KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS – Page 4 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Flip’s Ties to Timberwolves End with Towns Trade to Knicks

Posted on October 1, 2024October 1, 2024 by David Shama

Notes, quotes and observations from the Timberwolves beat as the team opens practice this week.

The last connection to the Flip Saunders era is gone now with this week’s trade sending Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks. Saunders, the beloved former U point guard, Wolves coach and president of basketball ops, made Towns the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft before tragically passing away in October of that year.

Saunders was 60 years old when he died from cancer. He left behind a plan to make the Wolves a playoff contender, with the versatile and deft shooting 7-foot Towns as the center piece.

There was debate before the draft whether Towns or 6-10 Jahlil Okafor was most worthy of going No. 1. Saunders made the right selection in taking Towns who became Rookie of the Year averaging 18.3 points per game, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks. Okafor had a disappointing NBA career and last played in the league in 2020-2021.

Towns, who turns 29 in November, is one of the best shooting big men ever but his lack of consistency in big games has tarnished his reputation. Still, he was coveted by the Knicks and is reunited with coach Tom Thibodeau, a demanding leader who several years ago coached Towns with the Wolves.

The Knicks fill their center position with an All-Star while the Wolves receive an All-Star big man in power forward Julius Randle, versatile guard Donte DiVincenzo, and a future first round protected draft choice via the Pistons. “Minnesota gets two quality players,” Vinny Del Negro told Sports Headliners.

Del Negro, a former NBA player and executive, said the deal “made sense for both teams.” The Wolves were able to reduce salary, saving millions in payroll and luxury tax penalties, and stabilizing their financial outlook.

Karl-Anthony Towns photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves.

There is no certainty whether the trade makes the Wolves even more likely to make a deep playoff run or take a step back. Towns’ talent is enormous, including his defensive presence that contributed so much to knocking the defending NBA champion Nuggets out of last spring’s playoffs. Whether the 2024-2025 roster is more talented than last year’s version may not even be the determiner in whether the Wolves can go beyond the Western Conference Finals as they did this year. Results could depend on how everyone blends together and key players avoiding injury.

“…We think we can play with anybody,” said Tim Connelly, the Wolves president of basketball operations. He indicated the Wolves want to be positioned financially to win now and in the long term. He also said he’s impressed with the offseason work done by the players making themselves the best “versions of themselves.”

While the players had an emotional bond with Towns, they also understand the NBA is a business that includes trades. “We have all the trust in the world in Tim and what he’s been able to do for this team in a short period of time, and where we’ve been able to get to,” said veteran point guard Mike Conley. “…From my understanding, they handled it better than probably any organization has probably ever handled trading somebody. Super professional and the way they worked their business. …”

The Wolves’ development may now be more than ever in the hands of 23-year-old All-Star guard Anthony Edwards, generally considered a top 10 player in the league. Last season, his fourth in the NBA, he averaged a career best 25.9 points per game and played for the gold medal winning US Olympic team in the summer.

“We continue to challenge Anthony because we think he can be one of the best players ever,” Connelly said. “We don’t say that lightly. With that expectation comes tremendous responsibility. Not just the last 20 games (of last season), he’s grown tremendously as a leader.

“He’s starting to find his voice where he’s more comfortable calling guys out in a very positive way. He’s one of the more positive great players I’ve been around. There’s no skipping steps. … I think when Anthony is locked in defensively there is no better on the ball defender in the NBA. And we’re just unbelievably encouraged by his development and really proud of him.”

Asked about the “one of the best ever” comment, Edwards replied: “Yea, I think he right.”

Edwards acknowledged that in addition to his all-around physical skills, he must have a superb work ethic to reach the highest levels of achievement and show he’s coachable. His goals over the summer included being in the weight room as much as possible “and take some fat off.”

Edwards said he begins training camp in the best physical shape of his pro career. Part of that is attributed to the physical challenge of preparing for and playing in the Olympics where his teammates included LeBron James, arguably one of the two or three greatest players ever.

Edwards didn’t offer details, but he said James has “like this little thing he do before every game.” Whatever it is, Edwards said it’s a great routine “that I stole.”

