Minnesota Timberwolves: Finding the perfect fit with Towns and Edwards

What we know about the best fit with Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards

The elephant in the room for the Wolves is D’Angelo Russell. It’s hard to fully judge how he fits in the context of this group for a couple of reasons.

The combination of Russell, Edwards, and Towns have played a total of 42 possessions together and none of them, obviously, have come under Finch. Sure, lineups featuring those three are a ridiculous plus-36.3 but it’s 42 possessions.

Russell does feature some of the characteristics that fit the profile of a guard who can play alongside Towns and Edwards. Although he’s shooting better on pull-up threes this season (42 percent) than catch-and-shoot (36.4 percent), he’s been better on catch-and-shoot looks in every other season of his career, shooting over 39 percent the last two seasons.

He is a solid facilitator and when they finally get the chance to show it for a prolonged period of time, the pick and roll with Towns should flow pretty well. But he is a heavy usage player as opposed to Rubio. As Edwards develops, the hope is that he’ll be able to handle the ball more often and Russell isn’t always the most comfortable switching from on ball to off-ball so frequently.

Rubio isn’t necessarily an elite defender, but he has clearly been superior to Russell throughout their careers. This makes for a troubling situation defensively with a Russell and Beasley backcourt.

That’s where Jarred Vanderbilt, or similar a similar player, makes sense. Obviously, Vanderbilt isn’t a long-term solution as a starter, but his defensive profile can help figure out what the Wolves could use to fit this group.

Offensively, he’s above-average finishing around the basket while being a pretty solid ball-handler and passer. It’s not an ideal fit for this group as Edwards and Towns are both guys who like to get to the rim so having someone who doesn’t shoot the three at all is a bit of a problem. On defense, Vanderbilt is a good rim protector and swipes the ball at an elite level.

Optimists (myself included) would like to believe that Jaden McDaniels can become that player. He can shoot the three at a solid clip, should develop as a finisher, and is outstanding as a rim protector.

However, there is much speculation that the Wolves are interested in the Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon or the Atlanta Hawks’ John Collins.

While they both fill positional needs, Gordon would be the better fit between the two. He’s a better defender and although Collins is a better offensive player, Gordon can still shoot a respectable mark from 3 and his athleticism makes him a good finisher.

All of this to say, things could change drastically depending on how the Wolves look with Russell, how the trade deadline goes and even looking ahead to the draft.

There’s a path for Minnesota to build around Towns and Edwards. Some of the pieces are already on the roster, some may be available via trade or the draft, and they have a coach who will put them in positions to succeed.