Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns’ post-Butler emergence

Already an All-Star, Karl-Anthony Towns has found another gear since the Minnesota Timberwolves traded away Jimmy Butler, and the sky seems to be the limit for the Wolves superstar.

Lest we forget that Karl-Anthony Towns has already made his first All-Star team and had a fantastic season last year, it’s also important to note that Towns might be making another clear leap now that Jimmy Butler has taken his talents to the City of Brotherly Love.

Towns has been incredible since Day One of his NBA career, of course, winning the Rookie of the Year award with ease back in 2014-15 and averaging 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds in his second year in the league.

Last year, Towns took a backseat to Butler and saw his volume-based stats dip (points, shot attempts, usage, assists) but his shooting percentages rise across the board as he became one of the better 3-point shooters in the league at 42.1 percent.

Early this season, the uncertainty of the Butler situation hung like a pall over the Wolves and Towns struggled mightily in virtually every aspect of his game.

This is from our game preview before Wednesday’s loss in Sacramento:

"In the first 12 games of the season and leading up to the loss to the Kings on Nov. 9, Towns was averaging just 18.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while shooting 44.3 percent from the floor. In the 15 games since, Towns is now averaging 24.1 points and 13.2 rebounds per game while hitting on 52.9 percent of his shots from the floor."

Despite having a relatively quiet night against the Kings (19 points on 15 shots, 11 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks), Towns has been a monster since the Butler trade, and he was recognized for his hot play of late by ESPN’s Zach Lowe.

"Since the Butler trade, Towns has posted up 19 times per 100 possessions — the most in the league over that span, and a huge jump from his pre-trade number (12.5), per Second Spectrum tracking data. His efficiency on the block has skyrocketed; Minnesota is averaging almost 1.2 points per possession on any trip featuring a Towns post-up, typically a top-20-ish mark, per Second Spectrum.…But the raw material of an unstoppable inside-out force is here. Towns can face up bulkier defenders, blow by them, or loft jumpers from anywhere. He can bully smaller dudes. He’s a skilled passer when he decides to be. He has one silky go-to move — his jump hook — and some counters."

Lowe also notes Towns’ improved defense, which he attributes largely to KAT’s apparent decision to try much harder on that end of the floor of late. He also points out that Towns is still committing silly turnovers and there are still clear wrinkles to iron out.

Wolves fans no doubt have noticed that Towns has been in foul trouble a lot lately, and it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone to know that Towns is in fact averaging his most personal fouls per game in his career, and it isn’t close. This year, KAT is committing 3.7 personal fouls per game, up over 3.5 last year, 2.7 in his second year, and 3.0 as a rookie.

Somewhat shockingly, 43.5 percent of Towns’ fouls committed this year have been of the offensive variety, according to Basketball Reference’s tracking. Coming into this season, his career mark was 29.1 percent of his fouls committed that were on offense.

Some of that is style and a lack of attention to detail, of course, while part of it surely bad luck and one would think that those calls should eventually begin to swing the other way.

At any rate, Towns is having another All-Star season, and if he keeps up his torrid post-Butler pace over the next few weeks, it won’t even be a question whether or not he achieves All-Star status.