Karl-Anthony Towns: Timberwolves 2015 NBA Draft Profile

Mar 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) shoots against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the finals of the midwest regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Strengths:

Offensively, one word to describe Towns’ game would be solid. However, it’s difficult to get a good grip of Towns’ ability because most of his opponents in college were not nearly as big or as skilled as Towns. One thing we did see from Towns is that he was effective with his back to the basket and turning over either shoulder. Overall, Towns converted on 51% of his shots when posting up in his only college season.

Another strength of Towns is his free throw shooting, which should not be overlooked in the slightest. Having a big man who can knock down free throws at an 81% clip is valuable, and this is definitely one area where Towns has a significant advantage over Duke’s Jahlil Okafor. As we’ve seen in these NBA Playoffs with the hack-whoever strategy, being a terrible free throw shooter could be devastating for the team and for fans trying to watch the game.

Defensively, Towns showed great ability at Kentucky. He was quick enough to guard smaller, quicker guys on the perimeter while also being able to defend on the low block. Towns was excellent at positioning himself and took advantage of opportunities to jump into help defense mode, as he averaged 2.3 blocks per game. Maybe most importantly, the effort seemed to be there from Towns all season on the defensive end. His ability to position himself and use his quick feet are useless if he isn’t giving effort.

Next: Weaknesses