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Back in March I put out a tweet that was critical of Timberwolves big man Karl Anthony Towns. I wasn't the first to be critical of his play, I certainly won't be the last but at the moment of publishing the message, I had had enough.
The post read as follows, "I’m not the only one who consistently feels torn cheering for KAT, am I?"
It was taken ten different kinds of ways so I followed up with the following post of context...
I stand by everything that I said in those posts and the past few weeks of Timberwolves basketball have done nothing but support this case. With the limelight fixed directly upon him, KAT has played two of worst games of his career of late and it's followed the same recipe for disaster. Foul trouble, complaining, forcing the issue and losing his cool.
The first game against the Clippers in the play-in is forgivable. File it under the "it can happen to anyone" category. But then last night it happened again, the same darn thing to the letter.
Instead of adjusting his game, keeping his cool and helping the team work around the issue at hand, Karl forced the issue and quite honestly played his way onto the bench. There was no leadership, there was no example being set, just complaining...because he doesn't think that he's at fault, like at all.
Sorry Karl, but you are at fault here. That's not to say that you're the only reason the team lost last night, but you're in a position where you just need to do better. I'm not talking about scoring more, I'm not talking about making over the top gestures with your hands when you finally make a shot, I'm talking about actually being the leader that you act like you are.
Need more evidence that this is a problem? Check out Karl's post-game press conference following the loss last night, and remind yourself that this is the guy who had more fouls that shots last night and did nothing to lift his teammates up. Oh yeah, this is also the same guy that skipped any postgame press conference last time he played like this against the Clippers.
I mean, come on man. Skipping the question about only taking four shots? Then, he's asked about being a leader on this team and how he's going to lift people up, he says "I'm gonna go home...drink some wine...decompress..." I'm sorry what now?
I'm willing to be proven wrong on this one, but this is not the kind of attitude that you build a franchise around. It's time for Karl put the wine down and take a look in the mirror? Are you really leading the way that you think you are? You're polished enough to talk the talk, time to start walking the walk.