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Karl-Anthony Towns thanks Kentucky with a handwritten letter

By Andrew Ross

Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) dunks during the second half of the 2015 NCAA Men
Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Karl-Anthony Towns (12) dunks during the second half of the 2015 NCAA Men /
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Karl-Anthony Towns knows how to go out with class, and he wrote a hand-written letter thanking fans for supporting him. 

Seven Kentucky players declared for the NBA draft a couple of days ago. Karl-Anthony Towns was one of those seven.

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It really shows how much college basketball has changed. Seven players (including three freshman) leaving college for the NBA is simply remarkable, but no one really batted an eye over this because it was expected. John Calipari got this whole one-and-done thing going, so it’s only natural for him to take it to heights like this.

None of the players declaring was a huge shock, but Towns might have been the most predictable Wildcat to head to the NBA as he is the number one ranked player on ESPN’s Chad Ford’s big board (and number one on nearly everyone’s board).

During the regular season of his one and only year at Kentucky, Towns averaged 10.3 points (57 percent shooting), 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Those numbers don’t jump off the screen, but you can’t just look at the numbers when evaluating a Kentucky player. After all, this is a team that is sending seven players into the draft and even kept some talent on the team. All of these players played completely selfless and made it all about the team. That’s going to drop their numbers. None of these guys would have played for Calipari if their goal was to put up huge numbers.

Now NBA superstar Anthony Davis was the top pick in the draft after just one season at Kentucky, and he only averaged 14.2 points (62 percent shooting), 10.4 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game. That was also in 32 minutes per game where Towns only played 21 minutes per game. This isn’t to say that Towns is going to be the next Davis – because he’s not – but it goes to show that the talent and upside will always weigh more than the stats (coming out of college, that is).

Leaving a letter for the school/fans isn’t an uncommon thing for college players to do, but most of those letters are typed and not made to be super personal. Towns is a different type of person, because yesterday he released a long handwritten letter to all of Kentucky via his Instagram.

Talk about an incredible gesture. You can really feel how genuine Towns was being (handwritten helps), and it truly seems like leaving Kentucky was a tough decision for him. I’m sure this was a beautiful – and sad – read for all of Kentucky fans.

Hopefully Towns will receive some handwritten letters back from Big Blue Nation.

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