BREAKING: Minnesota Selects Karl-Anthony Towns with First Pick in 2015 NBA Draft

By Peyton Wesner

"With the first pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves select Karl-Anthony Towns from the University of Kentucky." 

Unless one has been locked in a room with no technology or a basketball coma, he or she should have known that the Timberwolves and General Manager Milt Newton were going to select Karl-Anthony Towns to start the 2015 NBA Draft as reports broke with the news late Monday morning. 

Despite not being as highly touted out of high school as Duke's Jahlil Okafor, Towns, like past Kentucky Freshman, became a better player and more coveted prospect as the season grew on. In his last eighteen collegiate games, the six foot, eleven inch, nineteen year old posted averages of 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game while leading the Wildcats to their fourth Final Four appearance in five years. 

Since the Draft Lottery on May 19, the great debate for Minnesota has been whether to select Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor with the first pick. After much analyzation, Towns' high level of defensive play, which includes his ability to effectively guard bigs in the post and on the perimeter, was too enticing to pass up. In addition, Towns is just as talented on offense as Okafor, if not more, considering he has accuracy from beyond the arc and shoots 81.3 percent from the charity stripe (thirty percent better than Okafor). 

2015-2016 Projected Starting Lineup

PG-Ricky Rubio

---10.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 8.8 APG, & 1.7 SPG.

SG-Kevin Martin

---20.0 PPG, 3.6 RPG, & 2.3 APG.

SF-Andrew Wiggins

***2014-2015 Rookie of the Year

---16.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.1 APG, & 1.0 SPG.

PF-Karl-Anthony Towns

---10.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, & 2.3 BPG. (At University of Kentucky)

C-Nikola Pekovic

---12.5 PPG & 7.5 RPG.

6th-Zach LaVine

***2014-2015 All-Rookie Second Team 

---10.1 PPG, 3.6 RPG, & 2.8 APG. 

By selecting Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves will have another young player with tremendous potential to join 2014 draft picks Andrew Wiggins and Zach Lavine. Although Minnesota is unlikely to make the 2016 NBA Playoffs in the tough Western Conference, the T'Wolves are just a few years away from having a .500 record and fighting for the eighth seed or higher in the "Wild Wild West."