How Towns and Vanderbilt drive the Timberwolves’ offensive rebounding machine
By Aidan Berg
Karl-Anthony Towns brings strength and timing to the Timberwolves
Towns is a second-chance points beast. He leads the league in the category with 4.2 per game, just above antagonist Jonas Valanciunas.
This isn’t new for Towns, either. He has never ranked below eighth in the league in second-chance points in his previous six seasons, and he has ranked in the top three on three separate occasions. For a guy who has been described as a finesse big by his supporters and a soft one by his detractors, he grinds for these extra opportunities.
Towns is fluid but not explosive, so his top weapon as an offensive rebounder is his innate timing and positioning. He has a great grasp of when to slide into the open spot, arriving late enough that opponents can’t get a solid box-out on him.
Below, he watches Anthony Edwards attack the Hawks’ zone defense and draw Clint Capela, knowing that Trae Young won’t box him out. He chops his feet so he can high-point the carom and then somehow throws it in from his behind for the and-one opportunity.
You can see Towns is slow to get up at the end of the play because he fell on his injured tailbone. Towns is willing to throw his body around, and while it can put the fear of God in Wolves fans when he routinely crashes to the floor, he deserves more credit for putting his body on the line.
Towns repeatedly secures extra chances despite being thoroughly boxed out because he knows how to push his man inside and time his jump to tip the ball from above the defender and to himself. Here, he does just that even though Kyle Kuzma has ideal rebounding position.
The touch Towns routinely displays on these tip-to-self plays is truly impressive. It makes me wonder if he gleaned more than we thought from that Gatorade volleyball spot he did with Russell.
Second-chance scoring is where Towns provides something Vanderbilt struggles with. Vanderbilt labors to finish off the gather when around the basket, frequently getting the ball stripped away or just straight up missing. Sometimes, Towns will be there to clean up the miss.
I’m not here to rag on Vanderbilt, though, so let’s move on to his role in this operation.