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

[Baseline81]

I’ve had those same considerations.

I would be in favor of waiting until there is virtually no risk at all of Towns reaggravating such a serious injury. The Rudy acquisition was a longterm play, for a guy with a longterm contract, using longterm assets. Sure, I’d like to do well in the playoffs this season, and there would be a little value reintegrating KAT in actual games, for both Towns and the rest of the team. But if we are a .500 team this season without Towns, our future seasons where we could be a legitimate contender are far more important, and not worth risking on this season.

I hope they play it extremely safe. Maybe they are doing that right now.

I don't mean to nitpick, but it was a win-now move. Gobert is 30 years old, not some project.

There were expectations for this year's team -- by fans and the front office alike.

[shrink]

I’ve had those same considerations.

I would be in favor of waiting until there is virtually no risk at all of Towns reaggravating such a serious injury. The Rudy acquisition was a longterm play, for a guy with a longterm contract, using longterm assets. Sure, I’d like to do well in the playoffs this season, and there would be a little value reintegrating KAT in actual games, for both Towns and the rest of the team. But if we are a .500 team this season without Towns, our future seasons where we could be a legitimate contender are far more important, and not worth risking on this season.

I hope they play it extremely safe. Maybe they are doing that right now.

I don't mean to nitpick, but it was a win-now move. Gobert is 30 years old, not some project.

There were expectations for this year's team -- by fans and the front office alike.

I agree there were expectations now, but there are expectations for the next three years as well.

Maybe I could have expressed this differently. I think that there are expectations for Years 1-4. And perhaps the highest expectations were for Years 2-4, when the team was more familiar with Gobert and Ant and McDaniels have grown. Perhaps expectations this season were for the second round, and the following years to be legit contenders. That’s what I meant by longterm, not to exclude some winning this season.

[Klomp]

I’ve had those same considerations.

I would be in favor of waiting until there is virtually no risk at all of Towns reaggravating such a serious injury. The Rudy acquisition was a longterm play, for a guy with a longterm contract, using longterm assets. Sure, I’d like to do well in the playoffs this season, and there would be a little value reintegrating KAT in actual games, for both Towns and the rest of the team. But if we are a .500 team this season without Towns, our future seasons where we could be a legitimate contender are far more important, and not worth risking on this season.

I hope they play it extremely safe. Maybe they are doing that right now.

I don't mean to nitpick, but it was a win-now move. Gobert is 30 years old, not some project.

There were expectations for this year's team -- by fans and the front office alike.

While Rudy Gobert is not a young guy, Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels still are.

I know fans are obsessed with timelines and are convinced that Gobert's doesn't line up with the Jaden/Ant timeline, but that's exactly why this is a longterm play.

I think there is something to the idea that Edwards and McDaniels are impressionable young kids, and I think remaining competitive going forward and bringing in influential veterans is a huge factor in their development path that adds to the reason for making the moves Connelly has made.

[Guest84]

So it starts...trying to make the rich richer:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/golden-state-warriors-can-land-karl-anthony-towns-in-a-huge-blockbuster-trade-this-summer/ar-AA188BfW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=464c1992b28d4ed991a743a48a3a41d5&ei=75

[minimus]

So it starts...trying to make the rich richer:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/golden-state-warriors-can-land-karl-anthony-towns-in-a-huge-blockbuster-trade-this-summer/ar-AA188BfW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=464c1992b28d4ed991a743a48a3a41d5&ei=75

Those costs might include polarizing forward Draymond Green, youngster Jonathan Kuminga, and even recently acquired Gary Payton II.

WOW even GP2, who did not play much this season

[Dalvin]

So it starts...trying to make the rich richer:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/golden-state-warriors-can-land-karl-anthony-towns-in-a-huge-blockbuster-trade-this-summer/ar-AA188BfW?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=464c1992b28d4ed991a743a48a3a41d5&ei=75

Those costs might include polarizing forward Draymond Green, youngster Jonathan Kuminga, and even recently acquired Gary Payton II.


