Karl-Anthony Towns and the Minnesota Timberwolves are ready for take off

As we get ready for the regular season, not enough attention has been paid to 23-year-old star Karl Anthony Towns and the revamped Minnesota Timberwolves.

As of Sep. 9, the popular online sports gambling site BetOnline has Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns listed as a +2000 in MVP odds — good for 10th on the site. You’ll even find Towns lower down the pecking order on other gambling sites.

One could argue that this is just the way it is for young players. MVPs typically go to older, more seasoned veterans and Towns does not fall within that description. However, listed higher than him are 25-year-old Joel Embiid, 23-year-old Nikola Jokic, and even 20-year-old Luka Doncic. So, it’s hard to say Vegas has an age bias.

It’s not just gambling sites that are ignoring Towns. As we head closer and closer to the season, there has been little to no buzz around Towns or Minnesota as a team overall.

In 2017, the NBA’s annual GM survey saw 29 percent of executives label Towns as their best player to build around. Everyone from the media to the league’s best decision-makers was ultra-high on Towns. So why has public opinion shifted so strongly in the other direction?

The obvious answer lies within Minnesota and his shortcomings as a player. The Timberwolves have only made the playoffs once in the four years Towns has worn the uniform. Granted, it shouldn’t all fall on him, but Towns has underperformed where draft experts thought was enough to place him over Jahlil Okafor in 2015,  anchoring an elite defense.

To his credit, Towns — and the Timberwolves as a whole — has gotten progressively better since he was first drafted. However, Minnesota is still 1.5 points per 100 possessions better on defense when Towns is on the bench last season.

What seems to get overlooked though is just how special and unprecedented of an offensive talent KAT is. He averaged 24.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on 62.2 percent true shooting last season. The only other players to do that are Giannis Antetokounmpo — his MVP season last year — and Charles Barkley.

Towns is truly an otherworldly offensive talent who hasn’t been maximized to his best abilities. However, that may have all changed this summer. The Timberwolves had a nice facelift this offseason by agreeing to terms with former Houston Rockets executive Gersson Rosas to become the new general manager and interim head coach Ryan Saunders to become the new head coach. It seems Towns was very pleased with both hires, which is essential when trying to establish a culture.

"“I think that I’m very blessed that I have a great front office,” said Towns in an interview with WCCO Radio. “I have a great coaching staff. We think we have the best coaching staff possible in the game right now from a talent, experience, and just culture standpoint. And the culture we’re building here is something special. So I’m very happy.”"

The Wolves were aggressive this summer in chasing every opportunity they could, all while making cheap, low risk signings. Trading for Jarrett Culver in exchange for Dario Saric on draft night is an example of an opportunity they chased that panned out.

The team also made a strong push to acquire All-Star D’Angelo Russell, but ultimately fell just short. Nonetheless, the organization gave reasonable contracts to Shabazz Napier, Jordan Bell, Jake Layman, Treveon Graham, Noah Vonleh and Tyrone Wallace.

The organization has also made it very clear how they want to systematically change the way basketball is played in Minnesota. For years, the Timberwolves have been closer to the bottom of the league than the top in terms of pace of play. With the additions they’ve made, it’s become clear that they want to head in the other direction and increase the number of possessions they use. Rosas has even said as much publicly:

"“Our style of play is going to change,” Rosas said in a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview. “We want an open floor, dynamic style, up-tempo game. For us, a lot of that means playing more perimeter [players] on the floor. So, our depth at the four is a little light, but our ability to play wings two, three, four consistently, we’ve got a high level of talent there.”"

Minnesota may not have a roster stacked with All-Stars, but there’s plenty of talent in Towns, Culver, Robert Covington, Jeff Teague and Andrew Wiggins. The Timberwolves also finally have a roster and culture that makes sense and is easy to identify. The organization has made clear this summer that everything is going to properly revolve around Towns and the additions made were to compliment him.

“For us here in Minnesota, we’re very fortunate to have a player like Karl-Anthony Towns who is a cornerstone for us,” said Rosas on Outside The Lines. “We’re built around his window.”