It has not been a pretty start to the season for New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns. The big man is having the worst shooting season of his career, shooting just 42% from the floor and 31% from three.
Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns is in a big shooting slump
Both of those figures are career lows, and it is clear that he is struggling to find his footing in the new system. Towns is taking more threes than he did last year, which is what the team ultimately wants out of him, but the shots have not been falling at the rate he would like.
Head coach Mike Brown discussed Towns’ recent struggles and said that he still wants him to shoot threes and hunt for shots at the perimeter.
“The one thing I want him to consistently do — he’s got a beautiful stroke, but until he finds that, I want him to keep finding the [three-point] line a little bit more. He can stop [closer to the line] because of the pressure that we’re trying to put on the defense early in the clock,” Brown said, via Posting and Toasting.
The Knicks need Towns to figure things out
Towns has historically been one of the best shooting big men in the NBA, but his shot has fallen flat this season. At times, he is forcing deep contested shots in hopes of seeing one fall, but he hasn’t been consistent with his shot enough to be taking those.
Brown wants to see him move a bit closer to the three-point line, as those shots are much more efficient and of better quality. New York, as an offense, hasn’t taken a step back despite Towns’ struggles, but they still need him to get going, especially with OG Anunoby out for the foreseeable future.
Towns will hope to snap out of his funk on Saturday, when he and the Knicks head to Orlando, Florida, to take on the Magic.