Down Towns? The low down on Karl Anthony Towns 2023 revival

No longer the center of attention

For Karl-Anthony Towns, the 2022-23 NBA season was a year of tremendous change. Not only was he expected to play a completely new position on the basketball court, but his injury made it virtually impossible to do so over the course of the season.

After all, the guy was injured in late November 2022 and did not return to the roster until late March 2023. All in all, the Timberwolves tried to get Towns up to speed at a brand new position on just a part-time basis over the course of 29 regular season games. After all, when starting center Rudy Gobert rested, Towns moved over to the center position and other players came off the bench to play the power forward position.

So how many NBA centers truly excel at Perimeter ISO Defense? I’ll wait . . .

Timberwolves backing a new horse

While Towns was recuperating, the Minnesota Timberwolves roster did not suddenly go into auto-pilot. In fact, leadership was even more critical than ever. Unrest had begun to show between veterans D’Angelo Russell and Rudy Gobert as DLo was no longer content to promote others on the basketball court, despite that being one of the main responsibilities for an effective NBA point guard. And yet other signs of problems were showing as well.

The Timberwolves’ rebounding, perimeter defense, and perimeter shooting were struggling.  As a result, the Timberwolves were compelled to lean more and more heavily into the offensive skills of shooting guard Anthony Edwards. As the Timberwolves pivoted to Anthony Edwards to lead the pack, the Timberwolves began to find more success.