“I got no words.” – Jalen Brunson, minutes after becoming an NBA champion
Congratulations and bing bong to the New York Knickerbockers. Honestly, I never thought you’d do it. Yes, I picked you to win the East this year, but that’s the JV Conference. I was significantly underestimating you, but you did it. Convincingly, too, winning an NBA-record 13 straight playoff games, winning 15 out of your last 16, ultimately going 16-3 in what is unquestionably one of the greatest playoff runs in history. Y’all went down at least 12 points in all five games to the Spurs, and yet you not only beat them 4-1, you won your playoff games by an average of 15 points. That’s the best point differential in playoff history. You only lost in the Finals because your demon wannabe lord of a failson owner invited the president with credible pedophile allegations to a game. The Basketball Gods are fickle, but even they can’t overlook that.
You were incredible, New York Knicks, and I’m happy for you. There are so many cool players: OG Anunoby, for one, who had to sit out the 2019 Toronto Raptors championship run due to an appendectomy. Jose Alvarado, hometown hero and hero to Puerto Ricans everywhere. Josh Hart, oft-maligned, but absolutely one of the greatest and most reliable-in-the-playoff role players of his generation. Mikal Bridges, traded for five first-round picks, known for disappearing often, but who finally came into his own and gets to say “fuck them picks” forever. Deuce McBride, fearless. Mitchell Robinson, playoff riser. Jordan Clarkson, representing Filipino basketball, somehow always making deep playoff runs. Jalen Brunson, six foot nothing permanent underdog, hometown hero, cool hair haver, and credible case as the best Knick ever.
Today, we’re talking about Karl-Anthony Towns.
I’ve been hard on Karl-Anthony Towns before, and I now owe him an apology.
(also, we’re ignoring the Game 5 statline)
Karl-Anthony Towns redeemed his career in ways that others have written or spoken about better than I have time to do here. He also proved something about the NBA big—a position every blogger and talking head and idiot dad1 declared “dead” at some point between 2009 and 2026. The center position is never going anywhere. As long as someone on the court is bigger and stronger than the other people on the court, the big will have a position. Karl-Anthony Towns’ career, now capstoned with a championship, is proof of this.
We’re entering into or already into a Golden Age of NBA centers that rivals the Shaq/Hakeem/Robinson/Ewing/Mourning/Mutombo 90s, the Kareem/Olajuwon/Moses/Parish/Ewing 80s, the Kareem/Reed/Moses/Walton/Thurmond/Bellamy 70s, and the Chamberlain/Russell/Thurmond 60s. That ended up being more stars that I initially thought it would be going in, but man, center used to be the most important position in basketball. NBA history is littered with great centers. Now, it remains true that a big man is worthless without a guard to set him up—look at Anthony Davis’s career, or Hakeem’s late-80s-early-90s Rockets teams. But as long as you’ve got some playmaking guards, a good big is vital.
Today, we have 7’5″-with-three-point-range and reigning Defensive Player of The Year Victor Wembanyama, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, self-professed and probably correct “Greatest Shooting Big Man Ever” Karl-Anthony Towns (who was just the third best player in the NBA Finals), multi-time Defensive Player of The Year Rudy Gobert, and former MVP Joel Embiid. That’s five historically great players at the 5 position, and each with wildly different games. It’s the different games thing I want to highlight.
Joel Embiid is the Low Post Big but even he has three-point range, operates out of the high post or high screens a good deal. You simply can’t be a perma-post big anymore. Illegal defense was a stupid rule, and it’s good that they got rid of it, but pro zone defenses are a bit more complicated than 2-3 or box-and-one. Defenders can front the guy in the post, knowing help can easily come from another one or more defenders. Guards and wings can’t throw entry passes because no one can hit the bulls-eye painted under the haystack with a needle, or something. Still, Embiid is a bruiser who, when healthy, can get 30-10 in his sleep. It’s a shame injuries have taken so much of his career, especially come playoff time.
- Best historic archetype for the Low Post Big: Easily Hakeem. If we’re talking about similar body type to Joel, maybe Moses Malone?
- How does Embid hold up to the historical great? I think the best career comp for Embiid is Patrick Ewing. So not threatening Hakeem’s top spot. My personal ranking of the best centers of the 90s is Hakeem-Shaq (best years in the 2000s)-David Robinson-Patrick Ewing. Embiid is probably the third- or fourth-best center of his generation, too. Who’d win one-on-one, Embiid or Ewing?
