**The Official Karl-Anthony Towns Thread: Part Two**

[TimberKat]

I’m on the road, and I’ve had the chance to catch up on podcasts. Britt had an interesting thought that I wanted to share.

Karl Anthony Towns is both flawed and at the same time a superstar. If you are a Towns defender, he is going to do things that make you look stupid. If you are a Towns hater, he is going to do things that make you look stupid too. To me, that makes him fascinating, and the perfect guy for us here to argue about!

I mentioned somewhere else that the Ant/KAT duo is so difficult to find a comparison for, but I think a big part of that is due to the struggle to find a good comparison for KAT.

I remember in his first few years, we talked about the floor of his trajectory being Al Horford. Even though Towns is past where Horford peaked offensively, I still think that's an interesting comparison. Horford might not have ever been a superstar, but he wasn't far off. At his statistical peak, he averaged 17/10 on a 44-win Hawks team. A couple years later, Atlanta's three-headed monster of Horford, Millsap and Teague led the Hawks to 60 wins, but Al's individual numbers dropped to 15/7.

porzingis and Beal

[winforlose]

Was Karl actually even injured?? The same injury as Joel but later in the season, yet he looks like it never happened while Joel was completely breaking down.

Karl has been having knee issues for a while. It is possible he was playing on a torn meniscus for some time, (at least since he missed a game against the Kings.) The symptoms may have worsened as the injury worsened, prompting the scan and the eventual surgery. Embiid obviously has more wrong with him than KAT. You don’t know what else is wrong with Embiid.

Yeah I'm aware...it was more tongue and cheek or being sarcastic I guess you could say. Just speaking to how good Karl has looked since coming back.

My bad. I read it but forgot to adjust for tone.

[shrink]

Was Karl actually even injured?? The same injury as Joel but later in the season, yet he looks like it never happened while Joel was completely breaking down.

I was listening to Hoop Collective, and when Tim McMahon heard Karl stayed in shape and lost 20 pounds, he joked something like, “See Joel? You can be recovering from injury and NOT eat everything in sight!”

[Klomp]

Love Karl just wish he was making 10-12 million less per each season on next contract so wolves can pay Naw and slowmo:/ and keep all the gang together.

NAW will be here next year. They are going to be right up to the 2nd Apron [Like 500K below it] with just #27 and bringing back McLaughlin as a minumum.

I think SlowMo is going to be impossible to keep, unless Ownership says "**** It" and SlowMo agrees to a 1-year, tax MLE dead [~5-6 Million]. I think SlowMo can get MLE money as a free agent, but maybe he gets undervalued by the entire league [doubt it].

Bringing back our Top 7 is big though, puts us in good shape as long as one of Minott/Moore/Miller/Clark/#27 can provide something as a 10-15 MPG piece in the post-season.

This is the important piece. We have guys waiting in the weeds who will hopefully be able to step up. Now, that is of course scary because as Denver is showing, those young guys might not be dependable in crucial moments.

[Colbinii]

Love Karl just wish he was making 10-12 million less per each season on next contract so wolves can pay Naw and slowmo:/ and keep all the gang together.

NAW will be here next year. They are going to be right up to the 2nd Apron [Like 500K below it] with just #27 and bringing back McLaughlin as a minumum.

I think SlowMo is going to be impossible to keep, unless Ownership says "**** It" and SlowMo agrees to a 1-year, tax MLE dead [~5-6 Million]. I think SlowMo can get MLE money as a free agent, but maybe he gets undervalued by the entire league [doubt it].

Bringing back our Top 7 is big though, puts us in good shape as long as one of Minott/Moore/Miller/Clark/#27 can provide something as a 10-15 MPG piece in the post-season.

This is the important piece. We have guys waiting in the weeds who will hopefully be able to step up. Now, that is of course scary because as Denver is showing, those young guys might not be dependable in crucial moments.

That's true, but unlike Denver we will be going legit 7-deep with ANT/Gobert/KAT/Conley/McDaniels/NAW/Reid. We are like the Celtics there, but then we desperately need to hit on just one of Miller/Moore Jr/Minott/Clark/#27. Basically one of those needs to "hit" and we are good. Hopefully 2 of them hit--I am holding out hope for Clark/Minott/Miller but I am out on Moore Jr.

[Neeva]

Damn I still can’t believe Connelly missed so badly on Moore, Nembhard was right there and fit a big need and he’s fearless in playoffs. Would be a perfect 8th/9th man for wolves, oh well. He starts for Pacers…

[BlacJacMac]

Read on Twitter

[winforlose]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/275650/Karl-Anthony-Towns-To-Receive-23-24-Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar-Social-Justice-Champion-Award

[Note30]

Read on Twitter

How many awards will our team win when this season is all over?

[winforlose]

Read on Twitter

How many awards will our team win when this season is all over?

I think the only two left are the Western Conference championship and the NBA championship. But we have to wait about a month for that last one.

[Dalvin]

Don't forget the finals MVP award

[shrink]

The NBA has not given out the Sportsmanship Award either.

[Klomp]

The NBA has not given out the Sportsmanship Award either.

True, but I don't believe we have a finalist

[shrink]

The NBA has not given out the Sportsmanship Award either.

True, but I don't believe we have a finalist

Can I say that it seems unfair not to even have Conley as one of the six finalists, or do I sound too greedy?

[BlacJacMac]

KAT called into the Rich Eisen show.

Its probably the most authentic, from the heart interview he's given.

Its really, really easy to like this whole team. They're just all good guys.

Watch on YouTube

;t=641s&ab_channel=TheRichEisenShow

[BlacJacMac]

Lowe: How Anthony Edwards' ascension has led to the redemption of Karl-Anthony Towns

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/40112628/lowe-how-timberwolves-anthony-edwards-superstar-ascension-led-redemption-karl-anthony-towns

[Guest84]

So I wanted to go back and see what the difference is between Towns "then" and "now". So far I've just been looking at his rookie highlights. As a rook, he seemed to be more decisive, aggressive, and had pretty good anticipation on the defensive end of the ball. Whereas now, he seems more methodical in his approach. He also seemed to make more cuts.

Watch on YouTube

Of course these are just highlights and not full games to dissect. As discussed before, the inconsistency within the organization during his early years really stunted his growth I believe.