An extremely talented player, Karl-Anthony Towns can literally do it all. On both defense and offense, Towns is quite versatile, capable of blocking shots at the rim and also scoring in the post. Towns also has a nice jump shot and can even hit threes with some regularity.
This season, Towns is shooting 35.7 percent from three, which is exceptional for a big man of his size. His shooting draws parallels to Mavs star Dirk Nowitzki, who is regarded as one of the best big man shooters to ever play. The similarities in their shooting prowess are by no mistake though.
Towns was a fan of Nowitzki's growing up and actually spent time over the recent All-Star break analyzing game film of the Mavs star to improve his shooting. And just by shifting the position of his hands on the ball to be more like Nowitzki's, Towns' three-point shot has improved as he is shooting 41.3 percent from three since All-Star weekend.
From Jonathan Abrams of B/R Mag:
Karl-Anthony Towns has always had a feathery touch. Watching and mimicking Dirk Nowitzki—a childhood friend’s favorite player—became natural. Towns spent part of this All-Star break watching Dirk’s film.
“It’s helped me a lot, especially after the All-Star break with the way I’ve been shooting the three ball,” says Towns, who is shooting 41.3 percent—up from 33.9 percent—from beyond the arc since the break. “He’s always prepared. He always takes his one-two step. He’s always generating a lot of power. Like Klay Thompson always takes a hop step, he’s always one-two stepping into the shot, and he’s always driving a lot of force, and he always generates a lot of power, always has his legs under him, and he always holds the ball differently than a lot of people. He spreads his hands out a lot.”
…
Nowitzki voiced surprise when he learned Towns is attempting to duplicate his hand placement simply by watching tape.
“That’s crazy,” Nowitzki says. “I was very fortunate. I met [longtime coach and mentor] Holger [Geschwindner] when I was 16. He’s a guy that really taught me all the shooting. It’s not like I came up with all this. I can’t take all the credit for this. He taught me really well, and that’s actually one point we always teach, is keep your fingers spread, especially those second, the third, where the ball comes off last. So, actually that is one teaching point I’m surprised he picked that up just by watching film.”
Towns is an ardent and impassioned student of the game but his intricate analysis of Nowitzki's shooting form is as the Mavs big man says “crazy.” Who would think to look so closely at Nowitzki's hands and then try to duplicate the exact positioning? Only Towns apparently.
But it does point to how driven Towns is to be the best that he can be. And that's a great sign for the Timberwolves as they will miss out on the playoffs yet again this season but have a bright and promising future thanks in large part to Towns.
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