Considering Karl-Anthony Towns is still publicly admitting that he's a bit unclear of how to operate in head coach Mike Brown's system with a mere two weeks remaining in the regular season, many New York Knicks fans are concerned about whether their star pivot will ever figure things out.
While it's certainly easy to look at this ongoing situation through a doom-and-gloom lens, the truth of the matter is that even though he's technically playing through a "down" season, he's still objectively a top-30 player currently in the association.
Amid both struggles and looming questions about his specific role within the rotation, this Knicks team has still managed to register in with the sixth-best record of 48-28 and is roughly two games out from claiming the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
Just imagine what this team can accomplish come playoff time should he figure things out.
Karl-Anthony Towns figuring things out would make Knicks terrifying
We're talking about a player who, during a lull of a season, is still finding himself dropping ridiculous averages of 20.0 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on 49.5 percent shooting from the floor and 36.6 percent shooting from deep, and was selected to his sixth All-Star Game.
Of course, his impact on the team goes well beyond the counting stats, as the advanced metrics clearly show he ranks second on the Knicks in offensive rating (118.7) and third in net rating (7.4) among those who have logged over 50 games played this year.
Frankly, when Towns has it going from beyond the arc, the Knicks have proven to be virtually unstoppable this year. In games where the center has cashed in on three or more triples, New York has gone 13-2, while he, personally, has sported a tremendous plus-8.9 plus-minus along the way.
To many, the biggest problem plaguing Towns is a lack of offensive touches and scoring opportunities. It seems that for every double-digit shot-attempt game he has, he has one that clocks in the single digits.
Two of New York's latest three losses (Charlotte and Thunder) serve as the most recent examples of this latter happening.
Fortunately, it seems coach Brown and Towns are actively working to iron out the wrinkles that formed as a result of the regime shift from Tom Thibodeau last summer, and, for the most part, the results have been rather positive.
Even with an out-of-synch Towns, the Knicks find themselves heading toward their fifth-straight playoff berth with their starting five dropping 20 and 12 on a nightly basis.
It's terrifying to think about what this team would look like if both he and Brown can get on the same page.