Rudy Gobert is the next evolution of Defensive Big and it’s time to take this guy’s career more seriously. Yes, he seems like a huge asshole, guess what, Dwight Howard and his rancid farts has a championship ring. Yes, Luka Dončić loves torturing him, but Rudy has shown he can stick with perimeter players. He also just played Nikola Jokic out of the playoffs. Even in Year 13, you look at Rudy and understand he has four Defensive Player Of The Year awards for a reason. He also has career averages of roughly 13-11 plus two blocks per game. Sure, sometimes he’s unplayable because of Hack-A-Rudy, but even with his bad free throw shooting and lack of a three-point threat, he’s still the all-time leader in true shooting percentage.2 Rudy’s had a great 13-year run, and looks like he has plenty in the tank.
- Best historic archetype for the Defensive Big: obviously Bill Russell. His defense won 11 championships. You watch old footage, and it’s true—he really did control the direction he blocked shots. He deflected opponent’s shots to his own teammates to start fast breaks, your dad’s not just making that up.
- How does Gobert hold up to the historical great? lol, get outta here. Rudy’s no Russell, of course not. He is better than Dikembe Mutombo, though. Or rather, he’s Dikembe, but with the quick feet to guard the perimeter on defense and rim run on offense.
Karl-Anthony Towns is the Hyper-Skilled Offensive Big and man, that offensive game expanded this playoffs. I knew he was comfortable in the high post, but not as such a focal point of the offense. The dribble hand-off suff Domantas Sabonis perfected with the Kings that Beam Team year? Well, that coach’s name was Mike Brown, and he just got KAT to run that stuff with Jalen Brusnon and Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart darting around. The Knicks went from “four guys watching one guy dribble” to basically unstoppable, and KAT was a major reason why.
- The historical archetype for the Hyper-Skilled Offensive Big: Kareem, obviously. The all-time leader in points until LeBron broke the record last year3, plus the most graceful offensive move in the game—even if only he could really make the skyhook look graceful. He had range with it, too—I haven’t watched enough to know how consistently he shot beyond eight or 10 feet, but I’ve seen plenty of 15-to-20-foot skyhook highlights. If Kareem’s ever said anything about whether he’d develop a three-point shot if he played today, I haven’t heard it, but I can believe that he would.
- How does KAT hold up to the historical great? lol, come on. Kareem is the third-best player of all time. Still, it’s worth celebrating the audacity behind KAT’s “greatest shooting big man of all time” boasts. He’s been a 50-40-90 guy, and he is enough of an outside threat that he’s played power forward at times. His passing and playmaking took a leap in the playoffs. If the Hall of Fame is about stories, Karl-Anthony Towns has a significant story.
Nikola Jokic is the Prince That Was Promised Big which is a term I had to make up because I already used “hyer-skilled offensive.” The Prince That Was Promised because people love to speculate about what Arvydas Sabonis would’ve been like if he’d been able to come to the NBA in 1986, before he had a multitude of foot injuries. Prime Sabonis could run point, shoot threes, and had eyes in the back of his head as a passer. Exactly like Jokic. Unfortunately, foot injuries and the Cold War has relegated most of his career to whisper legend and grainy YouTube uploads. Before Sabonis, there was Bill Walton. Prime Walton could completely run an offense from the high post, averaging a wild amount of assists for a center while still rebounding like hell and scoring when needed. Exactly like Jokic. Unfortunately, foot injuries and a stint with one of history’s worst capitalists relegated his career to one and a half magical seasons (including championship and MVP) with the Trail Blazers, a late career redemption as a sixth man on the 86 Celtics, and what-coulda-been speculation.
- The historic archetype of the Prince That Was Promised Big is honestly a tossup between Sobonis and Walton. It doesn’t matter because—
- Does Jokic hold up to the historic archetype? He’s the one who actually did the thing. He’s got three MVPs and a championship. Honestly, he could have more of both. I hope we’re not done seeing him in the Finals.
Now, what kind of basketball player is Victor Wembanyama? This playoffs proved that he’s going to be a scary one—already is a scary one—but the Finals proved that even he doesn’t know what kind of basketball player he is. He couldn’t really rim run. His three point shot is a threat, but not totally reliable. He can sometimes take defenders off the dribble, but sometimes the fact that he has more legs than anyone in the history of the world catches up to him and he looks like an ice skating giraffe. He’s 7’5″, and as I’ve said before, we shouldn’t take his health for granted. He’s unlike anyone we’ve ever seen before, but his body archetype is frail guys like Manute Bol, Yao Ming, Shawn Bradley. The Knicks kinda pushed him around a lot. He looked weak with Mitchell Robinson on him, hen OG Anunoby made him look slow-footed on defense. His go-to offensive move is an long, elaborate spin that’s easily spotted as it unfolds. This is all stuff that I’m certain a 21-year-old can figure out. It’s interesting, though, that even a break-the-mold alien has to have some go-to stuff to fall back on.
Wembanyama’s going to a killer, I believe it. But in 2026? He got outplayed by Karl-Anthony Towns, the player whose offensive and defensive skillset proves seven footers can always be relevant.
Cheers to Big Boys.
Sorry you got an email,
Chris