Why Karl Anthony-Towns needs to play for a franchise like the Boston Celtics

Since 2015, Karl Anthony-Towns has been toiling away on an underwhelming Minnesota Timberwolves franchise, while only making the postseason on one occasion. Frankly, the talented big deserves better, and a move to the Boston Celtics could un-tap his full potential.

Bare with me Boston Celtics fans, the Houdini is upset.

Team USA suffered an embarrassing second consecutive loss to Serbia in a consolation game after losing by double digits to the French national team. You can’t blame the four Celtics that represented their country during the FIBA World Championship.

The true culprit for the club’s downfall was the lack of a dominant big man which was caused by the absence of participation from several of the NBA’s finest talents residing down low.

It is understandable that headliners like LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Anthony Davis withheld from participating in this year’s tournament. They have already proven their greatness representing Team USA on the international stage.

But where were guys like Karl Anthony-Towns, the 2015 first overall selection, who are still trying to reach the status of the aforementioned trio? Why was Team USA forced to consider Mason Plumlee for a backup position?

Since coming into the league, Towns has been widely considered one of the most promising young talents the NBA has to offer. He has accumulated many accolades during his four year professional career: Rookie of the Year, 2x All-Star, 2018 All-NBA selection.

However, though his name currently floats amongst the superstar talents of the league, there are still areas of his game that need improvement. In particular, he could become more assertive defensively (his career 1.1 defensive box plus/minus is below league average) and his turnovers (three per game) should go down given his usage.

A stint with Gregg Popovich on Team USA could have tightened up his game. Instead of participating, Towns (as well as the rest of us) saw Brook Lopez get overwhelmed by Rudy Gobert and Nikola Jokic. It was Boston Celtics guards Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart that had to step in to defend overpowering international centers.

Towns, who has missed five total games his entire career, is more than healthy enough to have partaken in the FIBA World Championship. It’s understandable why he didn’t feel compelled to take any unnecessary risks, though. He has reached the very low benchmarks to be considered a Timberwolves great.  Already, he is considered one of the most successful players in Minnesota Timberwolves history.

And that’s a huge problem. Towns has already plateaued in Minnesota. He hasn’t done much, but he already enjoys the status of a Timberwolves success story.

The reality is that the Timberwolves, for years, have struggled to put together a winning team. The only time in the past 15 season they made the playoffs, they snuck in as the 8th seed by defeating the Denver Nuggets on the last game of the regular season.

Oh, and Jimmy Butler was the clear alpha of the team. Towns and Andrew Wiggins became mere role players in a first round series sweep before Minnesota traded Butler away and regressed to just 36 wins last season.

Unless the Timberwolves are able to make moves to provide the 23-year-old with a more talented supporting cast – which they have proven to be relatively incapable of doing throughout the years – for the sake of Towns’ future success’, perhaps his best course of action would be make his way out of Minnesota.

If this turns out to become a reality, perhaps the big’s best landing spot could be in Beantown.

Towns might not be capable of being a leader on a team that makes deep playoff runs. On the Boston Celtics, he wouldn’t have to be.

Towns’ potential fit with point guard Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum would be tantalizing. Imagining the pick-and-rolls/pops and dribble hand-offs between Towns and the Boston Celtics duo should spark excitement for any basketball fan, and especially for those in the New England region.

The Boston Celtics thrived with Al Horford serving as their offensive fulcrum in the high and low post. Towns is essentially a younger, more athletic  and better three-point shooting version of the new Philadelphia 76ers big man (still doesn’t feel right to type).

With the plethora of young talent currently residing on the team’s roster, Boston is primed for sustained success for the years to come. However, trading for Karl Anthony-Towns may be what the team needs to actually thrust them into the upper echelon of the entire NBA.

Though it would cost a pretty penny for Boston to pry Towns away from the Timberwolves, for the team’s best chance of winning a chip in the near future, it could certainly turn out to be worth while. And, hey, we all remember the last time the Celtics took part in a blockbuster deal for an All-NBA big man from Minnesota.