The Minnesota Timberwolves will go into the 2016-2017 season looking to build off the talent and potential the roster boasts. However, this year's Rookie of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns will be the centerpiece of the Wolves's success. KAT joined elite company being the fifth unanimous winner of the award joining Damian Lillard, Blake Griffin, David Robinson and Ralph Sampson as the only players to so. He displays an All-Star skill set and will look to take on a leadership role as the best player on the roster.
Towns is coming off an extremely successful rookie season where he averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 81.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Town's ability to score from everywhere on the floor, including the three-pointer occasionally, makes him a deadly threat on offense. Most bigs don't have the mobility to handle his quickness off the dribble and ability to play away from the rim. However, Towns's game doesn't stop there. He has a fairly refined post game that's only getting better.
Defensively, Towns has the ability to be a rim protector and cover guards off to switches. With the game becoming a faster pace, three-pointers and easy buckets in the paint have become the shots of choice. Towns is the ideal big in this age of basketball because of his ability to do a little bit of everything. The capability to guard ball handlers off of screens is a rare skill. Most bigs lack the foot speed and mobility to effectively guard players on the perimeter. Towns's quickness and length poses a problem for guards in the pick-and-roll. On top of that, he has the length and athleticism to guard bigs in the post. It is difficult to game plan offensively when the other team's big can actually defend all positions on the floor.
According to Dan Devine from Yahoo Sports, Towns is, "the last rook to play serious minutes and post a Player Efficiency Rating as high as Towns’ 22.5 was Duncan, in ’97-’98." Towns is a special player and NBA general managers seem to agree. GMs were given a survey and one of the questions asked "if you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the NBA, who would it be?". Towns won an overwhelming 48.3 percent of the vote, the second closest player being Kevin Durant at 20.7 percent. There are a plenty of expectations for Towns going into his second season, but he seems to be ready to take on the challenge and showcase the potential that this Minnesota Timberwolves team carries.
