Britt's latest article

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2016/11/dead-end-heroism-karl-anthony-towns

Good stuff here and I think this reflects a lot of what many of you have observed.

One of the nit-picks I've always had with KAT is that he talks almost like a PR man - saying things in ways that he thinks will come across the most positively to those that hear it. Now, I could think of far worse attributes for someone in his position to have! But still.....his comments about "letting the team down" and "it's on me"....How does that make his team mates feel? Is he implying that they aren't good enough to carry the team and only he can fix things?

KAT, you don't need to do more! Let the game come to you, focus on defense, set better picks, move the ball, etc.

Hopefully this is all growing pains and guys trying to figure out where they fit in the pecking order. It seems to me KAT might be a little premature in assuming his place atop Mount Olympus.

[thedoper]

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2016/11/dead-end-heroism-karl-anthony-towns

Good stuff here and I think this reflects a lot of what many of you have observed.

One of the nit-picks I've always had with KAT is that he talks almost like a PR man - saying things in ways that he thinks will come across the most positively to those that hear it. Now, I could think of far worse attributes for someone in his position to have! But still.....his comments about "letting the team down" and "it's on me"....How does that make his team mates feel? Is he implying that they aren't good enough to carry the team and only he can fix things?

KAT, you don't need to do more! Let the game come to you, focus on defense, set better picks, move the ball, etc.

Hopefully this is all growing pains and guys trying to figure out where they fit in the pecking order. It seems to me KAT might be a little premature in assuming his place atop Mount Olympus.

God thank you Brit (and q for posting this here). I was waiting for someone to be a little hard on the kid. It's been a year plus of nothing but praise. A dose of reality was needed.

[TheFuture]

Maybe LST can move the focus from LaVines impact on team defense to Towns'. A swing of over 21 points when he is on the court vs when he is off the court!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Yeah, that was a good article, Q, and quite on point with what we are observing here. It's tough to get down on a kid who seems to work hard all the time and is putting up 22 and 8, but many of us have noticed a different (and not as good) KAT this year...and his on/off numbers, much like Zach's, support the eye test. What we don't know is this: is his tendency to hang out at the top of the key and either shoot long distance or drive to the hoop his idea, or something Thibs is directing in his offense. I've been hard on Thibs here, but I tend to think this is KAT's fault (although Thibs needs to bench him when he does things he doestn like).

Brit has whipped Zach and now KAT in successive weeks. Wig next? Probably not...I think Wig is the only one of the Big Three who has improved his game at both ends of the court this year.

[Coolbreeze44]

Why the need to call him the best player on the Timberwolves? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but why is the point relevant?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The problem I have with talking to HOF's is a lot of them weren't team guys so I don't think that really helped his mentality depending on who he talked to. Was he talking to the Kobe, Shaq and Barkley type or the Russell, Duncan and Nash type? He needs to take on the Steph Curry mentality, not the Russell Westbrook mentality if we want to be a successful team. It's nice that he's proactive like that in trying to figure out how to become a great player, but I don't want him taking on some of their attitudes before he has the ability to back it up because that's just going to wear down his teammates.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'd like to see Thibs re-direct KAT's focus to defense first and foremost. KAT doesn't need to be Anthony Davis on this squad - we have plenty of other guys that can put the ball in the hoop. And he's so damn gifted offensively that he can probably put up 18 per game just by playing in the gaps. His time will come to dominate that side of the floor, but let Wig and LaVine lead the way for now. We need him to expend more energy on defense.

A start would be to have KAT guard Centers and for Dieng to take PFs. That would put KAT closer to the hoop and allow him to be more of an anchor defensively.

[TheFuture]

Yeah, that was a good article, Q, and quite on point with what we are observing here. It's tough to get down on a kid who seems to work hard all the time and is putting up 22 and 8, but many of us have noticed a different (and not as good) KAT this year...and his on/off numbers, much like Zach's, support the eye test. What we don't know is this: is his tendency to hang out at the top of the key and either shoot long distance or drive to the hoop his idea, or something Thibs is directing in his offense. I've been hard on Thibs here, but I tend to think this is KAT's fault (although Thibs needs to bench him when he does things he doestn like).

Brit has whipped Zach and now KAT in successive weeks. Wig next? Probably not...I think Wig is the only one of the Big Three who has improved his game at both ends of the court this year.

In regards to the drifting outside, I tend to agree that it's KAT's fault as well. That doesn't exactly absolve Thibs of wrongdoing on this issue though. Sam seemed to take John Calipari's approach with KAT and asked KAT to focus in the low post. With what we have seen so far this season I tend to believe KAT may need one more year of that approach from the coaching staff. Wiggins found his 3pt shot, LaVine has a beautiful 3pt shot, and Dieng is money on the long two. If KAT asserts himself down low, accepts the eventual double teams, and starts to pass out of it, then we will see some wide open looks outside for our starting 5. I'd ask Thibs to sit down with KAT and ask him to focus on defense first and foremost if he believes the losses fall on his shoulders, and on offense ask him to focus on establishing a presence down low, setting screens, and initiating ball movement. I have no doubt that KAT will put up an efficient 20 if he is only looking to score this way, will put bigs in foul trouble, and will see his rebounding totals go over 12 per game. That's what we need from him. This perimeter focus is a waste of his abilities at this time, and not what best suits the team. This will also show if he is for the team first, or if he is more into the hype surrounding him and attempting to prove solely that.

[TAFKASP]

What we don't know is this: is his tendency to hang out at the top of the key and either shoot long distance or drive to the hoop his idea, or something Thibs is directing in his offense. I've been hard on Thibs here, but I tend to think this is KAT's fault (although Thibs needs to bench him when he does things he doestn like).

If we're assigning fault and Thibs is not okay with it then Thibs has to take the majority of the heat for allowing it to continue through 10 games. KAT doesn't strike me as the type of personality that is going to do whatever he pleases rather than following his coaches instruction so I personally believe this has to be a Thibs thing. We really haven't seen KAT focus his attention inside of offense at all this season, this isn't happening against Thibs will.

[Monster]

Britt's article was so dead on I loved it. Lots of good thoughts from posters in this thread.

Here are acouple thoughts I have had that I haven't shared about Towns.

In some ways this season he reminds me of Demarcus Cousins in that both guys are almost too talented offensively for their own good. They can do so much they try and do all kids of stuff but they don't know when to do what when. Remember when Pek used to work over Cousins? Cousins was so physically ready for the NBA it helped him in some ways. Towns isn't as physically gifted but his shot is waaayy better than Cousins was.

Towns also reminds me a bit of when KG was just a kid in the league. KG was litteraly like a young raw wing player that happened to be a 7 footer. The guy could dribble shoot the ball and defend on the perimeter. I don't think we had ever seen that complete combo before at that time. Ultimately if you had kept KG on the perimeter unless you had some really good bigs it may have wasted some of his strengths. With the way the game is played now it would be interesting to see what a team would have done with him if he could hit 3's at a high rate and my guess is he could have. Towns has a lot of skills and his ability to shoot for his size is pretty insane. Both he and the coaching staff need to figure out what is best for him. I'm not entirely sure anyone knows for sure.

I think the thoughts about him needing to play D is right and I agree that he and Dieng need to go back to more of Towns playing more C and Dieng playing more PF. It's tough though because sometimes Dieng does better against the big centers than a Towns does. We also don't know what Exactly Thibs vision for the defense is. Maybe the way he is having those guys match up now will work better when guys are executing what they are supposed to do at a higher rate.