Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Onus is on Towns, plus congrats grads

The future of the Minnesota Timberwolves rests squarely on the shoulders of Karl-Anthony Towns.

In case you missed it, the Minnesota Timberwolves are all-in on Karl-Anthony Towns leading them to the promised land.

President of basketball operations Gersson Rosas has been on the job just over 13 months and he has made that fact abundantly clear. Every decision made by Rosas’ front office has been enacted with Towns in mind.

A big portion of Part Two of Jon Krawczynski’s mailbag at The Athletic (subscription required) was dedicated to exploring the various factors surrounding Towns’ career thus far and expectations moving forward. (If you have a subscription, Part One is worth a read as well.)

Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: The onus is on Karl-Anthony Towns

In the second part of Krawczynski’s mailbag, he opens with a fan question that was really more of a statement than a question. Basically, Towns is out of excuses now that he has the coach he wants and his best friend running the point.

This is, of course, fair analysis, which also needs to be hedged with the list of things that Towns has already endured in his five short years as a professional, which Jon does a great job of lining out.

Consider: Flip Saunders death only months after his selection in the draft, the firing of Sam Mitchell and hiring of Tom Thibodeau after Towns’ Rookie of the Year award-winning first season, the Jimmy Butler acquisition-turned-debacle, and now, another coaching change and front office change that preceded a pandemic and the tragic death of his mother.

There’s been plenty of good, too: the aforementioned Rookie of the Year award, two All-Star appearances, an All-NBA Third Team nomination, and the first trip to the playoffs for the franchise in 14 years.

But now more than ever, with Rosas frequently exalting Towns and making it abundantly clear that he’s the centerpiece of this latest rebuild, the onus is on the superstar big man to get the Wolves back to the playoffs as soon as possible.

Elsewhere, Jake Layman participated in a video put together by professional athletes representing all sports in the Twin Cities to congratulate high school graduates who have had ane extremely unconventional graduation season.

It’s cool to see all the teams working together for something like this, and good on Layman for participating.

We’ll be back with plenty of continuing coverage throughout the week as we continue to look ahead to the draft and the offseason. Keep it here.