KAT-rospective, Part III: The Low Point

Today we continue our special 4-part series from Thilo Latrell Widder, who takes a look back at the low point of the Karl-Anthony Towns tenure in Minnesota

Good morning! Before we get to today’s special column from guest scribe Thilo Latrell Widder, who has been penning a 4-part look back at Karl-Anthony Towns’ playoff journey in Minnesota, let’s get a quick update on the race for the playoffs. Cleveland beat Atlanta, while Orlando topped Minnesota, meaning a few things:

• The Cavs are still very alive for the 3rd seed. They play Atlanta again on Friday and then close the season against the Wizards. If they beat the Hawks again, New York will need to go 2-1 in their final three games to hang onto the 3rd seed.

• 1.5 games now separate the Hawks, Raptors, Magic and Sixers in spots 5-8, with Charlotte still lurking in ninth. There are two massive games tonight on this front, with the Heat in Toronto and the Sixers in Houston. Philly finishes the season against the Pacers and Bucks, so if they can top the Rockets, they have a great chance to finish in the top 6.

As for tonight’s big game between the Knicks and Celtics, four Boston players - Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta - are being listed as questionable, while Tyler Kolek has the same designation for the Knicks. For anyone who wants to watch the game along with yours truly and the KFS crew, we’ll be going live on the KFS YouTube channel at 7:30 pm. Hope to see you there!

KAT-rospective, Part III: The Low Point

by Thilo Latrell Widder

Y’all, I don’t have a quippy intro for this one.

I don’t have a “did you know” or a “can you imagine” to make this sting any less. I don’t even have a silver lining. These next thousand words or so are going to be just as rough for me now as they were a few years ago, more even, because there’s no excuse.

Despite those awful games in 2018, against a Houston Rockets team that thoroughly embarrassed him, or the ones in 2022 in Memphis that saw the Grizzlies turn him into a side show and a meme instead of the capable player he should have been known as, 2023 was the low point.

You want to know the worst part? Last time, we talked about the idea of a gambler born unlucky. Of someone pouring their heart out and coming up just short.

This was not that.

The question was not one of effort. It was not of skill. It was about sheer performance. And KAT failed. Utterly failed.

Worst of all, he failed when the team needed him most.

In the 2022-23 series against the Denver Nuggets, the Wolves were without Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid. Anthony Edwards was dealing with multiple upper body injuries.

This was the moment. This was everything. This could have been the end.

Welcome back once again to KAT-rospective. This is episode three, with the first two focusing on the 2019 and 2022 playoff runs for the Minnesota Timberwolves. I am invariably your host, Thilo Latrell Widder. Let’s get straight to it.

Before we get to anything about the Wolves in particular, we have to talk about everything that changed between the last episode and this one. Yes, Rudy Gobert came in, as Jared Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverly and a gaggle of picks went out as part of the first move of POBO Tim Connelly.

Whenever a team makes a surprise playoff appearance, the front office needs to make a choice that same offseason on whether or not this is a group worth investing in. The Wolves clearly saw their group and liked the foundations but wanted to remake the kitchen.

Remember the Sacramento Kings of Beam Team fame? The fastest, funnest team in the West that skied to a third place finish behind their run and gun system? The first playoff appearance in twenty odd years with a young core to boot and a coach I’m sure you all know well? Famously, Monte McNair did not think that was a group worth building around.

To that point, I can really respect the Wolves going all in on their seventh seed finish when the Kings refused to for their third seed. Still, just as DeAaron Fox is no longer a King, KAT is no longer a Timberwolf.

So what happened?

I’d love to tell you all about how the trade for Gobert pushed Karl to his natural position. About the success of his year-long transition to power forward. About how his role changed as much as his position did, and that he grew to meet the moment. And, well…he didn’t not do that, but at the same time, some things got in the way of a purely happy ending.

Mainly, KAT dealt with a meniscus injury that should’ve been a season ender. Instead of a full surgical repair though, Towns went for meniscectomy, which is a partial removal of the tendon, in pursuit of returning in time for the playoffs. He turned an eight-month injury into a six-week one.

That return, triumphant as it was, left Kyle Anderson in the driver’s seat for the power forward spot. Somehow, for one year only, Slow Mo was a decent enough shooter to function and excel alongside Gobert.

This coincided with the first year of KAT’s supermax, which ultimately saw him play a mere 29 games. There would be no real time to test the fit with the flailing Frenchman. Instead, the two only had 21 mostly dreadful games to start the year before Karl only played eight of the last nine games heading into late April basketball.

