Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 reasons to not be pessimistic about the future

1. Karl-Anthony Towns is an otherworldly talent

This goes without saying. Anyone who has been paying attention outside of Minnesota knows how good KAT is, and with the strides he has made defensively this year, he is posed to become a top-10 NBA player in time.

The Wolves are not losing because of Towns in any way whatsoever. He has been a monster post-All-Star break, and even since Butler was traded. In spite of the losses piling up — generally because half the team has been injured — KAT is propelling the Timberwolves to at least be competitive; gone are the days of his empty stats.

Towns is too often left out of the “Unicorn” discussion, a massive slight to one of the game’s best young players. Since Dec. 1, Towns is fourth in the NBA in Player Impact Estimate, only trailing Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis and James Harden.

More significant of his uniqueness? Over than span (which is when the team settled down post-Butler) Towns is averaging 1.7 blocks a game, tied for ninth in the league.

Among the top-20 players in blocks per game, Towns is far and away the best shooter of the group, posting an insane 41 percent 3-point clip and 83.2 free throw percentage; no one else in the group is shooting above 39 percent from 3. Likewise, his 3.3 assists per game is fifth among that group, trailing preternatural playmakers like the Greek Freak and AD.

When Towns is on the court, Minnesota’s offense hums along at a great 112.1 rating; when he sits, it craters to just 103.6, despite the fact that Derrick Rose, the team’s second-leading scorer, comes off the bench and plays heavy minutes without KAT. More people need to take note of how special he is, but don’t just take my word for it:

https://twitter.com/TWolvesNationCP/status/1107514110093287424

Simply having KAT keeps Minnesota in the green hope-wise. His max extension doesn’t even kick in until next year, meaning the Wolves have years of his prime ahead of them.

Minnesotans (and other Wolves fans!), I know following and cheering for this franchise is tough, but the failures of 2018-19 will not cast a shadow going forward. There is hope up north, so let’s act like it.