Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 takeaways from the new roster

3. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, rejuvenated

The anonymous 2017-18 NBA GM survey voted Karl-Anthony Towns as the best player to build a franchise around. Somehow, Towns didn’t receive a single vote in the 2018-19 survey.

Wednesday night Towns was a man anew, outplaying Anthony Davis and demanding the ball — he had a 28.9 percent usage rate — at a rate commensurate with someone of his talent. Towns was a +9 in just under 35 minutes and posted 25 points and 16 rebounds despite being in foul trouble for much of the second half.

Despite only blocking two shots officially, Towns was solid again defensively. He was perhaps the biggest reason why Anthony Davis shot just 9-of-25 on the night. Towns has low-key put in a great two weeks defensively, showing more patience in leaving his feet and more attentiveness to the proper rotations he needs to make.

Combine that with his all-world offensive ability and effort like this:

… and he absolutely can be a top-10 NBA player.

Similarly, Andrew Wiggins put up 23 points, and although he did it rather inefficiently on 22 shot attempts, he went 4-of-9 from 3-point range and came alive in the fourth quarter. He made perhaps both the play of the game on offense and defense (not counting the tremendous KAT block seen below):

Wiggins is shooting a career-best 41.7 percent from 3 so far this season on 5.5 attempts per game, and his form has looked great. He might not continue to shoot north of 40 percent, but his improved 3-pointer should open up more driving lanes for him. He simply isn’t taking the ball to the basket enough, but hopefully plays like the emphatic slam above, and the delight he must have felt as Taj Gibson embraced him afterward will compel him to use his freakish athletic gifts more regularly.

What is most encouraging is that Wiggins scored nine points in the fourth quarter. Before Wednesday, Wiggins had disappeared during closing time, shooting a miserable 4-of-23 in fourth quarters. His offensive boost affected his effort level too, as he played solidly on the defensive end during crunch time.

With Butler gone, Wiggins stepped up big-time to help seal the victory for the Wolves. That’s a huge positive for the Timberwolves’ playoff hopes.