Knicks' Josh Hart issues reality check about playing with Karl-Anthony Towns
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The New York Knicks threw caution to the wind and went all-in, trading away Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo (as well as a heavily-protected first-round pick) in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns is a four-time All-Star who has gradually lost his luster over the past few seasons due to the emergence of Anthony Edwards, but he remains one of the greatest big-man shooters of all time, and he is expected to take the Knicks’ offense to great heights.
The fit on the court is perfect for Towns; he has active defenders on the perimeter that will help make up for his struggles when it comes to protecting the rim, and then on offense, he will work magic in the two-man game with Jalen Brunson. But for Knicks forward Josh Hart, he is preaching patience, as a seismic change like this always needs a bit of time to work out for the best.
“I think it takes a little bit of time. For me, I haven't played with that many shooting bigs in my career so I'm looking forward to someone we can isolate on the post, make good decisions, put the ball in the basket,” Hart said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Tom Thibodeau took over as the Knicks’ head coach at the start of the 2020-21 season, and since then, they have not utilized a sweet-shooting big man at the five like they will next season with Towns on the roster. They have gone from Nerlens Noel to Mitchell Robinson to Taj Gibson to Isaiah Hartenstein — players who don’t command much attention more than five feet away from the basket — to Towns, someone who can call himself the greatest shooting big man of all time and not look very foolish.
But with training camp underway, the Knicks have the opportunity to integrate Towns and get a feel for his game. The pressure is on them to make it work, although they have plenty of time since the franchise has its core locked down for the foreseeable future.
“I'm going to tell him whenever I get a rebound and run, just trail to the 3-point line. I'm sure he'll get some open 3s that way. It's going to take some time just to get the feeling down. Obviously [Jalen Brunson], Mikal [Bridges], myself, we played together for a while. OG [Anunoby] played with [Brunson] and myself for a handful of games. It's going to take a little bit and that's what training camp and preseason are for — so we can hit the ground running on opening day,” Hart added.
Karl-Anthony Towns to return to 25/10 form with the Knicks?
Karl-Anthony Towns’ stats have dropped off during his final two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had to learn how to play power forward on the fly following the addition of Rudy Gobert, and then he gradually ceded more control of the offense to Anthony Edwards. Even then, Towns was a consistent threat, averaging around 21 points and eight rebounds a night on 50/40/87 shooting splits.
But with the Knicks, he comes in as the de facto Julius Randle replacement, and New York also has a shooting void to fill with the departure of Donte DiVincenzo. Randle and DiVincenzo averaged 39.5 combined points last season. Mikal Bridges will help fill some of that scoring void, but Towns is the number one candidate to take the lion’s share of shots outside of Jalen Brunson, and as the starting center, his rebound numbers should return to where they were during the earlier days of his career.
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