Edwards made 35.7 percent of his three-point shots, down from a career high of 36.9 the prior season. He made catching the basketball and shooting three pointers an offseason priority.

Among Edwards’ new teammates is veteran guard-forward Joe Ingles. He’s admired Edwards’ talent for awhile while playing for other teams and was attracted to signing with the Wolves as a free agent. “Obviously they’ve got ‘Ant’ who is probably more than likely going to be the face of the league soon,” Ingles said. “Just a great roster, a great coaching staff.”

Ingles turns 37 tomorrow (October 2) and for a short while will be the oldest player on the roster. Conley turns 37 on October 11.

Ingles has played with three other NBA teams including with the Jazz where he and Conley excelled in working pick-and-rolls with now Wolves center Rudy Gobert. Ingles, who will come off the bench to give the team spot minutes and hopefully a frequent playmaking spark, knows his presence in Minneapolis isn’t about stroking his ego.

“It’s about the team. It’s about winning. I am too old and too over the hill to be worried about myself at this point.”

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Gold Medal Growth Opportunity for Wolves’ ‘Ant’

Posted on August 6, 2024August 7, 2024 by David Shama

Anthony Edwards and his U.S. Olympic men’s basketball teammates stayed undefeated at the Paris games this afternoon. Edwards, who had a second best on the team 17 points, helped the Americans run their record to 4-0 with their 122-87 win over Brazil. The U.S. advances to the semifinals in Thursday’s game against Serbia as the Americans pursue Olympic gold.

Edwards—who scored most of his points today in the second half in a one-sided game from early on—was coming off a 26-point game last week when he led the U.S. in scoring in a 104-83 victory against Puerto Rico. Edwards, who made six of 10 field goals today including three of seven three-pointers. trailed only Devin Booker’s 18 points on the U.S. team.

The Timberwolves’ 23-year-old shooting guard is thought to be on the verge of superstardom, if not there already. Edwards was named All-NBA for the first time in his career earlier this year. He made the all-league second team after averaging a career-high 25.9 points per game on a career-best 46.1 percent shooting. He averaged 5.4 rebounds and a career-high 5.1 assists, becoming the first player in franchise history to average 25+ points/5+ rebounds/5+ assists in a season.

Edwards has expressed confidence that he can contribute in big moments, including at the Olympics where so far he is the American team’s leading scorer. “His confidence is something that fuels him, to be quite honest with you,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told Sports Headliners earlier this summer.

Anthony Edwards photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves

The Olympics are a superb “summer lab” for Edwards to polish his skills and improve his maturity as he prepares for his fifth NBA season this fall. Although Edwards is coming off the bench for the U.S. team, coach Steve Kerr is liberally dividing up playing time so that his uber-talented and deep roster provides most players with double digit time on the floor. Today Edwards played a team leading 20 minutes, 53 seconds.

The competitiveness in practices and games at the Olympics is certainly an opportunity for Edwards to take the “next step.” In the playoffs last spring he had superb games but also moments where both his decision-making and stamina lagged.

Being around consummate veterans like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant will show Edwards how they handle big moments on a big stage. It is also a setting for Edwards to see how they handle themselves off the court—an environment that sometimes has been challenging for him since the Wolves drafted him No. 1 overall in 2020.

Two years ago this September, Edwards was fined $40,000 by the NBA for anti-gay remarks he made in an Instagram post. After an April 2023 incident in Denver when Edwards recklessly swung a chair that hit two bystanders as he exited the court, he was fined $50,000 by the league.

There have been other issues that have impacted his reputation, too. Whether he can put further problems behind him will be interesting as he leads the Wolves, a team whose leadership he took over last season from Karl-Anthony Towns.

Edwards seemingly benefited from international play last offseason when he played for the U.S. Men’s FIBA World’s team. He led the U.S. in scoring at 18.9 points per game and minutes (25.9) as the Americans placed fourth in the tournament. He also averaged 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals.

