Knicks Center Among East's Best Players

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns is preparing for his second year with the team, where he hopes to be even better than he was this past season.

Towns, who turns 30 in November, was named to the All-Star team in consecutive years for the first time in his career.

Towns' efforts helped him land on NBA.com writer Shaun Powell's list of the top 10 players in the Eastern Conference at No. 9.

"A five-time All-Star who, last season, made All-NBA for the third time, Towns still wears the crown as the league’s best-shooting big man and among the best of all time," Powell wrote.

"His ability to stretch the floor makes him a good fit in today’s game — though that has its drawbacks, mainly keeping him from the paint to tackle typical big-man post-ups (last season, he scored 213 post-up points on 213 post-up possessions). But when you shoot as well as Towns (career 40% on 3-pointers), the pluses outweigh the negatives. His 12.8 rpg last season marked a career high in what was his sixth season averaging 20 and 10 (24.4 ppg). Towns does have lapses and can disappear at times, but is usually consistent and reliable."

Those who ranked higher than Towns were Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, his teammate Jalen Brunson, Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, Orlando Magic power forward Paolo Banchero, Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham, Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley and Boston Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown.

Towns has the ability to be even better for the Knicks if he can work on becoming more consistent and adding to his defensive repertoire.

If Towns is able to take a step in the right direction, the Knicks should be that much closer to a championship.