Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive issues can be fixed

Karl-Anthony Towns is a fantastic and potentially transcendent offensive talent. To this point in his NBA career, however, the Timberwolves big man has been a poor defender. Let’s dive into his struggles through the first six games.

We’ve all heard the grumbles surrounding Karl-Anthony Towns’ defensive issues. So far this season, however, they’ve grown into something much louder and more consistent than a grumbling.

Back-to-back blowout losses at the hands of a pair of teams that are borderline playoff squads — in the Eastern Conference, no less — in the Pacers and Pistons only added fuel to the fire. Sure, three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler missed both games, but Towns was expected to pick up the slack and assert himself as the team’s leader in Butler’s absence, and not only did it not happen, but the Wolves were humiliated twice in a span of 24 hours.

There were plenty of takes surrounding Towns’ defense last week, but a second exciting victory over divisional rival Oklahoma City on Friday night quelled some of the fears — or, at least, the perceptions of a sky that may be falling.

There’s truth to the claim that Towns is a poor defender. Over his first two NBA seasons and the first six contests of this campaign, that’s absolutely been the case.

Some of Towns’ issues appear to be instinctual. It’s troubling, to be sure, but also a bit confusing; Towns has been praised endlessly throughout his professional career for how naturally the game comes to him. Indeed, he seems to see the floor well and understand concepts just fine on offense. But on defense? All too often he simply forgets to turn his head, raise his arms, or move his feet.

As you’ll see in the below clips, this appears to be an odd combination of lack of either instincts or understanding, and a lack of effort. The latter is infuriating, of course, but can be corrected.

And not only that, but Friday’s victory over the Thunder gave insight into just how good Towns can be on defense. It’s there, it just needs to be there all the time.

In this first clip, late in the blowout loss to the Pacers but in the middle of the Wolves’ last-gasp run with the game somewhat in reach, Towns gets lazy.

At the four-second mark, Towns jabs towards the lane to cover the cutter — the proper play. But at the six-second mark, Towns is looking directly at Domantas Sabonis, who has the ball and is 10 feet from the rim. Sabonis has a step on a flat-footed Nemanja Bjelica, and is clearly going straight towards the left side of the basket.

What happens next? Towns freezes, giving Sabonis a wide-open layup. Not only that, Thaddeus Young is standing wide open on the baseline, so if KAT was overly concerned about his own man, he failed there, too. Towns was in the midst of the textbook definition of no-man’s land; a spectator, and nothing more.

This play is particularly frustrating because it wasn’t a lack of awareness. Towns saw the man with the ball moving to score, and chose to do nothing.

Next, we see Towns get into the correct position, but weirdly not do much to stop the ball-handler from scoring.

He’s surely trying to avoid committing a foul, but he could have a) taken a charge, or b) moved his arms to try and block the shot. This is an example of Towns simply getting beaten at the rim by a guard.

And now, we’ll see another example of what can only be described as a lack of urgency.

Pause the video at the five-second mark. Towns sees Al Jefferson receive the pass, and then still takes one giant step backwards into the paint, allowing Big Al plenty of time to load up his slow-developing shot. The contest comes late, and Jefferson nails the jumper.

Okay, one more example of Towns moving slowly on defense before we get to the happy stuff.

Very similar to what we saw in the Jefferson clip: Towns knows he needs to contest the jump shot after sagging below the screen, but still takes a long, exaggerated step backwards. When the shooter is at the apex of his jumper, Towns is a good three to four feet away, “contesting” the shot.

Now, who’s up for some dominant defense from KAT?

Towns does a good job not leaping to contest a potential 3-point attempt from Patrick Patterson. He stays down, knowing that as soon as Pat-Patt puts the ball on the floor he’ll be less effective. Towns waits for a slow-developing spin move into the middle of the lane and swats the jumper before retaining the loose ball and starting a Wolves fastbreak the other way.

One of Towns’ most obvious issues so far this year has been getting back in transition. Too often, he ill-advisedly chases a potential offensive rebound into the corner, argues with the officials, or simply jogs back on defense. This leads to rim-runs from his man, and easy buckets for the other team. (In fact, Towns ranks as the worst center in the entire league through the first two weeks of the season in opponent’s points allowed on the fastbreak. Unacceptable for a talent like Towns.)

Here, Towns beats his man, Steven Adams, back into the paint, but notices Andre Roberson driving baseline around Andrew Wiggins.

Not a special play, by any means, but exactly what the Wolves need out of Towns on a regular basis.

Now, how about a block against the MVP?

That … was awesome. Towns was in perfect guarding position: giving ground to an explosive player, but was close enough to contest a quick pull-up, which Russell Westbrook is well-known for. And then, he blocks the shot attempt with his left hand, erasing any possibility of fouling by reaching across with his right arm.

Let’s call it what it is: outstanding defense against one of the most explosive scorers of this generation. Timberwolves fans will recall when he shutdown another MVP in Steph Curry back at the end of Towns’ rookie year.

It’s in there. Towns has the ability. It’s the consistency that we’re all searching for from KAT.

Maybe all it takes is a matchup against another surefire playoff team. Maybe, it was a packed Target Center on a Friday night. Or, the combination of the blue Icon uniforms with the home court, perhaps. Or maybe it was the presence of Jimmy Butler, verbally kicking him in the butt.

Next: Staples of the Wolves Offense: The Rub Series

Whatever it was, here’s hoping it continues. If something clicks defensively for Towns, this Timberwolves team will be a force come spring.