Chris Finch: ‘Garza Very Potent Offensive Player’

Luka Garza has played minimal minutes in his three seasons in the NBA, including two with the Timberwolves where he’s a fan favorite because of his offensive efficiency, work ethic and ties to the Big Ten via the University of Iowa. Garza, a 6-foot-10 center-forward who averaged a career-low 4.9 minutes per game last season and 8.9 minutes over three seasons, has been an emergency back up during his short pro career. But he has shown enough promise to earn his best contract after signing a two-year deal with Minnesota last month that Spotrac.com reports guarantees him $2,162,606 for 2024-2025.

Garza’s deep on the bench status won’t change next season unless injuries impact the front court roster. Finch will remind a listener that things can happen over the course of a long season.

“I don’t see him like right off the bat being in our rotation, but, again, you never know how these things work out,” Finch said. “Couple years ago, I didn’t see Naz Reid in our rotation either.”

Reid, a power forward, was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year last season. An undrafted free agent in 2019 out of LSU, Reid began his career with a two-way contract and developed into an impact scorer off the bench for Minnesota.

Garza knows about two-way deals (meaning a player can be sent to the developmental NBA G League and earn minimal money) but when given the opportunity with the G League Iowa Wolves or Minnesota, he has produced points. In a late season rout of the Raptors last spring, he scored 16 points for the Wolves, making seven of 10 shots in 9:28 of playing time. That was the most points in under 10 minutes by a Wolves player since James Robinson had 23 points in 9:35 minutes on the court.

“He is a very potent offensive player,” Finch said. “He can score from all ranges, (including) his three-point shot. He’s got an old school back to the basket game. One thing we love about him is he can really punish switches.”

When a smaller player has to switch on to the 245-pound Garza, the likelihood is more points for the Wolves. He has a deft shooting touch near and away from the basket.

But there’s more to Garza’s success offensively. There is his determination to play with effort including trying to beat the defense down the floor for a layup or dunk.

Garza’s work ethic, drive, good soldier reputation and perhaps even bench cheer leading is part of the reason he’s stuck in the NBA, initially arriving as a second-round pick by the Pistons and now with guaranteed money in Minneapolis. He played in 25 games, averaging four points on 48 percent shooting, along with 1.2 rebounds and 0.2 assists last season.

“He certainly could be a double-digit scorer in the league if given the minutes and opportunity to do so,” Finch said. “The key for Luka being a rotation player is always going to be his ability to guard in pick and roll (situations) and defensive rebound.”

Garza has worked on improving his footwork and other skills that can make him a better player, including defensively. That improvement is clear to those who watch him closely, but it will always be true that his impact is most evident offensively.

“…When Luka comes on the floor we make a conscious effort to get him the ball,” Finch said. “It doesn’t matter who he is playing with or against.”

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Coach Confident about Wolves Paying Luxury Tax

Posted on July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by David Shama

The controlling ownership of the Timberwolves is in dispute, but head coach Chris Finch told Sports Headliners he’s optimistic about the organization’s willingness to pay the NBA luxury tax to retain core players and add talent.

“I am extremely confident everyone (among key players) is back. We’re very fortunate to have our top seven players under contract,” Finch said. ‘We’re coming off a great season. We have strong team identity —which we’re looking forward to being able to add to, not detract from.”

That was evidenced on NBA Draft night last month when the Wolves acquired the No. 8 overall selection in the first round from the Spurs by giving up future draft picks. Minnesota used the lottery pick to take Kentucky point guard Rob Dillingham. The higher selection increased the franchise’s expected luxury tax by millions of dollars, with Sportrac.com now reporting the luxury tax amount for next season at $105.6 million.

The luxury tax will, of course, be on top of reportedly at least $196 million for next season in committed salaries. “Yes, Glen (Taylor) and ownership have been extremely generous in their willingness to support this roster and the opportunity I think this roster has,” Finch said. “That was evident by our ability to be aggressive on draft night to move up. That doesn’t happen unless you have ownership’s backing.”

Ownership of the Wolves and Lynx is in flux with the legal dispute between long time majority owner Taylor and the Marc Lore, Alex Rodriquez, Michael Bloomberg group. A resolution is expected by fall, with perhaps a vote by NBA owners deciding the matter.

