How Towns and Vanderbilt drive the Timberwolves’ offensive rebounding machine
By Aidan Berg
The Minnesota Timberwolves have stayed afloat in the Western Conference by excelling in unexpected ways.
A team that expected to win with explosive offense has so far been much more reliable on the other end of the court. Karl-Anthony Towns has been one of the least efficient high-usage post players in the league, and Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell have not exploded offensively, yet the young Wolves play like savvy veterans in their ability to punish teams for turnovers.
This is not the team anyone anticipated watching. Now add elite performance on the offensive boards to the list of unexpected developments in a roller-coaster season.
How Towns and Vanderbilt drive the Timberwolves’ offensive rebounding machine
Despite their size limitations, the Wolves are among the best teams in the NBA in both crashing the offensive glass and capitalizing on the extra opportunities this season.
Their 13.1 offensive rebounds per game and 30.7 offensive rebound percentage rank first and fourth in the league, respectively, and they score the second-most second-chance points at 16.5 per game.
Towns and Jarred Vanderbilt are, unsurprisingly, the cogs in this strength. Vanderbilt and Towns rank No. 10 and No. 13 in the league, respectively, in offensive rebounds per game, with both listed at 3.0 per NBA.com. No other Timberwolf averages more than 1.4.
The key is that Towns and Vanderbilt have different approaches to both attacking the offensive boards and making decisions once they’ve secured the rebound. Their different styles make it harder for teams to account for both of them, which is part of the reason Minnesota has been so successful in this area.
Let’s take a look at what each of the Wolves’ starting big men does to contribute to the offensive rebounding effort and how it all fits together within the team concept.