KAT stays red-hot, moves up Wolves scoring list
Minnesota Timberwolves aren't exactly Timberpups anymore. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are well into their NBA careers at this point, while the Wolves' lineup features seven players with 5-plus years of experience.
Welcome to the 2018-19 edition of the Young Wolves Tracker, formerly the Timberpups Tracker.
Each Thursday we'll either track the progress of the Iowa Wolves players who might be of help to the Timberwolves in the future, or a current member of Minnesota's roster. We'll also give updates on the other young players from the previous week.
This is the 17th edition of the 2018-19 Young Wolves Tracker.
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Center Karl-Anthony Towns
We got into this a bit last week, when Towns went off for 30-plus points in back-to-back games, but that was just the beginning.
Towns moved into fifth on the Wolves' all-time scoring list on Tuesday, when he passed Wally Szczerbiak, and at 6,832 points will have passed Kevin Love by the end of the season.
Sam Mitchell is right there as well with 7,161 points.
If he keeps this up, it won't take very long.
Towns has been on one of the most-impressive tears in Wolves history since returning from a two-game absence on Feb. 25.
https://twitter.com/Twolves_PR/status/1103128316079411201
He's averaging 34.3 points in six games since, while shooting 59.2 percent from the field and 47.5 percent from deep and averaging 14 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game.
Towns is playing some of the best basketball of his career, currently.
He's second in scoring only to presumptive MVP James Harden over that span, and third in rebounding behind Andre Drummond and DeAndre Jordan.
Compared to his fellow 7-footers, he looks even more dominant.
Nikola Jokic and Nikola Vucevic rank No. 2 and No. 3 in scoring over that span at 21.3 points per game, well behind Towns.
Towns is averaging 3.2 made 3-pointers over his last six -- first amongst 7-footers -- on 6.7 attempts, tied with Brook Lopez.
WOLF TRACKS
-- The Wolves have given rookie Keita Bates-Diop the first extended look of his career over the last week. The Ohio State product has appeared in seven of Minnesota last eight games, and attempted a career-high seven field goals against Washington on Sunday.
-- Down in the G League, C.J. Williams scored 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting in the Iowa Wolves' only game of the week, while Jared Terrell had 17 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Both are signed to two-way contracts.
