Karl-Anthony Towns: I Feel Like I'm A Better Version Of Myself

[RealGM Wiretap]

Karl-Anthony Towns has had a good start to the season with the New York Knicks as he's back to playing center full time for the first time in two years.

“I don’t just lose the ability to play the five,” Towns said on Friday when asked about being back at center.

Towns says his play is “just being able to do what I did a lot of years at the five.”

“I feel I’m a better version of myself,” Towns said. “I’m smarter, more experienced, I think I’m more talented than I’ve ever been. So being able to utilize that for our team is what I want to do every single night so it can translate to wins.”

Towns currently has the highest rebound rate of his career and his block rate is also up from where it was over the past two seasons after the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Rudy Gobert to play center.

Via Ian Begley/SNY.tv

[shrink]

Most people have always had the wrong idea about Towns in drop coverage. He was always a good rebounder, he was never lazy, he didn’t get dominated, and he usually held opposing centers to much worse FG% at the rim.

KAT’s main problem was being overly aggressive on defense. When the Wolves, (never-good) perimeter defenders let their guys past them, they would come charging at Towns under the rim with a head of steam. KAT always wanted to step out and challenge them, but pro’s can easily read that and pass to another player cutting towards the rim. Towns never liked playing drop coverage, and wanted to come out and defend like a big wing, even if his body (and shoe size) isn’t exactly designed for it.

Maybe an older Towns can restrain himself a bit more? We’ll see, but I am also anxious to see how he looks next to Mitchell Robinson, when he returns in January.

[Nazrmohamed]

I'm not willing to confirm this until he can defend a basket. All I see is a guy who's always been tall enough to be a C but more likely a winner next to another rim protector, play in an open space system that allows him to use some speed advantage and take advantage of the spacing.

I guess that modern basketball and I'm not saying he's not playing out of his mind offensively cuz he is but we're 4-5 right now and most losses have guys running wild in the paint and at the rim and him doing absolutely nothing about it. For now it seems like he's satisfied being better than Julius Randle and stopping there.