Minnesota Timberwolves: What’s the ceiling of the Russell and Towns duo?

Offense

Offensively, Russell and Towns have a chance to be the best duo that Timberwolves fans have ever seen.

We all know what KAT can do on offense as he’s far and away the best center in the league in ESPN’s offensive real plus-minus stat with a +5.37 rating, which is 3.13 points higher than the next-best center.

His combination of inside scoring (58.6% from two-point range) and outside shooting (41.2% from three on 7.9 attempts per game) makes him nearly unguardable with the ball in his hands. And over the last two games, Towns has shown that he can be a Nikola Jokic-esque distributor with his new roster as he registered 9 assists against the Clippers and 7 dimes against the Raptors.

If KAT is able to sustain those types of assist numbers to go along with his usual 25+ points and 10+ rebounds per game, this dude is going to go down as one of the all-time greats on offense.

Towns is a great fit next to his buddy D’Lo as Russell ranks 10th in offensive real plus-minus among shooting guards despite playing next to subpar talent this year in Golden State.

Russell is going to have the ball in his hands a lot as he’s ranked in the 95th percentile or higher in usage rate in each of the past three seasons according to Cleaning the Glass, and most of those possessions will begin in a pick-and-roll with KAT.

Towns is the perfect pick-and-roll partner for D’Lo because he can roll to the basket and finish lob dunks, make good decisions with the ball on a short roll, or he can pop to the three-point line and snipe you from outside. Opposing defenses won’t be able to switch against this action because of KAT’s dominance, which will give Russell plenty of room to operate off the screen.

D’Angelo doesn’t get to the rim very often as less than 19% of his shots come from less than 10 feet, but Towns’ ability to roll towards the hoop should cause the defense to sag off of Russell to help on that action and allow him enough room to get a good look at a jump shot.

D’Lo has also become a dangerous passer with over 6 assists per game in each of the last two seasons, and the front office is doing their best to surround Russell and KAT with as many shooters as possible.

Offensively, this duo should be among the most dynamic in the league as they can beat you in a number of ways. However, their defensive fit is going to be the biggest question mark on this team moving forward.