Karl-Anthony Towns is having a better year than you think
Karl-Anthony Towns is having a fantastic season and is the clear leader in the Rookie of the Year race for now. Everyone knows that. Everyone agrees on that, even the Kristaps Porzingis supporters. But Towns may be even better than our eyes allow us to realize when we watch him play.
From John Schumann of NBA.com:
Congrats, Tony Parker. You're good. We knew that. But take a look a little further down on that list and Wolves fans will find a name to excite them: Karl-Anthony Towns has the NBA's fifth-best field-goal percentage outside the paint.
Of course, we need to take this with a small grain of salt. Of all the players on this list, Towns has the lowest effective field-goal percentage, and given that players aren't getting fouled on jump shots all too often, that means this is purely due to his low volume of three-point attempts. That's fine for now, though. This is still a wonderful sign for the future, and even the present.
Towns' percentage from mid-range places him with the best year-in and year-out big men from inside-the-arc jumpers. We're talking Chris Bosh good or Serge Ibaka good, effective enough that even his mid-range shots are efficient inside the halfcourt offense. That's hard to come by, but it's just one more aspect that Towns can dominate.
Only player who has shot 50% on at least 100 shots from outside the paint? Tony Parker, of course. pic.twitter.com/EOurkyCqpH
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) December 16, 2015
