What Does the Next Month without KAT?

Karl Anthony Towns a franchise player for the Minnesota Timberwolves went down with a calf strain injury against the wizards in a blowout loss on 11/29/2022. So far this season the Timberwolves have been extremely underwhelming to say the absolute least. After acquiring a top 5 center and former DPOY Rudy Gobert the Timberwolves entered this season with as high of expectations for this season as they have ever had in recent years. The major question going into this season for the team was how well could they space the floor with two 7 foot centers and their perimeter defense. So far those concerns have proven valid with the Timberwolves being amongst the worst in the league in threes allowed. This in my opinion attributed to bad communication on switching and a lack of effort on perimeter defense. Theres still some optimism in me that we can clean up the perimeter defense however it’s starting to be tough to see it work with KAT not being as fast and Rudy obviously not being that mobile.

With KAT being out this is THE time for Anthony Edwards to step up and finally make that leap that many have been waiting for. The season hasn’t been the best start for Ant with him struggling to adjust to playing with a more clogged paint. However now with KAT out and more space down low this can be an opportunity for him to finally get in Rhythm and it showed with last nights win against the Grizzles. Ant had his best game of the season and led the team by completely taking over late in the 4th quarter. If we can continue to see improvement from him this team can gain some momentum that it desperately needs right now. Obviously KAT has been the guy for years now, but when Anthony Edwards was taken with the first pick it was anticipated that he’d eventually takeover the reigns of being the number one option on the team and the keys to being the Primary guy on offense. I think a Ant led team has a higher ceiling that a KAT led team however even though it hasn’t happened yet I’m excited to see if Ant can take that next step to taking over the team (Which we already had seen glimpses of last year during the 1st round of the playoffs).

I think Anthony Edwards will take a significant leap over the course of the next month without KAT. My major concerns with this team primarily stem from coaching scheme with allowing him to feel more comfortable with spacing in the paint and his adjustments on defense and guarding the perimeter. Another concern is Rudy Gobert’s offensive ability, he always seems pretty stiff and I don’t like how they use him in back to basket post up situations. I would rather them use him as a playmaker in the post which could expand the ceiling for the offense in the short term. Overall Im undue in the long term future of this team, it’s a major question but it will be answered over time. Im interested to see how this situation could play out for the rest of the season and how Anthony Edwards response to the challenge. I think he’s up for the challenge knowing his personality.