Not so long ago, Karl-Anthony Towns entered the league as the first-overall pick and most people thought of him as a generational talent.
His lack of defensive prowess, the way the Timberwolves have struggled, and maybe even the incidents with Jimmy Butler have taken a toll on that image. Regardless of his talent, some think he’s not cut out to be a franchise player.
That’s not the case with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who thinks that Towns is the most talented offensive big man in the history of the NBA and that he could be a top-10 player in the league:
“My pick, and you can spin my pick as the same genre as your pick Donovan Mitchell, as more about what comes next for this organization than for this player,” Lowe said on his podcast. “Don’t anyone misconstrue this, this is not a call out or anything like that because Karl-Anthony Towns has had a brutal last two years on a personal level. Things that actually matter beyond basketball.”
I do think Karl-Anthony Towns should be, at some point in his career, a top 10 player in the NBA. He has not been so far, mostly because of his defense. I think he’s the most skilled scoring big man, probably in basketball history. The combination of 3 point shooting, off-the-dribble game, post moves, he can do everything,” he added.
Lowe knows that it’s been a tough couple of years for the Timberwolves star. But now that it’s all in the past, he expects him to take a step forward before it’s too late and his talents go to waste:
“All that stuff is in the rearview now. Minnesota has a play-in or bust mandate this year. I don’t wanna be talking about Karl-Anthony Towns in 3 years as Kevin Love 2.0, where he has to go to a different team, when is he gonna buy into the little things that help you win. Ok, he goes and becomes a second option with so-and-so and then everyone realizes how good he is,” he added.
Towns is one of the most gifted scorers in the league and that goes without saying. He can pull up, post-up, catch-and-shoot, and put the ball on the floor as most guards do.
The Timberwolves have looked promising whenever he, D’Angelo Russell, and Anthony Edwards have been able to share the floor, so maybe they’ll surprise a lot of people next season.
