Kevin Garnett wants Karl-Anthony Towns to take on Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic role
11/01/2024 04:56 PM
Hall of Fame forward Kevin Garnett wants to see his former teammate Karl-Anthony Towns reach his full potential with the New York Knicks. After seeing Towns produce a stat line reminiscent of Patrick Ewing, Garnett is eager to see KAT take his game to new heights, similar to the likes of the NBA's most recent MVP centers in Denver Nuggets' reigning Nikola Jokic and 2023's Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Garnett, joined by Paul Pierce, talked about Towns' growth with New York in a recent episode of KG Certified.
"At what point do the Knicks steal a page out of Philly's book or out of the Denver Nuggets book? Because if you notice, what makes the Denver Nuggets and the Sixers prolific is the Maxey–Embiid combination and the Murray – Joker combination," Garnett said. "At what point, if I'm New York, do I start looking at that? I have an unbelievable big here who's versatile and who can actually fake the hand off one dribble, put it on your head, or play-make either corner. Man, you got to start tapping into that. They are winning because of movement and constant movement."
Towns dominated in the Knicks' 116-107 win against the Miami Heat. His double-double (44 points, 13 rebounds) on 17-of-25 attempts, including 4-for-5 from deep, catapulted New York to their second win of the young regular season (2-2).
"Thibs and the coaching staff are going to have to start tapping into some of that," Garnett added. "The high post now, you have a guard. This ain't Mitchell Robinson, no disrespect to him, but Mitchell Robinson is a certain type of big, and when you're initiating offense with a certain type of big, dribble hand-offs, a big can sit back, guards can go through all types of s***. When you have Karl-Anthony Towns up there, and he's doing a dribble hand-off, you actually got to be up. So, that changes the dynamic."
KAT's elite 3-point shooting out of the gates could be the key to unlocking elite offensive production. Shooting at an absurd 72.7% clip from deep isn't sustainable all year. However, after connecting on 41.6% of his threes last season, which was better than both Embiid and Jokic, Towns can improve drastically in 2024-25.
Karl-Anthony Towns' eye-popping stat line against Heat
Kevin Garnett watched Karl-Anthony Towns become the first New York Knicks center to score 44 points in a game since Patrick Ewing. In his first four games in the Big Apple, Towns has averaged 22.5 points while shooting 58.5%, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. However, his status for Friday's game against the Detroit Pistons remains questionable.
Towns is on the Knicks injury report with a sprained wrist.
The post Kevin Garnett wants Karl-Anthony Towns to take on Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic role appeared first on ClutchPoints.
