Clever trick helps Towns swat shots
— -- Karl-Anthony Towns is lying to you.
Don't be offended, he does it to opponents during games, too. How? He has a trick he uses on the defensive end, where an opposing guard drives into the lane, with Towns covering his man in the low block, seemingly unaware of the driver. Then, in the blink of an eye, the 2015 No. 1 overall pick and unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year will snap into action, swatting a soft layup attempt into the stands.
"That is true," said Towns, when asked if his game of possum is intentional. "It's a head game. You've gotta play a head game, especially blocking shots, you've gotta make it hard. You're playing against the best of the best, they're not gonna go straight to the basket, do a layup. You've gotta lure them into some shots."
But that's not the only way Towns plays a game of deception. The 244-pound specimen with massive size 22 feet, who is either 6-foot-11 or 7-foot depending on which listing you go by, is on the Minnesota Timberwolves' official roster as a center. But Towns admits that's not entirely true, either.
"Sometimes I see myself as a guard," Towns said. "Again, that's to me [just] trying to be as versatile as I can. Whatever the coach and the team needs me to be at that moment, I work tremendously hard so at any given moment I can be that player they need me to be, whether it be a 6-11 guard or a 7-foot center."
Towns blocked 138 shots in his rookie season, more than all but five players in the NBA, certainly putting him in the center category. But how many centers shoot 48 percent on midrange jumpers (second in the NBA to only Kevin Durant among players with at least 300 attempts)? How many centers shoot 34 percent from 3-point range? And how many centers play lockdown perimeter defense on Stephen Curry in overtime -- or hoist 30-footers in pregame warmups like the reigning MVP?
"You know what, yeah, it's just something that's in my game," Towns said of the 3-pointers he used infrequently in games this season (30-for-88) but could deploy more often as his game evolves. "I take what the defense gives me and I roll with it. The biggest thing my dad always taught me is take good shots, great shot selection, so if the shot's available, no doubt I'll take a 3, like I did this year."
Versatility -- the kind that lends itself to the deceptive skill set Towns has developed and only just started to deploy -- is a mantra for Towns. He said he got that mindset from his father, Karl Towns, Sr., who played college basketball at Monmouth before becoming a coach at Piscataway Technical High School. That versatility has served him well, as he's jumped from high school to a near-undefeated season at Kentucky, to becoming the second Minnesota player to win ROY honors.
"You just gotta change your game to the environment," Towns said. "I've been blessed that my dad taught me at a young age about versatility and how to not be specialized in one area, so it's made my transition from each step in my career very comfortable because I had the fundamentals and the foundation to do anything the coach needed me to do."
Towns also has had valuable support from teammate Kevin Garnett, the Timberwolves veteran who took on a mentorship role for Towns, helping the 20-year-old acclimate to life in the NBA. Garnett made his NBA debut 11 days before Towns was born, but the generation gap never became a problem. A lot of that is credit to Towns, who is mature beyond his years and has a respect for history -- he was wearing Timberwolves' throwback gear with the logo and color scheme last used in Garnett's rookie season when meeting with media members in New York last month. But Towns is quick to credit Garnett.
"He's one of the best teammates I've ever had," Towns said. "Playing against a first-ballot Hall of Famer [in practice] and just learning from him and soak up all that wisdom and knowledge that he has of the game, it made me a better player and a better person."
It remains to be seen whether Garnett's mentorship will continue for another season -- Towns said of the 21-year vet, "KG deserves and has earned the right to pick whatever he wants to do for the rest of his life" -- but the rookie acknowledged Garnett's impact on his development this past season, even as Garnett played a career-low 38 games and averaged a career-low 3.2 points per game.
"I think the greatest thing about KG is his willingness to share his information and not hold anything back, especially with me," Towns said, "so it's one of those things when you have a person who's a great teacher and mentor like that, it makes everyone better."
Getting better includes getting the Timberwolves back to the postseason. When asked how he'd measure a successful 2016-17 season a year from now, Towns answered with a single word: "Playoffs." But even he admits the future could hold more for Minnesota.
The Wolves have a young, talented core of Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and even Ricky Rubio, who is practically the elder statesman of the group despite being just 25 years old. Could that group grow into a championship team in Minnesota?
"Absolutely," Towns said. "I think we have the kind of talent and ability to do that. We just need to continuously work hard and have that experience and build that chemistry together. I'm not gonna come here like LeBron and say 'not 1, 2, 3, 4 [championships],' but I think we definitely can put ourselves in position to be a team that we see ourselves being and go out there and compete at a high level."
