Karl-Anthony Towns has been a cornerstone for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ franchise since the day he was drafted. But for the first time this season, Towns is on a team that looks like it can make the playoffs, as the Wolves are sitting at 17-13. That’s good for the fourth-best record in the Western Conference.
Minnesota loaded up on pieces to put around Towns and Andrew Wiggins this past offseason, so it’s not a huge surprise that they’re good. What might be a surprise is how they got there, as the Tom Thibodeau-coached squad has an explosive offense and a defense that has room for improvement.
We caught up with Towns to talk about the changes in Minnesota, how the team can shore up things on the defensive end, his favorite Kevin Garnett story, and the charity work he has done with Gatorade. Oh, and since we got in touch with him in the middle of a heated Stranger Things debate, we had to ask him a few questions about one of his favorite television shows.
I need to get into Stranger Things; everyone who I know who watches it is really passionate about it.
It’s amazing. I just hate that people go ahead of me when I try to watch it with them.
How far along into it are you?
Season 2, Episode 3.
I know you’re doing some charity work with Gatorade; what are you working on with them?
Gatorade has this great initiative out there called the Gatorade Play It Forward, and it allows Gatorade State Player of the Year recipients to award grants to community organizations that help young athletes reap the benefits of sport. And it’s amazing to think, with everything Gatorade has been able to do in the world, especially with athletes, that they realize that athletes are what makes them so great, and they use their products the most, so why not give back to the people who do it the most and use it the right way? With the electrolytes and everything, Gatorade is able to hydrate the players but also keep them playing.
Why is it important for you to be a part of something like this?
I think, first of all, having such an amazing partner like Gatorade to work with is nothing but a blessing. All they do for charity is truly amazing, and I think this is amazing, especially for me having history with this kind of thing with Gatorade giving grants to the State Player of the Year recipients and me being also one of those a long, long time ago when I was a younger kid … like I’m not 22 yet.
But just being able to do all that and being able to give back to communities is amazing because I couldn’t imagine growing up and not being able to play sports because of funding. The things that the kids do, I don’t think people realize fundraising and selling candy bars and all that stuff to raise money so they have a chance to play, and now with Gatorade stepping in and saying “We want you to focus on sports, we’ll take care of the rest,” that says a lot about a company.
Which organization is receiving the first Pay it Forward grant of the year?
It will be Disabled Sports USA.
The Wolves came into this year with really high expectations league-wide for really the first time since you’ve been in the NBA. How have y’all managed those expectations to get off to a hot start?
You know, we just went in every day with a mindset that we have to be a much more disciplined team than we have been the last two years. We’ve done a great job of stepping in this year with high expectations of ourselves, but also just trying to be disciplined, especially when a game gets on the line.
What do you mean when you say “be disciplined”?
Sticking to our game plan regardless of the situation, regardless of the score, regardless of the deficit. We’ve done a great job this year of continuously grinding wins out. You learn a lot, especially when you play teams like the Spurs. No matter what the score is, they continuously stick to their game-plan no matter what, how much time is on the clock. That’s why they’re so great.
Just in general, what’s the early season been like in Minnesota with all the roster turnover you guys had coming into this season?
It’s been great. We’ve done a great job, like I said, of being disciplined, and we have some great vets around who have been around and have the experience of not only making it to the playoffs, but making it deep into the playoffs. With all that experience comes a new sense of direction, and we’ve been doing a great job of listening to our vets.
Among those vets are Jimmy Butler, Jamal Crawford, and Jeff Teague, three guys who’ve played a ton of basketball and have had a ton of success in the past. What have they brought to the team that has helped contribute to that mindset, whether collectively or individually?
With those guys, they’re just so good at understanding from their experience how to win. They’ve seen a lot more ways to lose and ways to win, and with their experience, we’ve been just trying to milk all that knowledge they have to try to find ways to win.
Have you had to get used to playing with those guys at all, or has it been as seamless of a transition as your team’s record might indicate?
