Karl-Anthony Towns was trained by his father to work on a guard's ballhandling and shooting work first before moving onto big man's footwork and post-up drills.

“When I was growing up everyone told me how they thought I should play the game of basketball, which was never the way I wanted to play it,” Towns said. “I played the game the way I wanted. Back to the basket, the traditional big man, I didn’t want to be that. I wanted to be able to play like Magic Johnson, who was 6-9, ran the court and shot like a point guard.”

With the Lakers drafting No. 2 behind Minnesota, John Calipari suggested he might be better off going to Los Angeles.

“You know what he said?” Calipari said. “He said, ‘I don’t care about L.A. I want to be the No. 1 pick. I’ll wear a coat. I’m good.’ That’s who he is.”

Towns has big goals both on and off the court.

“I want to win rings, I want to win multiple rings,” he said. “I want to do all these things, but I want to be able to say I used my platform and this game of basketball to help others and make their lives better. I want to be able to say I’ve done more off the court than I’ve done on the court, and if I’m able to do that when my career is over and I can look back with my kids someday, I’ll definitely say I’m proud of myself and proud of the way I left the game.”