Karl-Anthony Towns: Defense

Karl-Anthony Towns is still in the honeymoon stage of his young NBA career, everything good he does gets exponentially blown up, and the bad is downplayed like it’s not a big deal. The good is like he’s the next Tim Duncan because his rookie year was on par with Duncan’s rookie year (12th highest Rookie PER ever, just ahead of Tim Duncan). Or how Towns’ PER (Player Efficiency Rating) during his rookie year was good for 13th overall in the NBA.

Much of Towns’ game that seemed to be overlooked during his rookie year was his abysmal Defense Real Plus Minus (DRPM) rating. Towns was ninth worst among NBA Centers at -.22 according to ESPN.com and last season the DRPM got even worse as he ranked dead last among Centers at -1.41. There are only nine total NBA centers with negative ratings including Al Jefferson, Enes Kanter, Jahlil Okafor, and Frank Kaminsky. DRPM is a player’s estimated on-court impact on team defensive performance, measured in points allowed per 100 defensive possessions.

DRPM is an advanced metric that takes lots of factors into account and doesn’t always reflect an accurate metric for defense. NBA.com has a metric called SportVU, a camera system hung from the rafters that collects data at a rate of 25 times per second and those cameras follow the ball and every player on the court.

SportVU collects this information and the NBA has a stat called DFGA (Distribution of Field Goals Attempted). Towns defends 6.2 shots per game inside six feet according to DFGA. Towns’ DFG% (Defended Field Goal Percentage) during 2016–17 was 59.3%. That means opponents shot 59.3% inside 6 feet on shots attempted and he’s within five feet of the offensive player shooting. The elite rim protectors in the NBA, Joel Embiid, Draymond Green, and Rudy Gobert gave up 41.7%, 48.3% and 48.9% respectively. Now it wouldn’t be fair to judge Towns solely versus the best rim protectors in the league so for context Anthony Davis was at 54.5% and Towns’ Timberwolves teammate Nemanja Bjelica finished at 54.9%.

As a rookie Towns seemed to demonstrate a good ability to block shots and do it with some consistency. During the 2015–16 season he rejected 138 shots for 1.7 blocks per game which ranked him 12th in the NBA. Anthony Davis ranked a few slots ahead of him swatting 2 shots per and elite rim defender Rudy Gobert managed to have his hand up just over two times every game. Last season Towns slumped in the bouncing opposing shots and blocked 35 less shots seeing his per game rate go down to 1.3. In November, December and January Towns blocked more than 20 shots in every month peaking in January with 27 swats. Then February happened and the number dropped by more than double and after the All-Star break Towns managed to only block 21 shots total.

Many NBA big men can achieve defensive success without being the top shot blockers. Draymond Green blocks 1.4 a game and Marc Gasol, the 2015–16 defensive player of the year, the last two seasons has blocked 1.3 per game. On a blocks per basis Towns is still in good company even with his dip from year one to year two. But Towns will seemingly land himself in defensive trouble with his positioning, more specifically being out of position. Towns’ freaky athleticism, 36.5 inch vert and over 12 foot reach while jumping has probably allowed him to get away with less than good positioning his entire basketball career (6'9 in ninth grade).

A defensive breakdown would be nothing without video evidence, and a lot of video evidence. The first video example here is Towns’ positioning versus Derrick Favors and giving Favors just a little too much room. Defensive positioning is important because Towns should be able to offer enough help that Hood isn’t able to get inside and prevent a pass over the top.

The second video is Towns attempting to help stop Ingles from getting to the rim on a backdoor cut. This time Towns gets too close to Ingles and jumps (no ball fake by Ingles by the way), and Ingles makes an easy shuffle pass off to Favors for the easy flush.

Here’s another series of Towns less than good positioning. The first video is from the same game but it’s an excellent example of positioning and awareness Towns’ seems to lack. Towns loses his man Gobert somehow before the shot is released, and Gobert beats him to the spot for an easy offensive rebound and score (Wolves lost this game 94–92).

Second video Towns is positioned so far from the Pick & Roll that he opens space for Kevon Looney to get the pass from Curry and have an open lane to attack. The third video in this collection has Towns off the ball guarding Morris while John Wall attacks Wiggins with a screen from Gortat. The screen is away from Towns but Towns creeps into the lane as if he’s helping keep Wall out of the lane but what it does is give Morris space to spot-up beyond the three point line.

Fourth video here for an example of misplaced positioning by Towns.

In these set of videos Towns is tasked with guarding Tristan Thompson in the first and Channing Frye in the second. Thompson who is not the primary option in this set, sets the down screen in the floppy action for Kyle Korver who catches off a curl. Zach LaVine isn’t trailing Korver by much and even though Towns’ help does deter Korver from driving, Towns gets too far from Thompson. To make matters worse, Towns reaches for the bounce pass from Korver to Thompson putting himself in no man’s land.

The second video Towns gives eight or more feet the entire time he’s defending Channing Frye and doesn’t see/realize LaVine is behind him helping in the lane for the Irving drive. Towns giving Frye essentially a wide open look isn’t a wise decision as Frye shot 40.9% overall from three during the 2016–17 season.

