Karl-Anthony Towns is the antidote to a Warriors Dynasty

Kevin Durant is leading the Warriors to new heights this postseason. Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the Timberwolves may be the answer to a Warriors’ dynasty.

Karl-Anthony Towns, have you been watching the NBA Finals?

If you have been, Kevin Durant and the Warriors are giving you and your pack of Timberwolves the blueprint for winning a championship of your own in the near future.

The Warriors have cruised through the regular season, playoffs, and Finals like no other team in NBA history.

Despite the fact that Golden State has been the class of the league for the past three seasons, the Kevin Durant Dubs are a different animal altogether.

You, Karl-Anthony Towns, may just be the antidote for what ails the entire NBA — the current juggernaut and potential dynasty that is the Golden State Warriors.

I know, that may seem like an intimidating prospect for a player you’ve long held in high regard.

The Sickness

The last two Finals were competitive, memorable contests, but the addition of Kevin Durant has turned Golden State into a seemingly unstoppable force.

Mainly because Kevin Durant allows the Warriors to play small ball while remaining, well, tall.

In the fourth quarter of these finals, Durant has simply been too much for LeBron James. One of the main advantages Durant has been exploiting against James has been his length and height advantage. In essence, allowing him to close the door down the the stretch.

Over the past two championship runs — the Warriors’ title in ’15 and the Cavs’ victory last season — King James was able to exploit, at times, the small-ball lineup that Steve Kerr would employ.

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Now, it’s difficult to use the word exploit against a team that won the title two years ago and nearly repeated their feat last season; but James was much more effective against a KD-less Warriors than he has been against the current Durant Dubs.

Durant, and his counterpart Draymond Green, give the Warriors the flexibility to play small without losing length, strength, and versatility. Throw in the in-their-prime Splash Brothers, and voila!, you have the makings of a potential dynasty.

Surely, this is not ground-breaking news to anyone who even remotely follows the NBA. I emphasize it, rather, to show how unique the Warriors are and how seemingly impossible they will be to beat over the next several seasons.

The Antidote

Enter Karl-Anthony Towns.

Towns, and the Wolves, may provide the NBA’s antidote to the Golden State Warriors.

It seems impossible to think of the Warriors losing anytime in the near future. However, in the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Towns, due to his ability to stretch the floor and allow the future Wolves to play small while remaining big, can be the one man in the Western Conference that stops the Warriors reign.

“He’s going to be a Hall of Famer in this league.” Durant on KAT via Jon Krawczynski.

Wolves’ fans may recall Towns taking it to Durant down the stretch of a game during KAT’s rookie season. You know, the Ricky Rubio game-winner contest.

Before Rubio hit the game-winning three with 0.2 left on the clock, Karl-Anthony Towns showed no fear in attacking Durant on his then home floor in Oklahoma City.

Towns already has the offensive skills to match up against the likes of Kevin Durant out West. Pairing him with a stretch four, perhaps Jonathan Isaac, would give the Timberwolves another lengthy front court player to match up with the Bay Area behemoth.

Jonathan Isaac: The Choice for the Wolves

As it stands right now, KAT and the Wolves are lacking on the interior when it comes to defense. During their November matchup, Durant seemed to get the better of KAT on that side of the ball.

In viewing the following clip, it’s clear that Durant is, dare I say, light years ahead of KAT when it comes to defensive effectiveness.

Durant and the Warriors simply play with so much freedom on both sides of the ball, so it’s clear that he got the better of Towns in this early-season contest.

However, that’s not to say that Towns cannot get there. He can, and he will.

Here’s a breakdown of Durant and Towns’ head-to-head contests over the past two seasons.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table

KD got the better of rookie Towns last year, but KAT outplayed Durant in their December game at Target Center.

While these number don’t compare advanced stats where Durant, most certainly, has an advantage on the defensive end; they do show promise.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, for instance, do not have a Karl-Anthony Towns. LeBron James is undoubtedly the best player in the NBA, and KAT may never reach the heights James has in his career.

However, the NBA gives out rings for the best team at the end of the season, not the best player in the league.

Towns, on the other hand, offers something that James does not: he does not give up any length to Durant. Therefore, as Towns continues to fill out and master the Tom Thibodeau defensive scheme, he will evolve into a formidable foe for Durant and the Warriors.

The Wolves, as they stand now, actually match up fairly well against Golden State. They’ve beaten them two out of the last five times the teams have played.

Once Karl-Anthony Towns, and the rest of his pack of Wolves, learn to play defense on a more consistent basis, they will become even more of a formidable opponent against the Warriors.

A more defensively-polished KAT will be able to guard Durant anywhere on the court, and switch off on smaller Warriors like this:

Small Ball, Tall Ball

In short, Durant is the Warriors cheat code against Cleveland and the rest of the NBA’s contenders.  KAT may be the cheat code against the Durant-led Warriors. Towns offers a unique counter to the Warriors infamous “Death Lineup”.

The Warriors “Death Lineup” currently looks like this:

• PG: Steph Curry
• Wing: Klay Thompson
• Wing: Andre Iguodala
• Big: Draymond Green
• Big: Kevin Durant

In a situation like this, positions really become meaningless. Is Durant the forward or the center? Is Green the power forward or under-sized post man? Does it really matter? Frankly, it doesn’t.

The future Timberwolves’ could counter with something like this:

• PG: Ricky Rubio
• Wing: Zach LaVine or Wilson Chandler
• Wing: Andrew Wiggins
• Big: Jonathan Isaac or Lauri Markkanen
• Big: Karl-Anthony Towns

Dream Draft Scenarios: Wolves Trade Down

If Thibodeau and Scott Layden feel that they can get a stretch four later in the draft and pick up a versatile veteran, the Wolves could run with the second option listed above with a recovering LaVine coming off the bench with former starter, Gorgui Dieng.

In either case, the maturation of Towns, and to a lesser degree Wiggins, will be the anchor of any Wolves’ threat to a Warriors’ dynasty.

However, whether the Wolves can start to compete with the juggernaut sooner rather than later depends, in great part, on the moves that Thibs and Layden make this summer.

If the Timberwolves’ front office pulls off some veteran free agent signings, a quality trade or two, and a successful draft; the Wolves may find themselves playing the Warriors next post-season.

If that’s the case, those Warriors will still be pacing the court like a herd of deer running through the woods.

Right now the deer population is at a high while the Wolf population is at a thirteen-year low (aka playoff drought).

But, the Wolves, and their Alpha Dog — Karl-Anthony Towns — won’t be laying in wait too much longer.

Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Top ten current players

They’re hungry.

As in nature, the cycle of the deer will end, and the rise of the Wolf will follow.