Kevin Garnett has rookie Karl-Anthony Towns’ back.
The 19-year-old Towns, who was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the first over pick in this year’s draft, was born a little bit after the 39-year-old Garnett made his NBA debut, and now they’re teammates, which is flipping cray and just out of this world.
Towns himself apparently feels the same way, too. Grantland’s Jonathan Abrams published a fantastic piece on Kentucky’s one-and-done prestige, and in talking to Towns, he found out that Garnett visited the Timberpups during the Las Vegas Summer League at a shootaround. Garnett being Garnett, a great teammate, but brain-rattling opponent, offered Towns some advice that really rings true when looking at the Association’s landscape:
Towns is only 19, born around the time his new teammate, Kevin Garnett, made his NBA debut. “Twelve days before I was born, it was his first game,” Towns said. Garnett surprised Towns and the rest of Minnesota’s summer league team by cycling through a Las Vegas shootaround with the squad. The veteran counseled the rookie on the importance of preserving his body and cautioned against banging with other big bodies too much in the post. “I had a lot of fun with talking to him, getting pointers,” Towns said. “I can’t wait to just go in there and start training with him every day.”
Garnnet was ahead of the curve for his generation in a way. He has never shot threes with consistency, but his offensive livelihood has never been predicated on bruising down low in the post. Nor was he really a mid-range guy. He attempted those shots a lot—still does—but really took things a step or two further. Literally.
He took a couple steps back and became the master of the long two. The long, long two. Nearly one-third of his career shot attempts have come between 16 feet and the three-point line, according to Basketball-Reference, which is, again, just outrageous.
Crazier still, he’s shot more than 45 percent on those looks. He’s essentially taken the least efficient shot in basketball and turned it into a strength, a specialty, something he doesn’t just dabble in but frequently exploits and does so effectively.
Not that Towns should replicate his play style. He has similar interior skills and court vision, and his defensive impact should be largely the same, only with more blocks. But he’s going to be a three-point shooter, one of the league’s preeminent stretch 5s. That’s the direction in which things are headed. You look at Towns, you look at the No. 4 pick Kristaps Porzingis, you look at Anthony Davis, and you see the future of this league.
Where certain dinosaurs might be inclined to downplay their significance or dismiss them as a fad, Garnett is already, in a way, telling Towns to get acclimated to the outside. And while chucking threes in volume may not be what he has in mind, the sheer nature of his advice is proof, however slight, that even now, when he’s 39 and on his way out of the league, Garnett is still ahead of the curve.
