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Would a package starting with Mitch, Obi and a couple of #1s get you Towns?


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Could Karl-Anthony Towns be Knicks' disgruntled star after Timberwolves' surprise head of basketball ops firing?


Karl-Anthony Towns
Scott Thompson
Thu, September 23, 2021, 8:45 AM·2 min read


The Timberwolves surprisingly fired their head of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas, which caused their star center, Karl-Anthony Towns, to tweet this:

Self-explanatory, right? Do we have a disgruntled star on our hands right before the start of the season?

If that is the case, the Knicks will certainly be watching. On The Putback with SNY's Ian Begley earlier this year, Begley noted that head coach Tom Thibodeau would welcome a reunion as the head coach "just wants to win."

Towns is one of the most dynamic centers in the league, with his scoring ability stretching all lengths of the floor. He also has the history with Thibs' system during their time with the Wolves together.

It's also worth noting that Towns is close with Knicks president Leon Rose and William "World Wide Wes" Wesley. His father, Karl Towns Sr., made it a point to go to Madison Square Garden with World Wide Wes for Rose's first game as team president.

Other connections point to assistant coach Kenny Payne, who Towns knows well from his one year at Kentucky. There's also Julius Randle, another Kentucky product, that is close with Towns.

And finally, a New Jersey native, Towns would be close to home.

But this is all speculative until Minnesota actually makes it known that the center of their franchise is up on the trade block. If that happens, it would send the franchise back to the rebuild stage yet again, something that would be hard to do.

But after what occurred on Wednesday, it may be hard to convince KAT that his T-Wolves will be competing in the Western Conference anytime soon.

That could mean good things for the Knicks if they see the fit.

Zenzibar wrote:Would a package starting with Mitch, Obi and a couple of #1s get you Towns?

Only way that gets us KAT is if the Wolves laugh so hard they forget to say no and we sneak one under the radar.

Yes, throw in Dolans guitar to sweeten the deal

Angryfatboy wrote:Yes, throw in Dolans guitar to sweeten the deal

great idea, get it done at the deadline Leon

I would prefer Miles Turner... a player who wouldn't require us to soften our defensive identity while giving up tons of assets in the process. Really I just want Mitch to go ham so we can keep him.

RHODEY wrote:I would prefer Miles Turner... a player who wouldn't require us to soften our defensive identity while giving up tons of assets in the process. Really I just want Mitch to go ham so we can keep him.

Just read an article quoting Rose, saying that Mitch is still not 100 and that the medical staff is monitoring. So I decided to throw this out there.

BTW, isn't 2024 when most of the contracts expire? So does Town's. May have been in the plans all along, since he checks all the boxes.

Kentucky grad
Kenny Payne
Dad's close to WWW
From the tri-state area
Get's his shaves up in Washington Heights,,,,,lol. I made that one up.

Zenzibar wrote:

RHODEY wrote:I would prefer Miles Turner... a player who wouldn't require us to soften our defensive identity while giving up tons of assets in the process. Really I just want Mitch to go ham so we can keep him.

Just read an article quoting Rose, saying that Mitch is still not 100 and that the medical staff is monitoring. So I decided to throw this out there.

BTW, isn't 2024 when most of the contracts expire? So does Town's. May have been in the plans all along, since he checks all the boxes.

Kentucky grad
Kenny Payne
Dad's close to WWW
From the tri-state area
Get's his shaves up in Washington Heights,,,,,lol. I made that one up.

Plays solid defense........?

I’m down. I think a more mature Towns ready to experience winning would do better under Thibs a second time around

DaGawd wrote:I’m down. I think a more mature Towns ready to experience winning would do better under Thibs a second time around

this is the only way you entertain it. as is, he is an expensive risk. not a fan of his loser buckets.

he makes me so mad. i believed coming into the league.