We’ve been getting used to each other a lot. Every day in, day out, we’re building better chemistry and finding different ways to work with each other and make each other better. It’s all about complementing each other, and with so many new players, obviously not having the preseason like we’ve had the last couple of years, a short preseason, we had to find different ways to expedite that process. We’ve done a great job of every day in practice finding different ways to complement each other, finding our tendencies out better, and just playing basketball with a lot more joy.
With Jimmy, Jamal, and Jeff, in what way do they complement you the best and vice versa?
We’re just trying to help out each other. Jeff, with his speed, opens up the court, Jimmy just being Jimmy makes everyone better, and I just try to be as versatile as possible where I can open up the floor or impact the paint for them. It’s all about making each other better, and obviously with Andrew (Wiggins), Andrew just doing what Andrew does makes us better. We have so many great talents, and let’s not also forget Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford. Everyone on the team has a way of complementing everyone else, and when every one of us is sacrificing and doing what we need to do to make each other better, that’s when our team is at our best.
What has been the most exciting thing about having these new guys come onto the team who bring a different perspective and have had success around the league?
It’s amazing because, I think, a lot of times I don’t ever think people have ever questioned the talent that’s been in Minnesota. I think they’ve always questioned the experience. It’s always just been more experience, they question our experience, they question our youth. And I think sometimes that held us back — sometimes it won us a game, but most of the time it held us back.
Now with people like that who are willing to come here and teach us so much, especially a person like Jamal Crawford who’s had so many stops in his career, it teaches us different ways to interact with each other, it teaches us new ways to interact with each other, and it teaches us what it is to be a winning team.
Something I find really interesting is Tom Thibodeau is considered a defensive coach, one of the best defensive coaches of all time. But the numbers say the Wolves’ offense has been the team’s strength. How do you guys plan on shoring things up on the defensive end, and how do you make sure the offense stays productive through 82 games and into the postseason?
We’ve just got to stay disciplined, and I think that we’re starting off on the right foot. We’re just learning, we’re getting used to each other and our tendencies. It doesn’t happen in a day, but with us, we’re getting better every single day. With us getting better and understanding each other, we’re gonna be that much better of a defensive team. We just need to, God willing, stay healthy and stick to the gameplan.
And what do you contribute to the success the offense has had?
I think the offense is just, we have so many talented players, it happens when everyone is playing at a place we like to play at. When we’re rolling, it’s very hard to stop us offensively. We have so many great scorers down the line. It’s amazing, when you have all that talent it only takes one person to have a good night for the scoring to get really hot.
Five guys can have a bad night but if you’re having a good night, Jimmy’s having a good night, something like that, I’m guessing the rest just comes pretty easily.
Absolutely. Teams have to worry about all five starters and everyone else on the bench. Everyone on the bench can score at a tremendous rate. I’m only speaking from the starters’ perspective, but we’ve got five people at any time who can go for 30. That speaks a lot about the talent we have.
You’ve been one of those guys who have been tabbed as a future face of the league since your high school days. Is that something that motivates you, or do you try to drown out that noise?
I don’t worry about all that. That’s all just static noise in the background; I have to worry about making sure I’m working night in and night out to be the best teammate I can be for my teammates. That’s the most important thing because at the end of the day, I don’t want my legacy to be known for talent. I want it to be known for winning.
You and Kevin Garnett were teammates for a year and a half or so. It seems like everyone who played with him seems to have that one great story about being his teammate, so what’s your favorite story from your time playing together?
I got a lot; I don’t know how many of them I can say. I just remember the first time I got to play against KG, I was a rookie that came in, I had a lot to prove. I just went in, we played 5-on-5 against each other, and it was definitely a fun day.
He’s still working with you and mentoring you, correct?
Oh yeah, that’s my older brother, that’s my family. I talk to him all the time.
What’s the biggest thing that he’s taught you?
It’s more about the league and the life and how to deal with it. When you’re a rookie, I always felt that I was mature to get through it by myself, but with him along it made it so much easier to understand the way the life is and how to be one of the greatest players the league has ever seen, like him. Just getting his mindset and his knowledge, it put me years ahead of where he was when he started out.