WOW even GP2, who did not play much this season

They would even start Kuminga over McDaniels

[Child of Wonder]

Oh look. Another big market team that thinks they are owed star players from smaller markets.

[Macwolf527]

I’ve had those same considerations.

I would be in favor of waiting until there is virtually no risk at all of Towns reaggravating such a serious injury. The Rudy acquisition was a longterm play, for a guy with a longterm contract, using longterm assets. Sure, I’d like to do well in the playoffs this season, and there would be a little value reintegrating KAT in actual games, for both Towns and the rest of the team. But if we are a .500 team this season without Towns, our future seasons where we could be a legitimate contender are far more important, and not worth risking on this season.

I hope they play it extremely safe. Maybe they are doing that right now.

I don't mean to nitpick, but it was a win-now move. Gobert is 30 years old, not some project.

There were expectations for this year's team -- by fans and the front office alike.

I agree there were expectations now, but there are expectations for the next three years as well.
, t
Maybe I could have expressed this differently. I think that there are expectations for Years 1-4. And perhaps the highest expectations were for Years 2-4, when the team was more familiar with Gobert and Ant and McDaniels have grown. Perhaps expectations this season were for the second round, and the following years to be legit contenders. That’s what I meant by longterm, not to exclude some winning this season.

The only reason I'm cool with slow playing Towns, was to determine good value on Edwards and McDaniels. More so McDaniels than Edwards, but you still needed to know if Ant could carry the loan in a pinch. I believe he demonstrated he could, but at the .500 mark. So now we have the value on McDaniels and the limits on Edwards, time to build the team out some more. I expect McDaniels to get paid in the $20-25 million range per year. I also believe we need another scorer who can create his own shots. It was supposed to be Jaylen Nowell, but I'm not so sure anymore. We probably don't come to these clear decisions if Towns is playing, but they are painfully and financially clear now.

[wolves_89]

Coming out of the break I remember seeing that the hope was that Towns would be back for 10-15 games. At this point that equates to 1-2 weeks from now. Hopefully there will finally be a concrete update on his status fairly soon.

[urinesane]

Not sure how people have forgotten this, but Karl-Anthony Towns is a great basketball player.

I dislike his propensity for complaining to the refs, his lack of defensive success, and times where he tries to do too much. Especially trying a difficult homerun pass when he's double teamed (or not making the pass soon enough to make the other team pay for doubling).

Other than that, he's basically excellent in every other aspect of the game of basketball. I think it's wise to appreciate what we have and how great he really is. He's a damn unicorn, he just needs some help (and probably not to be leaned on as the Alpha dog guy that wills them to being a winning team). He's a team player, I think he's had being the top guy put on him simply because he's usually been SO MUCH BETTER than every other player on the team (and capable of an amazing variety of things).

Personally, I think it's pretty awesome that we have someone that may actually be THAT GUY in Ant. I doubt Karl cares at all if they are winning and competing for real success in the postseason.

I think the Batman & Robin analogy that always gets thrown around is corny as sh*t (and lazy). This isn't White Men Can't Jump 2x2 streetball.

It's a team game. Why do we even have to slot them into rankings? Can't they just help the team win and be incredibly important in their own ways without having to decide who's MORE important? If EVERYONE plays their role, they succeed.

KAT actually had decent chemistry with Rudy imo (even if he tried to do too much to make it work at times). The biggest issue was DLO and Ant to a degree (though he's still learning playmaking and setting up his teammates at this stage), DLO had no excuse other than he was no longer seen as part of the big 3 and didn't care about making it work. He'd rather keep his mindset of "also being an alpha" and be on middling to bad teams, then swallow his pride and be the player the team needs him to be as the primary ballhandler on a contending team.

Conley can do that. If KAT is anywhere near his norm when he comes back, this team is going to f*ck some sh*t up (in a glorious way). Even though it has a long ways to go, the ability of this team to play well with Rudy has improved by leaps and bounds since Towns went down. KAT was the only bright spot to the first 21 games of the Rudy experiment as an individual (outside of maybe Kyle Anderson).

