Karl-Anthony Towns Is The King Of The Unicorns
Karl-Anthony Towns entered this season with high expectations and has surpassed them. It’s time to crown him as King of the Unicorns.
The Minnesota Timberwolves in general and Karl-Anthony Towns in particular had lofty expectations placed on them coming into this season. The Wolves had gathered an explosive young core with a potentially unimaginable collective ceiling, a season together under their belts and leadership under the steady hand of seasoned head coach Tom Thibodeau, so what could go wrong?
Well, for one thing Thibs and kids aren’t exactly a match, and things took awhile for the Timberwolves to gel. The young team fell flat on its face out of the gate and stumbled and staggered their way to an 11–26 record early in January. By January 9th, the Wolves had just completed a six-game stretch in which they recorded five losses (including a 93–91 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers) and it appeared for all intents and purposes to be a lost season of the worst kind.
However, it appears that 37 games seems to be about the amount of time it takes for Tom Thibodeau and a dozen 20-year-olds to get on the same page.
Right around that point, things started to fall into place. The Timberwolves’ defense was among the worst in the NBA up until that point but steadied somewhat. Over those first 37 games the Wolves’ defense was allowing 107.7 points per 100 possessions, 24th in the NBA. Since January 9th, their defense is allowing 106.4 points per 100, which is a paltry 1.3 point improvement, but scoring across the league is up since then to the point where that slightly- improved defensive rating actually has them in 12th.
That uptick corresponds with an offense that has rocketed up to 7th in the NBA over the last 26 games, scoring 109.9 points per 100. Their net rating of +3.5 is 8th best in the league over that span, they’ve gone 15–11 and they’re within fighting range of the Denver Nuggets and the Western Conference 8th seed.
More impressive, the Minnesota Timberwolves have been straight killers since the All Star break. They’re just 4–2 over those six games but they have the 10th best offensive rating (108), the best defensive rating (97.3) and the best net rating in basketball (+10.7).
You don’t have to look far to find out why the Wolves have taken off. In fact, you needn’t look further than their best player, Karl-Anthony Towns.
Since January 9th, Towns is 5th in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 27.9 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. He’s doing this incredibly efficiently with a true shooting rate of 66.7% and a usage of 27.6%. Of all players with a usage of 25% or higher since January 9th, Towns has the highest true shooting percentage, the most points per game and the third-highest rebounding percentage.
Over the six games the Wolves have played since the All Star break, Towns has been transcendent. He’s averaging 27.7 points and 16.7 rebounds over this span, hitting 64% from the floor, 38.8% from long range, is second in the league in true shooting (with 67.3%) among all players with over 25% usage, has a defensive rating of 96.5 and a net rating of 13.4.
Not bad for an All Star snub.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ performance is important in more than one way. While his outstanding performance has dragged his squad back to within range of a playoff spot, he’s also rocketed back up the charts in another category.
Towns has taken hold of his rightful place as King of the Unicorns, a title bestowed by Kevin Durant upon the rare elite big men (7' or taller) who can defend, pass, make the right plays, block shots, and shoot out to the three-point line.
His competition is mighty, with guys like Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Nikola Jokic, Kristaps Porzingis and Joel Embiid in the running, but Towns has cemented his place at the top of the mountain. At least for now.
Among all players 7' or taller, Towns has the highest true shooting percentage of anybody with a usage of 25% or higher. He has the third-best rebounding percentage (behind Hassan Whiteside and Nikola Vucevic), the fourth-best field goal percentage, the third-best three-point percentage, by far the most points per game at 24.1 and the second-most rebounds per game.
If we remove the malaise-laden first 37 games of the season, the differences are even more stark.
Towns has the second-best field goal percentage at 60.4% (with more than twice as many field goal attempts as first-place Rudy Gobert, with much greater range as well), second-best three-point percentage at 40.9%, has a lead of more than 4 points per game over second-place Joel Embiid, is a close second in rebounds per game to Whiteside with 13.5, and has a huge lead in true shooting percentage among all players over 7' tall with usage rates over 20%.
Karl-Anthony Towns had a burden of heightened expectations coming into this, his age-21 season. He didn’t deliver right away, struggling under a new system with a new head coach whose unfamiliar style didn’t mesh well with him. That’s not his fault, and it’s not his fault we stopped watching him too quickly either.
While we were focusing elsewhere, Karl-Anthony Towns figured it out, put it all together, and quietly has become better than we had even hoped coming into this season. At a position replete with young generational talents, KAT is the best of the breed, and he is the King of the Unicorns.