Jeff Van Gully wrote:

DaGawd wrote:I’m down. I think a more mature Towns ready to experience winning would do better under Thibs a second time around

this is the only way you entertain it. as is, he is an expensive risk. not a fan of his loser buckets.

he makes me so mad. i believed coming into the league.

Yeah I dont get it. He has the athleticism to play good defense. Wasn't he known for that in college?

NO

kat is a losing player.

Hasn't demonstrated that he is a player that produces wins for his team. Stats, yes. Wins, no.

At the right price, sure. And his likely trade price, forget it.

I'm all for KAT, and I'm fully aware of all his flaws. This is a dude with truly elite offensive production, with the physicality and history to play defense. He's 25 years old. He's a NJ kid who grew up a Knicks fan. He's got enough question marks about how good he really is/is he an empty stats guy, that he's potentially available in a trade.

I honestly believe that the Knicks have the draft capital to put together a package for him and still keep several young core pieces out of Obi, IQ, McBride, Q, RJ, and Mitch. If they do, then it's a no brainer to me, despite the losing, the corniness, and the questions about him being "soft". I also am concerned about his mental space after the horrific personal year he just went through, but KAT is just too damn offensively efficient, unique as a scorer, tooled up defensively, healthy, and young to not take the chance. It's not like he was on the Warriors and couldn't fit in. Plus I want to bring one of the most local kids in the entire league, home.

Jeff Van Gully wrote:

DaGawd wrote:I’m down. I think a more mature Towns ready to experience winning would do better under Thibs a second time around

this is the only way you entertain it. as is, he is an expensive risk. not a fan of his loser buckets.

he makes me so mad. i believed coming into the league.

I did as well...his defense was way ahead of his offense in college too.

Its like he doesn't even try on that end which is infuriating. Thibs and Jimmy didn't think he cared enough about winning because he has all the talent in the world.

duetta wrote:Hasn't demonstrated that he is a player that produces wins for his team. Stats, yes. Wins, no.

At the right price, sure. And his likely trade price, forget it.

I mean, over the last 4 years, when he's been on the court, the Wolves are a +2, and when he's off, the Wolves are a -7. Not everyone who puts up big numbers on losing teams is putting up empty stats, sometimes the rest of the team is just that bad that they'd need a top 3 player to win, and while KAT is not that, I'd say he's still pretty good

Like, looking at Net ratings, last year with KAT on the Wolves were a -.1, which is the same as the Heat who won 40 games, and when he was off, they were a -10.2, which would be 2nd worst in the league behind the Thunder at 22 wins

Year before, with KAT -1.5, without -5.5.

Year before, with KAT +.9, without -4.9. That's similar net ratings as the Clippers (48 wins) and the Hawks (29 wins)

2018 was probably the worst, with KAT they were +6, without him they were -8. Which is the difference between the Warriors that year (58 wins) and the Kings (27 wins). Granted, this was the Jimmy Butler year, but there was definitely a symbiotic relationship there, KAT with Jimmy was +10.1, without Jimmy -.8, but at the same time, Jimmy without KAT was a -2.1, so it wasn't just Jimmy carrying KAT, they made each other better

It reminds me of Kemba in Charlotte. He was clearly good, not great, but he never won much cause the rest of his team was so bad, but he was the difference between mid to high 30s wins each year and wins in the teens each year

What it says to me is, if KAT had a good team, he would make them better. He'd certainly help our spacing on offense, but I'm not gonna go all in on him. He is a very good player though, not an empty stats guy.

I would trade for him, but I don't think he's available. even if the luster has worn off of him. 3 seasons ago, the dude was chosen by a lot of execs to be the player they'd most want to build around. pretty crazy how his numbers haven't dipped but the way he's perceived, has.

Dude has been part of a really shytty org. 5 execs during his tenure, and the latest one got fired for having an affair. I'd trade for him. He gets along with Randle and Randle right now is the type of guy who can push him.

I also admire Thibs...shat, after all that went down in Minny, he's still willing to coach Towns. That dude really has a one-track mind when it comes to basketball.