Karl-Anthony Towns says culture under Thibodeau wouldn't have been good for Wolves rookies

Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns arrived back in the Twin Cities recently from Europe in time for his yearly basketball camp at Providence Academy in Plymouth.

He was slated to talk to the local media at the camp on Friday, but it was announced on Wednesday by his camp manager that "unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances we had to remove media access to the camp and KAT will no longer be available during the event."

Cory Hepola from the Wolves' radio home of WCCO Radio, though, caught up with Towns at Day 1 of the camp on Thursday and gave us a glimpse into KAT's thought process on a number of subjects.

You can listen to the full interview here.

Some of the more interesting takeaways …

*On the Wolves' free agent pursuit of Towns' friend D'Angelo Russell, which came up short when Russell signed a four-year, $117 million deal with Golden State, Towns said "of course" he's disappointed the Wolves didn't land him but added: "I'm happy for him because he's happy. … For him to come out with a great contract to change his family's life and his forever and his kid's life it's a huge thing for me. … When I have my kids, I want him to be their uncle."

He added: "I think what Wolves fans are seeing though now is that people they felt were untouchable to come to Minnesota are now touchable" and credited President Gersson Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders for that.

*On the Wolves' success in Las Vegas, where Towns spent time working out while the Summer League team went 6-1: "I think they gave up too many secrets in one go-around. … It's going to be fun to be a Timberwolves fan and it's going to be fun for me to have a coach that's going to allow me to use all my talent."

That was a reference of course to Saunders, who Towns called "the best communicator in the NBA." And it wasn't the only time he compared the new regime favorably to the old regime under Tom Thibodeau.

*Towns talked about rookie draft picks Jarrett Culver and Jaylen Nowell, who were introduced to the media Thursday.

Said Towns: "The culture we're building here is very special. I'm very glad we're introducing Culver and Nowell to a culture that we possess now. I don't think the situation before would have been very beneficial to them."

Translation, to nobody's surprise: Towns is happy right now, and he makes no secret of things he wasn't happy about before.