The Minnesota Timberwolves will have an upgraded weapon heading into next season. Karl-Anthony Towns should thrive even more in the pick-and-roll with Jimmy Butler.
Welcome to part two of a four-part series examining the Minnesota Timberwolves’ most lethal weapon: the Jimmy Butler-Karl-Anthony Towns pick-and roll. During today’s edition, I will be deep diving into Towns’ ability as a scorer out of this action.
He figures to take a huge leap in his production out of one of the NBA’s most-used and lethal plays.
There are two main reasons he will take his game to the next level. First, he took a tremendous step from year one to year two and will surely take another heading into the season. Secondly, he has an improved team around him. While he will always attract a lot of defensive attention, having other players around him who can score will do nothing but benefit him.
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Last season, Towns was one of the best roll-men in the entire NBA. According to NBA Math, he added 1.23 points per possession on rolls to the basket, which ranked in the 88th percentile. His 64.5 effective field goal percentage is also an astronomically high number. It’s only natural for the young man out of Kentucky to continue to improve this number as his body rounds into shape.
Part of what makes him so productive on rolls are his amazing hands. Towns does a great job of catching the ball in traffic and not allowing other players to swipe the ball from him. His almost-flawless mechanics definitely show in this department:
As soon as he catches the rock his elbows go out to give him a strong foundation to work with. He then quickly gathers his whereabouts and lays the ball in the hoop for the easy two. If he had waited any longer, the help defense was sure to crash on him. Since he’s so good, we’ll also ignore the baby chicken wing.
Towns ability to play through contact while under control is another huge strength (pun intended). Even at his young age, he has one of the best bodies in the entire league. It will only continue to ripen as he has more time to spend in the weight room.
He also sports a diverse scoring game. It’s incredible all the ways that Towns can hurt a team. Whether it be from the post, cutting, three-point line or even a floater like the following play:
Instead of settling for a long-range two, Towns decides to put the ball on the floor and show off his ball-handling ability. He’s able to get to the mid-block before being cut off by the defender. At that point, he again shows off his strength by legally putting his shoulder down to absorb contact. The defender bounces off him like a would-be-tackler trying to take down Adrian Peterson in his prime. That gives the big man some space to shoot a guard-esque floater. This isn’t something a seven-footer is supposed to be able to do.
In addition to the rolls, he has shown potential to improve his ability as a popper in the pick-and-roll.
Spot-up shooting isn’t a perfect way to determine how effective he was in popping situations. However, it can give us part of the picture. Last season, he averaged 0.94 points per possession, which only ranked in the 44th percentile.
There were a few times where Towns got a decent look at the basket, but was unable to connect from downtown:
Regardless of the final result of this particular play, it’s encouraging to see the big man display such confidence on the shot. He made a huge improvement from his rookie to sophomore year and this will only continue into his third season.
This time, Towns is able to knock down the open J as there is nobody in sight
The most impressive aspect of this play is his court-awareness. Instead of settling for a very long two, he slides his feet back behind the line. As he does this, he’s also finding his rhythm by stepping left foot then right foot. That’s the most common footwork used for a right-handed shooter.
He did show some hope of improvement, though, as he registered a 54 percent effective field goal percentage on above-the-break three’s. This is going to be the most likely area he attempts his pops from.
Look to see more of this next season. Upon first catch, the defender doesn’t close out enough to deter Towns from taking the outside shot. It’s not surprising given he was at least three feet beyond the arc. Once again, he uses the left-right footwork combination to knock down the shot.
He might also take more mid-range jumpers than last season. He only registered
shots or 19.2 percent of his total attempts from the mid-range area in 2016-17.
If he increases his looks from that area he better hope for improvement, as he only had an effective field goal percentage of 43.7.
One area that will help Towns in this department is his work space. Although the Wolves aren’t filled with great shooters, they should have enough to keep defenses somewhat respectful of their man. If not, hopefully, guys like Andrew Wiggins and Jeff Teague can make their man pay for over-helping. It doesn’t necessarily have to be with an outside shot, as a cut to the basket can be equally effective.
Next: Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Love's top 10 games
Defenses having to worry about the big man popping out to the three-point line is definitely a new-age weapon. It also happens to give the Wolves some much-needed spacing in their lineup. Don’t be surprised if the former Kentucky Wildcat finishes the season with the most made outside shots on the roster.