When he gets back, it will take at least 5-6 games (hopefully not many more), but I think we will be pleasantly surprised when he gets on the same page and the team starts looking much more functional.

I also have been wrong plenty of times throughout the years, but it's way more fun to think of what could be, than take for granted what you have (and just try to enjoy it if possible).

[minimus]

I stumbled across this video:

https://youtu.be/MF3soDBzB0o

I wonder how much Towns will transform his game once again after he returns. Before he went down with injury he was missing open 3s. And with Rudy he saw more crowded paint which affected his slashing game. I think he can use those high post, elbow actions, mid range game. Just like Dirk did.

[theGreatRC]

I dont know why, but I vividly remember Towns rookie year when he shot a lot of wide open jumpers around the free throw line doing pick n pops with Ricky. I think he stopped because long 2s were seen as terrible shots.

To beat a zone, you get it into the middle of the zone (around the free throw line) and let the man with the ball make the choice.

We’ve had SloMo in that role and he’s done a great job, i wonder if KAT is going to be that guy when the other teams go zone, I think KAT not only has the passing ability to make great reads, but if he gets daylight from the free throw line, I think that could be an automatic 2 points from him.

[Guest84]

I'm not too worried about Towns' fit offensively but rather how they'll perform on the defensive side of the ball. While it would be great or the Wolves to implement some aspects from Dirk's game (and others), would Towns have the composure to perform during tense moments down the stretch?

He (wolves in general) tends to get sped up when things get tight. Time will tell though.

[Guest84]

https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/wtf-is-going-on-with-karl-anthony-towns/

[Mattya]

1. I do think the Wolves need to take a serious look at the medical staff. The amount of nagging and little injuries that have had guys miss games this year has been very questionable.

2. I wouldn’t even bring KAT back at this point. I think it would mess up the on court chemistry too much. Especially if I’m KAT’s head he is worried about injuring himself. If he came back right after ASB that is one thing. If he is still weeks away then there is no point.

3. It also raises questions, because in the back of my head I’ve always worried about KAT’s durability as he gets older. His body composition is just awkward. Might be a good time to cash in as long as doctors say he is healthy.

[wolves_89]

It's now been 14 weeks since Towns got hurt and the only information provided has been that there is no timetable for his return and that he hasn't had any setbacks. There's currently under 5 weeks left in the regular season, so if he's going to come back at all he will have to start practicing with the team pretty soon.

If KAT starts practicing with the team after tomorrow's game, his first game back would likely be on the 17th (or later). That would leave 12 games in the regular season. Assuming KAT doesn't play both games of back-to-backs would cut the number of games left down to 9. Basically, it's getting fairly close to the point where there just won't be enough games left to make a return workable.

[Baseline81]

From the Wolves' reddit:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-the-dan-barreiro-show-26981004/episode/smiling-assassins-jonny-athletic-bumper-110048946/

Krawczynski on Barreiro's show:

- 14 weeks since injury

- Jon has no clue when/if KAT is coming back - there has been zero transparency with recovery process

- Insinuated that KAT is very sensitive to a timeline so the wolves have not offered one

- Media was let into practice today and KAT was not there

- KAT has not offered any updates aside from random twitch comments

- Concern that this injury could lead to achilles or ACL injury if rushed

- Does not know who is making the medical decisions or if there is conflict between team and KAT's team

- If KAT doesn't play soon this the team may just shut him down

[theGreatRC]

This injury is insane. Did not think he'd be out this long

[TimberKat]

I still think the Twin towers will work and in the long run will help Towns with ware and tear. However, it's start to feel like Brooklyn. Is it time to be serious about a Towns trade? I like someone's suggestion of Bridges but would need to include Cam Johnson. Maybe a trade with Cavs for Garland and/or Mobley.

[BlacJacMac]

This injury is insane. Did not think he'd be out this long

A grade 3 sprain is a complete (or nearly complete) tear of the muscle. He's been out an "appropriate" amount of time considering the severity of the injury.