Minnesota Timberwolves: Can Karl-Anthony Towns anchor the defense?

Can Karl-Anthony Towns be the anchor of a solid Minnesota Timberwolves defense?

In 2019-20, the Minnesota Timberwolves had their best season in terms of defensive rating compared to the rest of the league since 2013-14 under head coach Rick Adelman.

Of course, they still finished No. 21 this year, which speaks to the massive issues the Wolves have had on that end of the floor over the past six seasons.

Even under Tom Thibodeau and with Jimmy Butler providing strong all-around perimeter defense, the 47-win Wolves in 2017-18 finished No. 27 in defensive rating.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Can Karl-Anthony Towns anchor the defense?

The common denominator in five of those six seasons is Karl-Anthony Towns. He’s been the best player on the floor for the Wolves over the past five years, and the Wolves’ league-wide rankings in defensive rating have been 28th, 27th, 27th, 24th, and 21st in the current season.

Of course, Towns is just one player and the Wolves have trotted out their fair share of miserable defenders alongside KAT. Not to mention the multiple head coaching changes and shifts in scheme on both ends of the floor.

Recently, Alec Liebsch of The Step Back explored how the Wolves could about building a defense with their two best players currently considered liabilities on the defensive end in Towns and D’Angelo Russell.

Much of what Liebsch says is fair: he notes that Russell’s issues largely stem from a lack of consistent effort, combined with some skill and athleticism shortcomings on the defensive end of the floor. With Towns, he acknowledges that the skill and ability are there, but things simply haven’t translated with any sense of consistency.

The main issue with Liebsch’s take comes from this statement: “No team makes it deep into the playoffs without at least an average rim protector, something Towns is far from at the moment.”

First, there are plenty of teams with solid defensive units that don’t rely on a single rim protector. The Warriors of just last season used some combination of DeMarcus Cousins and Jordan Bell, but neither are necessarily considered dominant shot-blockers, and they didn’t exactly play huge minutes throughout the playoff run.

Both Portland and Boston made runs to their respective conference finals last year and neither had rim protectors playing major minutes. The Cleveland Cavaliers Finals team from 2018 is another example. Is anyone afraid to go into the paint against Larry Nance Jr.?

Secondly, while it’s still fair to consider Towns a below-average all-around defender, he has made clear progress over the past couple of seasons, and the new scheme implemented by defensive coordinator David Vanterpool and head coach Ryan Saunders should make a big difference moving forward.

While it’s true that Towns tied for the lowest block rate of his career in 2019-20 at just 2.9 percent and finished last among centers in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus-Minus (DRPM) metric, there are a couple of other numbers that suggest an improvement.

When it comes to defensive field goal percentage within six feet of the rim, Towns found himself hovering around the top-20 among centers at a solid 51.2 percent. That’s only one spot behind Brooklyn’s Jarrett Allen and ahead of the likes of Willie Cauley-Stein, Bismack Biyombo, and Steven Adams.

Additionally, Towns’ Box Score Plus-Minus at Basketball-Reference.com has improved each of the past four years and finished in positive territory this year at 0.8. Yes, that number has a bit of noise to it in terms of his teammates’ impact (surely it was boosted by playing next to Robert Covington for most of his time on the floor this season) and it still isn’t all that impressive, but it’s an improvement nonetheless.

To be clear, Towns has improving to do if the Wolves are going to be a playoff team in 2021. There’s no question about that. But suggesting that he is “far” from being an “average rim protector” is misleading, to say the least.

Towns’ biggest issue before the 2019-20 campaign was being a half-step slow on rotations and over-committing to a fruitless block attempt, leaving the Wolves susceptible to dunks and layups from the weak side as well as offensive rebounds and putbacks from the opponent.

For the most part, Towns played hard this year on defense when he was healthy. Here’s an example of fantastic help defense in assisting to cut-off the baseline, but then a complete lapse when it comes to recovering to his man.

On the other side of things, here’s a clip from the same game showing Towns’ ability to help and recover multiple times on a possession, impacting the play positively and finishing things by grabbing the rebound.

Clearly, the ability and know-how is there. The most important thing right now is understanding the new scheme in its entirety, as well as putting forward consistent effort.

This season, Towns was often in no-man’s land in Vanterpool’s preferred pick-and-roll coverage, sagging too low when trying to contain ball-handlers. The fear of being burned off the dribble was real, and it often led to wide-open 12-to-15-footers from opposing guards, or unimpeded passing lanes that inevitably meant 3-pointers and dunks for opposing offenses.

But once Towns is more familiar in this concept and Vanterpool has more than 60 games to work with a still-evolving roster, expecting something like a middle-of-the-road defensive unit is not a pipe dream.

Towns has the ability to make a mini-leap on defense, and as long as Russell brings effort and the Wolves get incremental growth from young perimeter defenders Josh Okogie and Jarrett Culver, the Wolves’ defense could be better than expected come 2021.