{"id":90039,"date":"2025-08-17T17:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/90039\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T17:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:49:08","slug":"how-john-calipari-tricked-the-nba-about-karl-anthony-towns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/90039\/","title":{"rendered":"How John Calipari tricked the NBA about Karl-Anthony Towns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karl-Anthony Towns has become one of the best offensive centers in the NBA since he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Towns led a strong class that included future stars such as D\u2019Angelo Russell, Kristaps Porzingis, Myles Turner and Devin Booker.<\/p>\n

Towns has asserted his dominance over the years, although he\u2019s been unable to win a championship so far. After nine years with the Timberwolves, he was traded to the New York Knicks last offseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While his offense is top-notch, his defense has been subjected to criticism since he first entered the league. He was considered a potential dual-threat in college, but Towns has failed to develop his defensive side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His struggles with fouls remain a big topic around the league, but Eamon Cassels of Dunking with the Wolves credits John Calipari for \u201ctricking\u201d the NBA on Towns\u2019 upside despite having a concerning foul rate in college.<\/p>\n

John Calipari made the NBA think Karl-Anthony Towns was a good defender<\/p>\n

Cassels writes that the 2.3 blocks per game he averaged in college didn\u2019t translate into the NBA, and the 2.9 fouls in 21.1 minutes in college were a significant enough red flag for NBA scouts.<\/p>\n

\"Karl-Anthony<\/p>\n

Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks reacts after he drew the foul in the first half against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden on April 08, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying in John Calipari\u2019s system and for an elite Kentucky squad certainly benefited Towns,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAs a result, many people overlooked Towns\u2019 defensive red flags and set expectations for him to be a two-way monster. Last season, opponents shot 65.7 percent at the rim against Towns. In addition to struggling as a rim protector, Towns isn\u2019t very mobile and can be attacked on switches, especially given his poor discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towns was still selected with the No. 1 overall pick 10 years ago and he remains a star in the NBA, even if he will never be known for his defensive expertise or toughness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karl-Anthony Towns has become one of the best offensive centers in the NBA since he was selected with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,36782,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-90039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaabasketball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}