Anthony Edwards gives Karl-Anthony Towns constructive criticism after latest loss

After Wednesday night’s loss to the Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had a few interesting things to say regarding Karl-Anthony Towns and his playing style. While critical, they’re not necessarily negative toward the 2015 No. 1 overall pick.

The Jazz were guarding Towns with the 6-foot-7, 226-pound Bojan Bogdanovic, instead of say, their three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, in Rudy Gobert. Edwards felt this coaching decision made by the Jazz was purely disrespectful toward KAT.

Here’s what Ant had to say during the post-game press conference, with quotes distributed by Dane Moore. Here is the audio version via the Dane Moore NBA Podcast, along with Moore’s thoughts on the matter. It’s worth a listen and a follow if you haven’t already.

Anthony Edwards said it's disrespectful Utah guarded KAT with Bojan Bogdanovic:

"I told him it’s disrespectful for them to put NO. 44 on you, bruh. That’s disrespectful. He know he gotta kill all of them. He’s the best player on the floor every night. He’s gotta kill em."

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 9, 2021

Anthony Edwards already finding ways to help teammates improve

Ok, so the second-year pro already has some advice for a two-time All-Star in the midst of his seventh NBA season. Interesting, but to be fair, Ant is a special talent in his own right. Hearing such constructive criticism from Edwards may be better received than the brash approach Jimmy Butler may have taken toward any further development for KAT.

Notably, Ant-Man also had some specific methods for how Towns can avoid facing such defenses in the future, by watching another All-Star big man currently in the NBA.

Anthony Edwards on Karl-Anthony Towns getting doubled

"I told KAT the best way to beat it, you gotta go quick. I told him at halftime you waiting on the double. You tellin them, yeah, come double me. Now it's like you the best player on the floor, they taken you out of the game"

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 9, 2021

Anthony Edwards on KAT getting doubled
"If you watch Joel Embiid play, you have to double Joel Embiid. There's nobody in the league that can guard him, so he goes quick. You can't double him because he catches and goes quick. So I told KAT, you catchin the ball and you holdin it"

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 9, 2021

It’s kind of incredible for Ant to realize this about Towns already, while an argument could be made to keep such criticisms in-house, maybe it will help KAT recognize what he needs to do in order to beat the double-teams he frequently faces.

As Edwards went on to say, if Towns can improve in this area, the Wolves can be a great team, but it’s on him and the coaches to make it happen.

After losing 136-104 to the Jazz without star guard D’Angelo Russell, the Wolves have now dropped four games in a row. So understandably, frustrations are high. But just 1.5 games out of the eighth playoff spot, the T-Wolves have plenty of time to figure things out once their rotation gets back to normal with D-Lo’s impending return.

We’ll see how Towns adjusts. The Wolves’ next game is on Friday when they take on Ricky Rubio and the Cleveland Cavaliers.