And this is where the usual path diverges. The last two times we’ve had this conversation, I’ve focused on how few of the big issues should be placed at the feet of Towns, how unfair it was that he was asked to make lemonade with potatoes, and how none of this was his fault.

This is not one of those times.

Towns was the second highest paid player on the team. They asked him to do not just what they needed but exactly what he wanted to provide for years. He was asked to score but not to be a hub. He was asked to be a play finisher and to create space for the drives of Anthony Edwards and the two-man game of Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert. He was asked to defend in space, in the exact system he had wanted for years.

He asked for this. He wanted this exact framework.

And he failed. Horrendously.

After Game 1, a game in which he finished with 11 points after missing 10 of his first 12 shots (hey, at least he didn’t stop shooting this time), Towns said this:

“It’s the NBA. It’s not forgiving. Just things happen. They did a great job, give them credit. They had a long week preparing for us and they got ready and you could tell on the court they knew our plays and knew what they’re doing. So we’ve just got to come back ready for Game 2. It’s a series - just move on, flush it and get ready.”

Immediately after saying this, he promised improvement for the next game, claiming that “I don’t think this team has [had] many nights like this.” What did he come back with in Game 2?

Well, the good news is that it was a completely different team. Anthony Edwards set the Wolves’ playoff record with 41 points, willing Minnesota into the game even when he struggled with foul trouble, barely falling short in a nine point loss.

You know what could have helped their fortunes? If their star super-max power forward scored more than 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

There is no amount of spin I can put on this that would be fair. This is the most inexcusable series in KAT’s history.

Even in a comparably incredible performance in Game 3 - a whopping 27-point, 10-of-17 masterclass containing moments that showed why this, more than any other game, should have been one of reproach for Towns - there were problems.

For example, there was an issue early on in KAT’s career where instead of meaningfully trying to defend a shot at the rim, he would simply raise his arms like a baby trying to reach around its own head. That came back in spades in this series.

In general, the flailing came back. As the series fell further behind, the more the supposed superstar unraveled. Somehow, there is a moment in Game 3 where KAT got a 3-point attempt blocked by Jamal Murray of all people. While Murray raced up court, Towns jogged towards mid court before turning around. The break never even got started as KCP held the ball. It felt like the worst version of Karl just kept showing up.

Still, any version of Towns can put up numbers. 27 in Game 3, 17 in a Game 4 win, and 26 in the closeout loss.

Game 5 was a crushing one. The fourth quarter saw the two teams knotted up at 77 each. Towns produced an and-one on a beautiful pass inside to Gobert. A minute later, he threw the same pass to feed Rudy for a pair of free throws. A few minutes later, it was an and-one on one of those stray voltage drives we talked about. Then a drive brought the Nuggets lead down to just one.

Then it all went to hell. While the Nuggets offense was sputtering, KAT first fouled Nikola Jokić and then Aaron Gordon on a fast break. Then came a missed three. Then a missed free throw. Then a converted three-point play saved the day, only to be plastered over with a rushed, missed three and a foul with 90 seconds on the clock, and then saved all over again by a made hook shot.

It’s just not fair. How can one stretch of great play be followed by minutes of awful choices, only for another stretch of good play?

The Wolves would lose that game as Anthony Edwards would miss a three at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

There are other players who should be blamed for this game, and for this series. Anthony Edwards, for all his heroics, missed a ton of free throws in the fourth, and didn’t score until the quarter was halfway done. Jaden McDaniels was only out because he punched a concrete wall in the tunnel of the Target Center and broke his hand. He should get a fair share of blame.

But no, that isn’t how basketball works. It also shouldn’t work like that. Towns’ failures in the first two games aren’t fixed by his successes in the last three. Stars are praised for their peaks, but they are stars because of their consistencies.

Rumors came out that the Wolves were looking into trading Towns during the ensuing offseason. Whether it was the contract or the actual play will never be answered (it was probably the contract), but there were rumors of Scoot Henderson as a target or a package built around Houston’s fourth overall pick.

It would have been a sour note to end on, although there was more than enough symphony to write a review. Instead, we got a baffling, wonderful swell. We saw Towns rise to the occasion. And we’ll get to that next time, as the Wolves reach their highest height on the back on one Karl-Anthony Towns Jr.

See you for the finale next week.

🏀

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”