KAT Crossroads

The Knicks' center is still penning his legacy. Here's what's at stake...and how he can fulfill his immense promise.

Good morning! We’re going into the break on a high note, showing some love to New York’s supremely talented big man who has a chance to get even better.

KAT Crossroads

We might not be the Los Angeles Lakers, but the New York Knicks have a pretty stacked lineage of centers throughout their history.

They tried the twin towers thing with future Hall-of-Famers Walt Bellamy and Willis Reed before realizing that Reed was better served as the only big man, paving the way for Reed to win MVP. When Reed started to break down, they slotted in fellow future Top-75’er Jerry Lucas, who garnered some rogue MVP votes while manning the middle for the ‘72 Finals team before starting 38 games at center for the ‘73 champs.

The next era of Knicks basketball didn’t go quite as well, but we still got former MVP Bob McAdoo making the All-Star team in his lone full season as Knicks center. When McAdoo left, they drafted Bill Cartwright, who pulled off the rare feat of making the All-Star team as a rookie in 1980. A few years later, they faced another Reed/Bellamy conundrum when Patrick Ewing fell into their lap, eventually moving Cartwright for Charles Oakley so Ewing could take full flight.

Since Ewing, five Knicks have made the All-Star game while predominantly playing center: David Lee, Amar'e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Kristaps Porzingis, and now Karl-Anthony Towns.

That’s 10 All-Star big men in the last 60 years - not bad at all, even considering how most didn’t stick around for very long, didn’t do much winning, or both.

Now, Karl-Anthony Towns has a chance to change all that.

Much like Stat before him and KP in his same class, Towns entered the NBA as a center who some thought could revolutionize the league. Blessed with a skill set that did not appear to have any holes, it was merely a matter of time before he put it all together.

And much like those other names, within a few years, “when” became “if,” and “if” eventually saw him leave the franchise he was supposed to save.

Now, as he’s set to play in his fifth All-Star game amidst MVP talk for the first time in his career, KAT’s journey is at something of a crossroads. Were he to play a prominent role on a team that wins a title or even makes an NBA Finals, his resume (assuming reasonable continued production and accolades) would be enough to put him in the Hall-of-Fame.

If, on the other hand, he becomes remembered as a prominent reason why his teams couldn’t go all the way, that fate probably eludes him.

This level of uncertainty for a player less than a year away from his 30th birthday is rare in the NBA. By year 10, we usually have a pretty good idea of whether someone is destined to be remembered as an all-time great or whether they’ll wind up on the much longer list of supremely talented players who couldn’t put it all together for one reason or another.

As of now we still don’t know the answer, although perhaps a more interesting question than whether he gets there is what the determining factors will wind up being. That’s what we’ll explore today.