Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 goals for Karl-Anthony Towns in 2018-19

By Luke Askew | Oct 15, 2018

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - SEPTEMBER 24: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves poses for a portrait during the 2018 Media Day on September 24, 2018 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

3. Become the defensive anchor

While Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t necessarily bad on the defensive end, Minnesota fans are growing frustrated with his lack of ability to come anywhere close to his defensive ceiling.

KAT is only 22 years old, so it’s not really fair to expect that he would already be at the peak of his defensive powers. That’s true, but it is fair to be frustrated with the fact that he possesses the skills to be an elite defender already and isn’t even remotely close to elite.

While individual defensive statistics don’t tell the whole story, there are some revealing numbers in the Timberwolves defensive numbers while KAT is on the floor compared to when he’s off the floor.

During the 2017-18 regular season, opponents had a better effective field goal percentage and turned the ball over more while KAT was on the bench. Opposing teams’ offensive ratings were hardly different from when he was off the floor, but they were excessively high when he was on the court.

With his length, mobility and overall athleticism, Towns should be one of the best defensive bigs in the league. It would almost be less frustrating if he was more like Nikola Jokic.

Jokic isn’t a good defender, and he doesn’t really have the natural tools to make us think that that’s going to change. KAT, on the other hand, clearly has a defensive monster somewhere inside of him, he just can’t seem to let it out of the cage.

Often times, KAT will go for a block that he shouldn’t go for and find himself out of position. A lot of this is because he’s so young, but it’s time to stop using age as an excuse for Towns. He’s an elite offensive player, and now that he’s making superstar money, he needs to turn into an elite defender too.

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