What Karl-Anthony Towns can learn from DeMarcus Cousins

Karl-Anthony Towns is having another stellar season, averaging a double-double with over a block per game. But his impact has fluctuated as he gets use to his new teammates. Towns needs to alter his offensive attack for the betterment of his team.

Karl-Anthony Towns has a lot in common with DeMarcus Cousins. It starts with both of them playing for John Calipari at Kentucky. UK is where they both showed the promise of the dominant players they would eventually become.

Towns is a part of the most talented team of his young career, and now criticism is starting to head his way when the team falters. A lot of the same issues that plagued Cousins early in his career affect Towns now. Both can still become better defenders, but Cousins’ first full year in New Orleans should give Towns (and Tom Thibodeau) a blueprint for a better usage of Towns on offense.

Cousins was already a big-time scorer by KAT’s rookie season in the league. But starting in 2016-17, spurred on by adjusting to the league and his trade to the Pelicans, Cousins has become an unstoppable force, even when teams are denying him post touches. Towns should study what Cousins has done this year. If he works on using his skills to make his teammates better he can take his game to the next level.

1. Eliminate the mid-range shot

Towns is an incredibly gifted post scorer, but he is a finesse player at heart. One of Towns’ favorite moves is fall away jump shot on the left wing. He also likes to face up just inside the corner of the 3-point line on the left side of the floor and fire off his set-shot, Tim Duncan-style.

These moves are an essential part of what KAT does, but he needs to adjust that to who is on the floor. KAT makes the Minnesota Timberwolves offense become extremely easy to guard when he, Jimmy Butler, Jamal Crawford and Andrew Wiggins are all taking the shot that NBA defenses want to give up most — the mid-range.

If Thibodeau moves Towns to different areas of the floor, he will start to mix it up. Right now Minnesota’s offense does not space the floor. As a franchise cornerstone, the onus is on Towns to figure out how to create a more sustainable offense.

Per Basketball-Reference, in the 2017-18 regular season, Cousins is shooting 3.2 percent of his shots from 10-16 feet compared to 10.3 percent for Towns from that range.

2. Be decisive … no matter the outcome

In Monday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Towns hesitated when he received the ball behind the 3-point line, down three points and guarded by Andrew Harrison. Now to be fair, Harrison played great defense on the possession. He closed out hard and got into Towns’ chest.

But it was a situation where a player like Boogie would’ve fired up the shot immediately, and Towns would’ve benefited from that sort of confidence. Instead, the 7’0″ Towns chose not to shoot over the 6’6″ Harrison, and passed back to Butler for a much more difficult shot that missed to seal the game for Memphis (at the 12:52 mark):

KAT took just six shots on the night, compared to 21 for Jimmy Butler and 17 for Andrew Wiggins. Cousins is shooting just under seven 3-point attempts per game this season. That is quite extreme, but it creates driving lanes for the Pelicans’ guards and allows Anthony Davis room to operate.

Towns is shooting a career-high 36.7 percent from the 3-point line compared to 32.5 percent for Cousins. Now of course Cousins has the green light in New Orleans to jack up 3s, but Towns should start his post-ups even further outside the paint if his objective is to face up and shoot.

KAT still attacks the offensive end of the floor like a young talent of a struggling team. He often avoids mistakes by forcing someone else to make the decision. Now is the time for Towns work through his mistakes as he gets to know his veterans. Whether it be passing out of a double team or taking a late-game shot, Minnesota will only go as far as Towns takes them.

3. Look for cutters

Cousins is on a different level as a passer. And while it is true that Towns won’t become the passer Cousins is overnight, it is also true that he won’t get to that level at all if he doesn’t try. Karl-Anthony Towns has a one-track mind when it comes to post-ups. He receives the entry pass and looks to score without swiveling his head to look for cutters.

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Towns sometimes even tries to power his way through double-teams rather than passing out. Cousins averages a shade under five turnovers per game, but many of those turnovers come from trying to thread the needle on bounce passes to cutting teammates.

As crazy as it sounds, I am all right with a similar increase in (raw) turnover numbers for Towns if it meant he passed more. Big men who can score at will but choose to pass inspire better off-ball movement from their teammates, ahe Timberwolves have some of the worst off-ball movement in the league, especially late in games.

For his career, Towns has an assist percentage of 11.6. This year he is assisting on a career-low seven percent of Minnesota’s baskets when he is on the floor. The considerable drop is concerning. Towns’ usage rate is down with all of the new scoring options added, which is expected. But he is still looking to shoot when a play is called for him.

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Towns needs to instead look to make the best play available when his number is called. Knowing the subtle distinction between the two is what helped DeMarcus Cousins become a two-way force on the hardwood, and it’s a similar path KAT needs to take.

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