Karl Towns – photo by Andrew D. Bernstein | NBAE via Getty Images
For the past two months, Karl Towns Jr. was known as Young Buck — an affectionate reminder from his teammates on the Dominican Republic national team that, despite standing taller than all but one of them, the 6-foot-11 Towns is still just 16 years old. Taking that ribbing from his older teammates was a small price to pay considering how much he learned from them on the court. And even though the Dominican Republic failed to qualify for this summer’s Olympics after finishing fourth at the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the St. Joseph (Metuchen, N.J.) rising sophomore will return to school in the fall with talent well beyond his years. “We’re all young, but he’s really, really young,” teammate and NBA All-Star Al Horford told reporters after one D.R. practice. “He’s really impressed me. I didn’t think he could play the way that he’s playing. He has to learn that the international game is different; it’s more physical. But I was encouraged to see that’s he confident.”
