In his nine seasons with Minnesota, Karl-Anthony Towns solidified himself as one of the best offensive talents in the league. With his unique ability to shoot the 3-pointer amongst the best, Towns earned three All-Star appearances in his tenure with Minnesota.
The Achilles heel of Towns' game has always been his defense. Towns is not known to have the rim-protection ability of other bigs, as well as struggling to guard smaller matchups in space, getting blown by often.
This exact deficiency motivated Minnesota to trade for Rudy Gobert, who offers the complete opposite skillset of Towns.
The pairing proved to be great, as Minnesota would make a Western Conference finals appearance in the 2023-24 season, only their second in franchise history up to that point. The following offseason, Towns would be traded to New York for a package centered around Julius Randle, ending Towns' tenure in Minnesota.
The trade was one of the most mutually beneficial trades in recent memory. Both teams reached the conference finals in their respective conferences, as both players provided significant contributions to their new homes. The inclusion of Donte DiVincenzo and the No. 17 pick used to draft rookie Joan Beringer for Minnesota has only bolstered the haul the Timberwolves received for trading what was once their franchise player.
15 months since the blockbuster trade, Minnesota now finds itself missing a surprising aspect of his game most: defense.
The Wolves are unable to find any defense with Gobert off the floor
34 games into the season, the Timberwolves have been defined by inconsistent play. Whether it has been on the offensive or defensive side of the ball, Minnesota has been unable to put it all together to be a competent team.
One of the glaring holes for Minnesota has been its defensive play with Rudy Gobert off the court. In the minutes Gobert is off the court, head coach Chris Finch often resorts to playing Naz Reid and Randle in the front court together.
This lineup combination has been extremely detrimental to Minnesota's defense, posting a 121.5 defensive rating. Being that both players measure at 6-foot-9, opposing teams can dominate the glass and generate additional offensive possessions. In addition, their lack of stature in the paint leads to teams piling up paint points in these possessions, capitalizing on the possessions when Gobert is off the court.
Minnesota currently ranks seventh in defensive rating on the season at 113.4, but the stats clearly indicate that this is a reflection of Gobert's defensive impact, rather than Minnesota being a great defensive team.
Karl-Anthony Towns... the defender?
In Towns' final season with Minnesota, the Timberwolves ranked first in defensive rating, and four points better than this year's team, recording a defensive rating of 108.9.
The Timberwolves faired much better in the non-Rudy minutes than they do now, largely in part thanks to the defensive impact of Towns. The sheer size, at 7-foot allowed Minnesota to have some deterrence at the paint with Gobert out of the game.
Minnesota would also resort to a completely different defensive scheme when Towns was the lone big in the game, favoring the athleticism along the perimeter.
Minnesota would roll out a high-wall defensive scheme on screens, in which Towns would provide a hard hedge on the ball screen, allowing the screened defender to recover back on the ball, before Towns would rotate back to the center.
This helped mask Towns' lack of rim protection, while also disrupting the opposing offense.
With the Randle-Reid frontcourt combination, Minnesota utilizes more of a switching defensive scheme, as both have the lateral quickness to guard on the perimeter. Unfortunately, both struggle severely in space, as teams will hunt ball screens to get Randle or Reid on an opposing team's best offensive player.
This was fully on display in Minnesota's most recent loss to Atlanta on New Year's Eve. The humiliating 126-102 defeat saw the Hawks score an astounding 64 points in the paint, 12 points better than their average of 50.3 points in the paint per game.
It was an embarrassing defensive showing from Minnesota, with constant defensive breakdowns, a lack of communication, and letting the Hawks get whatever they wanted in the paint.
Defensive performances like the one against the Hawks have become all too common for Minnesota this season. With how competitive the Western Conference is, it is vital that Minnesota finds a solution for the defense in the non-Gobert minutes quickly.