While the New York Knicks are having a very good season, there are now some serious questions about whether they’re truly contenders for this year’s NBA championship.
This past weekend, they lost to both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, and they have yet to defeat the Cavs, Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder so far this season.
Big man Karl-Anthony Towns, whom they acquired late in the offseason in a stunning trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, has made a major impact on them and is quite possibly the best big man in the entire Eastern Conference right now, especially since former MVP Joel Embiid cannot stay healthy.
But Towns has always been dogged with questions about his toughness, and Tony Massarotti, a sports radio host in Boston, threw some serious shade at the All-Star starter, per KnicksMuse.
“Maybe the softest big man in NBA History. He’s a bum, is what he is. The guy’s just not competitive. Hes not competitive enough.”
Boston radio host @TonyMassarotti absolutely rips into Karl-Anthony Towns:
“Maybe the softest big man in NBA History. He’s a bum, is what he is. The guy’s just not competitive. Hes not competitive enough.” pic.twitter.com/MrLFxiGjOw
— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) February 24, 2025
Towns is averaging 24.8 points on 53.2 percent shooting from the field and 43.2 percent from 3-point range and 13.2 rebounds a game this season, and soft players do not grab that many rebounds on a consistent basis — period.
On the other hand, Towns, who is seven feet tall and weighs nearly 250 pounds, doesn’t always use that size to his advantage in the paint, and his defense, especially his shot-blocking, has always been a disappointment.
Last season, the Knicks got to the brink of the Eastern Conference Finals with a savage defense, but this season, they’re just 20th in defensive rating.
Perhaps the answer is to move Towns to the 4 once Mitchell Robinson, who has been out since last season with an ankle injury, makes his return.
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