Communication breakdown between teammates make simple defensive plays in catastrophic events. In this first video Towns and Dieng don’t communicate effectively on the switch. Towns is so far behind Nene that he doesn’t hedge Harden or roll with Nene leaving both men particularly wide open. Harden makes a soft bounce pass to the rolling Nene who finishes with ease at the rim. On the second video Thompson rebounds the offensive board, Towns and Dieng find themselves both converging to Thompson. Thompson moves the ball to Irving on the flash in the space who then swings the ball to the left open man Frye.

In this video example Towns and Bjelica are paired to the top of the key guarding two Raptors players. Towns and Bjelica don’t communicate this rather simple switch as Belly guards the pick man up top sort of, and Towns is stuck in no man’s land. The back Raptors big man rolls deserted to the open lane and scores easily.

One of the most troubling parts about Towns’ defense is he gives up very easy buckets in transition because he’s not running with his own man and he’s getting beat down the floor. In the video compilation of three specific plays, two in the same period of the same game, Towns is out ran on defensive rebounds by the Nuggets BIGs. In the third video Towns is standing on the three point line while Steven Adams releases immediately for the runaway slam.

So much bad in this clip of LeBron knifing through the defense to hit the open Frye. It all started with the lazy closeout by Towns and then instead of boxing Frye, Towns takes himself out of the play, even stops for a second while Thompson gathers the offensive rebound because Gorgui Dieng didn’t box out. Frye immediately cuts to the basket where he is found by Thompson and dunks it home.

These first two video clips are from the last game of the NBA season versus Houston. Towns is the last man down the floor in both videos and leaves his teammates with a disadvantage. In the first possession the five on four situation allows James Harden to make a soft lob in transition for the score. The second, Towns’ man outpaces him significantly by releasing immediately on the miss shot and defensive rebound by the Rockets.

The third clip here Towns turns the ball over on his own baseline. Willie Cauley-Stein releases immediately up court to be rewarded for running the floor. Towns doesn’t get any help from Tyus Jones who misses on the gamble steal at mid-court but Cauley-Stein is dunking the ball by the time Towns is at the free throw line. If Towns keeps pace or at the least a step behind Stein, there wouldn’t be any pass there for the score.

Here this might be a little of nitpick but again, Towns doesn’t run the floor with his man Zaza Pachulia, a man not exactly notorious for his speed. Towns catches up to the play because teammates must stop Pachulia from scoring. This allows Towns to come from behind for the block.

Towns’ also gets himself in a predicament with bad help defense. It’s either help when not a whole lot of reason to (first clip), or not help at all (second clip).

For him to come over on the drive by Kay Felder, who is a Kris Dunn should be able to defend on this difficult fallaway shot. But Towns goes shot block seeking and Felder tucks a pass to Tristan Thompson who dunks it home plus the foul from the helping Zach LaVine.

Second video Toronto picked Lance Stephenson off DeRozan to get the mismatch of Tyus Jones guarding DeRozan. This time Towns doesn’t help, even glaces away from DeRozan to find his man (something we’ve already stressed he has issues with), and DeRozan spins around Jones and finishes with a reverse lay-up.

Next two clips from the Kings game Towns isn’t guarding his man in the first clip and is just slow to react to Ty Lawson. The second is more of the same on the reaction to the drive by Lawson. Towns is so late that getting off his feet does nothing to stop Lawson from dropping an easy dime to Koufos.

Fifth video vs the Miami Heat added for emphasis.

Below are six more video clips of specific possessions of Towns on defense. Explanation not necessary, just watch his positioning, reactions, and the lack of consistent work of the team playing defense.

The problems for the Wolves overall on defense could be just Towns and Gorgui Dieng aren’t a good fit together. They can’t switch much because Dieng isn’t particularly good at defending pick and roll, or in space. Neither one of them is an anchor of the team either.

The Wolves starting 5 of Towns-Dieng-Wiggins-LaVine-Rubio line-up regressed under Tom Thibodeau. Under Sam Mitchell the line-up was +1.4 per 100 possessions and -2.3 under Thibs. The two traditional big line-up has become a lesser of a thing in the NBA and playing teams like Dallas who utilize Harrison Barnes at the four have really made things difficult for Towns on the defensive side of the ball.

As much as Towns has struggled defensively, individually and his teams, he still has the potential to be at least a good defender, if not, excellent. According to synergy, through 70 games last year Towns allowed .882 PPP on plays in which he is directly involved placing him 65th percentile (very good). Towns does succeed often when defending the post and during Towns’ rookie year there was a specific play he switched on Stephen Curry and stopped him (Broken down here).

The play Towns made on Curry emphasized how well the Wolves small line-up of Towns-Shabazz-Wiggins-LaVine-Rubio could succeed. And it also pointed out how much the Wolves regressed defensively under Thibs. As long as they all worked together and bought into the game plan at hand, constant switching, good communication, and no Gorgui Dieng (when he was he was atrocious, NETrating -30.6, -15 +/-). This line-up during 2015–16 played together 89:51 minutes and were +1.5. In 2016–17 this line-up played only 26 minutes together and were -9.1.

For the rest of the video, just enjoy Karl-Anthony Towns’ highlights playing defense for the 2016–17 season. The Timberwolves future is bright, and they can reach great heights but only if their two stars buy in defensively, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. This season they will have a lot more help with Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler so time will tell if they’re ready to make the jump and start winning NBA basketball games.

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