anchor), Towns seemed to be almost a polar opposite of his NBA Draft rival Okafor, as he used his 6-foot-11, 250-pound body to dominate from a defensive standpoint as opposed to the offensively gifted Okafor.
It seems the main difference between the two, however, is that Towns was more of a skilled scorer than Okafor was on the defensive end, something that NBA GM’s value very highly considering less and less teams are building their offenses around big guys, and a mobile, agile big who can defend is essential for success at this level. Well that last requirement is one that Towns’ upside fits with, but at the same time, he isn’t a dud offensively.
The above video might just capture the moment that Towns’ draft stock surpassed that of Okafor, as Kentucky had their backs against the ropes and they confided in their big man to bring them back to life. As you can tell, Towns has good footwork in the post, and has a nice touch close to the basket as well. The one uncertainty about his game is his range, which he was heralded for up until he started playing for John Calipari, who limited him from showcasing that skill last season.
There have been reports that Towns knocked down over 70 out of 100 attempts in pre-draft workouts, and again, he had a reputation in high school for being deadly from deep. We’ll find out real soon if that’ll translate over to the NBA, but if it doesn’t, he’s still super athletic, incredibly gifted, and he’s only scratching his surface. And he’s capable of doing things like this:
How Does He Fit in with the Timberwolves?
In year 1 AKL (After Kevin Love) the Wolves only won 16 games, posting the leagues worst defense and a bottom five offense. Gorgui Dieng led the team in win shares, and rookie Andrew Wiggins was the only player on the team to tally over 1,000 points for the season, on his way to being named the leagues’ Rookie of the Year.
Wiggins – who averaged an impressing 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game – and fellow rookie Zach LaVine were first and third in total minutes played, which I’m sure didn’t help the team’s league rankings, but THIS IS HOW YOU REBUILD. The Wolves went 5-24 after the All-Star break, including 3-21 in March and April, helping them clinch the leagues’ worst record, resulting in landing the top pick and Towns who happens to be a perfect fit for this franchise.
I’m a huge fan of Dieng, and Nikola Pekovic turned out to be a better NBA player than anyone probably had him pegged to be, but as I mentioned above, Towns is the center of the future. Whether or not he can shoot or even really score, he has all the tools to be the anchor of a good defense, as he’s quick, long, and is a great rebounder.
As great as it is to pair Towns with Wiggins and LaVine, not to mention the selfless Ricky Rubio, it’s even better that he’ll have Kevin Garnett as a mentor, and that there won’t be pressure on this team to produce for at least another two or three years. They’re basically starting from scratch, and it isn’t fair to look at what they did last season as any indication of what they can be this year moving forward.
There might be a lot of losses again this season, but at least they should be fun losses (if you’re not a Wolves fan).
What Should We Expect Out of Him?
I think the hardest aspect of this portion of the Rookie Profile is being able to predict what kind of role the rookie will have with his team. This isn’t an issue with Towns.
Towns will be the starting center day one, and will probably play as many minutes as his body (and potential foul trouble, which was absolutely an issue for him in college) will allow him to. I expect for Towns to lead the team in both blocks and rebounds, and even though I think Minnesota is still far away from being decent even defensively, he should make an impact for them immediately.
I’m less convinced than others that Towns will be a scoring threat, but he averaged around 12 points and 8 rebounds a game in his Summer League and Preseason samples, improving his field goal percentage from just under 40-percent during SL to slightly over 52-percent in the preseason. I’m going to predict that he’s somewhere in the middle of those two samples, finishing the season averaging around 11 points, 9 rebounds, and a little over a block, shooting high 40’s (48-percent sounds right) from the field.
