Karl-Anthony Towns’ involvement in the Knicks offense has been one of the biggest storylines all year and will likely remain so for the remainder of the season.
It doesn’t take a microscope to see that he’s less comfortable in coach Mike Brown’s system compared to last year under Tom Thibodeau.
Far too often, Towns travels the floor for long stretches and is barely noticeable offensively.
During the Knicks’ blowout loss to the Pistons on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, Towns scored just two points on three shots in 15 minutes during the first half.
Particularly confusing was that the Pistons played without their top two centers in Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart, who are both serving suspensions.
If anything, it was a play that Towns should have incorporated into the offensive game plan from the start and been aggressive.
“Our offense is our offense,” Towns said. “It’s been that way all year. So we have our system and we’re going to – regardless of who’s in the game or not – we’re going to execute the system that we’ve implemented for our team to the best of our ability.”
Then suddenly Towns came out of the break, noticeably hunting for his shot and forced the issue.
He took five shots and five free throws and scored 12 points in the third quarter.
That’s the way it’s been for Towns for the most part this year: nothing has been natural or in the flow of the offense.
He’s usually either disturbingly uninvolved or overly aggressive, with very little in between.
“We continue to try to do different things to help get him out,” Brown said. “We’ll continue to look to do different things to free him up for the rest of the year.”
Cities’ production and efficiency have fallen this year.
His numbers of 19.8 points per game and 34.9 percent shooting from three-point range would be the lowest since his rookie season, and his 46.7 percent shooting from the field would be the worst of his career.
He only takes fourteen shots per game, which would also qualify as the fewest shots in his eleven-year career.
The problem doesn’t go away.
As the postseason draws closer, finding a solution becomes more urgent.
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