Unconfirmed reports last spring speculated the potential new majority owners wanted to slash payroll, resulting in reduced luxury tax imposed by the league. For now, Taylor remains the majority owner and apparently is willing to pay the tax for exceeding the league tax threshold of $170,814,000.

The organization’s willingness to spend additional monies is sweet music to long suffering Wolves fans. The team is coming off a 56-26 regular season where Minnesota won the second most games in franchise history. The Wolves advanced to the Western Conference playoff finals for only the second time in their history and first time in 20 years.

Minnesota will enter next season among the favored teams to win the NBA championship. “..We have every opportunity to punch through and be considered among those teams,” Finch said after noting the last six titles have been won by six different franchises.

The Wolves return starters Mike Conley Jr., Jaden Daniels, Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. Rounding out the top seven are Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander- Walker.

Towns, among the team’s veterans at age 28, will earn one of the NBA’s top salaries next season at $49,350,000, per ESPN.com. His uber talent as a 7-foot combo power forward-center is undeniable but his inconsistency and pricey paycheck have made him a subject of trade speculation if the basketball front office led by Tim Connelly is told to reduce payroll.

Finch (no surprise) is a KAT supporter and agreed with the suggestion he is underappreciated in this market. “Absolutely. KAT is a phenomenal player,” he said.

Finch also said KAT had a “great season” and is among the team’s most important and impactful players. More than anyone, the coach said, KAT was willing to take the lead role in making the partnership work between himself and 7-foot-1 center Rudy Gobert. The two put to rest a lot of the criticism and skepticism regarding whether “Twin Towers” could play together and help fuel a winning season.

“That, plus, I thought he (KAT) had… outstanding playoffs,” Finch said. “He had a lot of really…under the radar games that were important. He took the match up of (the Suns’ Kevin) Durant, he took the match up of (the Nuggets’ Nikola) Jokic. These are things that normally you wouldn’t have thought in the past that someone would ask of KAT, and in doing so has made a huge impact on our ability to win.”

The 19-year-old Dillingham, who only played one season at Kentucky before entering the NBA Draft, shows promise of being a major contributor off the bench. He has the kind of potential and rookie salary that the Wolves likely couldn’t afford with a similarly talented free agent or traded for player.

On Sunday, in the Wolves’ last Summer League game in Las Vegas, the 6-foot- 3 Dillingham had 25 points and 12 assists in a win over the Magic. He averaged 13.6 points, while Terrence Shannon Jr., who the Wolves selected at No. 27 in the NBA Draft, averaged 13.3.

“They both have NBA skillsets, NBA athleticism, speed and we’re excited about both of them,” Finch said. “And we’re excited about our other young players that haven’t had a chance yet. Josh Minott, Leonard Miller—these guys have an opportunity to earn minutes, too.”

Shannon, a 6-6 guard-forward, shares a skill with Dillingham of successful slashing to the basket. Both could provide valuable scoring off the bench next season, with Finch noting “they have a nose for putting the ball in the basket.” Minott and Miller, both forwards, have intrigued the Wolves with their talents since being added to the roster two years and one year ago respectively.

Finch expects Dillingham and Shannon to play extensive minutes in preseason games. Whether they can average double-digit minutes on the floor during the regular season will depend on understanding the team system and philosophy and executing. Finch added there are “non-negotiables” the coaching staff isn’t willing to accept and added “the first thing they gotta do, like any young player, is make sure they’re not hurting the team.”

There’s a “currency of trust” players must earn. Finch said his rookies will have to improve as the season progresses to achieve that trust.

Finch also said the Wolves not only like Dillingham and Shannon as players and also like their character. He believes they can handle the ups and downs of what awaits them as they start their pro careers.

As with all his players, Finch’s to-do list includes developing a one-on-one relationship with the two first round rookies. Let them know what’s expected and what they need to do.

Some of the relationship building comes away from basketball. “We try to meet them where they are,” Finch said. “We try to get comfortable with them. Who are the people in their lives? … And things they like to do off the floor. They’re all-important things that we need to know about them and learn. The best way to do that is learn them in a casual, comfortable environment.”

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