Player Preview: Hometown kid Karl-Anthony Towns looks to begin a New York legacy

Acquired to be the final piece for the Knicks’ first championship squad in 52 years, can KAT get them over the top?

We’ve all had the same dream. If you, like me, grew up in a suburb as a big basketball guy, you had a hoop in your driveway. Even if you grew up in a city and didn’t have a basketball hoop in your driveway, you still likely had the same thing happen to you when you were shooting around on your own as a kid. Game 7 of the NBA Finals, down 1, ball in your hand playing for the Knicks. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. He shoots, and he scores. The Knicks win the championship.

Before our longshot dreams of going pro were stunted (some earlier than others), we all dreamed of playing for our favorite team. Did Karl-Anthony Towns share that same mutual experience with us common fans when he was growing up in Piscataway, New Jersey? Towns grew up there, which he refers to as Central Jersey, even though it’s only nine miles from Staten Island and 22 miles from Manhattan. When the question came up on the Roommates Podcast, Jalen Brunson disagreed. Brunson was born in the town next over, New Brunswick, and grew up down south in Cherry Hill. Jalen says there’s no such thing as Central Jersey, while Josh Hart did his typical aloof response, comparing it to Korea. As a Jersey native myself, I’d have to agree with Cap. North is taylor ham, New York sports, and subs. The south is pork roll, Philadelphia sports, and hoagies.

Fate almost brought Towns to the Knicks nine years ago. After dominating at St. Joseph High School, he was a consensus five-star recruit, committing to play for coach John Calipari at Kentucky. His numbers in college don’t stand out (he averaged 21.4 minutes a game due to their copious amount of depth), but he was named a Second-Team All-American and, by the end of the season, was considered the likely #1 pick.

The Knicks had the worst record through 79 games that year, 15-64. One game ahead of the Timberwolves. On April 11th, 2015, the Knicks barely survived the Magic, 80-79, despite their leading scorer being Cole Aldrich. Minnesota lost by nine to Golden State. Two nights later, Minnesota lost again. The Knicks? They outlasted the Hawks behind a combined 49 from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Langston Galloway. The Knicks got smoked by Detroit to end their season, but the damage was done. Minnesota laid down and died, getting obliterated by KD and Westbrook and losing their 66th game. Although the best odds don’t necessarily mean the first pick, it did in 2015.

The Knicks still had a 19.9% chance to get KAT but, in typical Knicks fashion, they fell to fourth. Frankly, falling back was a blessing in disguise. Kristaps Porzingis was the only bright spot for the Knicks for a couple of years. If they stayed put, they probably pick yet another bust in Jahlil Okafor.

KAT’s career in Minnesota is one that could very well result in 32 hanging from the rafters of Target Center one day. Four all-star appearances, two all-NBA nods, 2016 Rookie of the Year, and providing some highlights at All-Star Weekend, winning the Skills Challenge in 2016 and the Three-Point Shootout in 2022. He was the face of the franchise when they emerged from a lengthy playoff drought in 2018 and remained a big part of their success even after the emergence of another top pick, Anthony Edwards. Pre-Ant, KAT was routinely averaging 24-26 PPG, but his usage has decreased with the emergence of a new superstar in Minnesota.

What hasn’t changed is him being a complete anomaly for a big man. Seven feet tall, but one of the best three-point shooters in basketball. On 4.3 attempts per game for his career, he’s shooting 39.6%. As Knicks fans, having a big that can shoot is completely foreign to us.

I am going to name you every Knick over 6’10” that has hit at least 50 threes while donning the orange and blue.

Kristaps Porzingis (283)

Luke Kornet (98)

That’s it. KAT has averaged 2.0 3PM per game in each of the past five seasons. That alone is 164 over a full season. Realistically, he probably sits slightly higher than 2.0 while missing time. Still, he could be the Knicks’ all-time 3PM leader for big men within two seasons.

His fit with Jalen Brunson is even better. The second the trade was made, many people were drooling over the pick-and-roll (or pick-and-pop) connection. We saw it be extremely effective in the preseason. If we go off the preseason, it is abundantly clear what the Knicks are going to base their offense on. After an extreme iso offense dominated the last few years, KAT and Brunson ran 68 pick-and-rolls (that’s 17 per game) in the preseason. No other duo ran more than 42. And no, this isn’t merely experimental. They averaged a ludicrous 1.32 points per possession.

For reference, the best P&R ball handler in 2023-24 with a decent sample size (2 per game) averaged 1.18. Hey, wait, that’s Immanuel Quickley!

Raise the bar to five a game, and the leader is 1.14 by SGA. Only Jarrett Allen, Joel Embiid, and Brook Lopez averaged 1.2 PPP as a roll man. This duo could be crazy good in the P&R, as both are elite perimeter shooters, while the ball handler is one of the craftier guards in basketball.

KAT really doesn’t have an offensive weakness. He shoots 70% at the rim for his career, occasionally approaching 75-80%. He’s had a rocky career in the corner but shoots 40.4% there for his career. The only area he isn’t league average in shooting efficiency is the long two, and it’s still 39%. It’s also an analytics man’s dream of a shot chart. 55-60% of his shots at the rim, 30% from the perimeter. This helps with the spacing. For example, Julius Randle takes over 20% of his shots in the mid-range area, which is statistically the least efficient shot. KAT shot just 11% of his shots there last season.

That said, he’s not perfect. KAT’s defense is lacking at times. Why do you think Rudy Gobert was acquired by Minnesota? It’s no secret that the Big Bodega plays like a typical NBA stretch four, but he’s fully capable of playing the five. He played a sorta 2018 Porzingis role last year next to a traditional big, but he’s more than willing to play at the 5 (unlike Porzingis, who reversed his hatred for playing the five after he left). I’d have to imagine Tom Thibodeau will play with lineups featuring KAT alongside Mitchell Robinson or Precious Achiuwa when they return from injury. Please no KAT-Sims lineups, Thomas.

Goals. What goals do we have for the Big Purr?

Play with JB at All-Star Weekend

The last two Knicks teammates to share the floor at the All-Star Game was Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler in 2013. That would’ve changed last year if not for Julius Randle getting hurt. Unless the basketball gods smite one of them, this seems like a lock. New York popularity should give him a boost, although I doubt he’ll start like JB will unless Joel Embiid is hurt again.

Make All-NBA

He’s done in twice before, but doing it in the new non-positional NBA might be difficult. Being a top 15 player in the Association is hard, especially as a second option. If you play 65 games though, you’ll have a damn good shot.

ECF/Finals MVP?

JB gets one, KAT gets the other. Deal?