Minnesota Sports Forum

Camden wrote:Anthony Davis
Kristaps Porzingis
Pascal Siakam
Bam Adebayo
Domantas Sabonis
John Collins
Nikola Jokic
Rudy Gobert
Clint Capela
Jaren Jackson Jr.

So, none of these bigs would look good next to Karl-Anthony Towns? Or is it fair to say that skill set matters? You can't simply say that a twin towers approach would fail. It simply depends on the big in question... and there a number of different guys that could work next to Towns.

Meanwhile, we just watched roughly 50 games of Robert Covington next to him. It didn't work.

Of course skill set matters.

I never said otherwise. Only that choosing a big that clogs the lane... or can't defend in space... is gonna plug one leak to create another.

I mean... the entire concept is basically just giving Towns a pass for being a bad defender. Not like the guy needs even more entitlement... but the entire debate is moot if the guy was even an average defender.

The long-held allure of somebody like Towns is that he could play anywhere on offense but be an inside presence defensively. That's what made him a "unicorn." Simply turning him into a PF seems to negate that quite a bit.

I said it in another thread. I think you need to play another big. I would actually play Towns as a 3 or sometimes 4. I don't think he would lose that much ground to the bigger 3s in the league. Have a traditional big in the middle. That's why I was always pining for Horford so bad on this team. Towns plays offense like a 4 or 3 and is useless plugging up the middle. Let him guard the perimeter a bit, and put a stay at home guy inside. If he's too slow he can play the 4. I actually think with towns guard instincts and agressivement he could figure out how to be a good help/team defender if he was more of a roamer than a weakside helper form the inside.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:Anthony Davis
Kristaps Porzingis
Pascal Siakam
Bam Adebayo
Domantas Sabonis
John Collins
Nikola Jokic
Rudy Gobert
Clint Capela
Jaren Jackson Jr.

So, none of these bigs would look good next to Karl-Anthony Towns? Or is it fair to say that skill set matters? You can't simply say that a twin towers approach would fail. It simply depends on the big in question... and there a number of different guys that could work next to Towns.

Meanwhile, we just watched roughly 50 games of Robert Covington next to him. It didn't work.

Of course skill set matters.

I never said otherwise. Only that choosing a big that clogs the lane... or can't defend in space... is gonna plug one leak to create another.

I mean... the entire concept is basically just giving Towns a pass for being a bad defender. Not like the guy needs even more entitlement... but the entire debate is moot if the guy was even an average defender.

The long-held allure of somebody like Towns is that he could play anywhere on offense but be an inside presence defensively. That's what made him a "unicorn." Simply turning him into a PF seems to negate that quite a bit.

Pass or not Towns is dog shit on defense and you can't build an entire team around him becoming a good defender especially just to prove a point to hold him accountable on that end of the floor. You'd think teams can't score the basketball at all based on this rhetoric that you need to play 5 out. How does Utah ever score a basket with Gobert? How do the Clippers ever score a basket with Harrell on the floor? How do the Lakers ever score a basket with Dwight and McGee playing? The Warriors are gone and Towns is not a 7 ft wing like Durant to be able to try to do what they did. It's time to build around our strengths and weaknesses as a team. It's just not gonna work with Towns at the 5 so I'm not sure why that pipe dream is still the best way to proceed.

Harden doesn't play defense , Houston works around that factor. The Wolves need to do the same.

PorkChop wrote:Harden doesn't play defense , Houston works around that factor. The Wolves need to do the same.

Much easier to build around a weak perimeter defender than a weak Center.....Also, Harden has turned out to be good when guarding post players, so there are situations where he's fine defensively. I think he's improved since all those youtube clips of his "featuring" his horrible defensive possessions some years ago.

Q12543 wrote:

PorkChop wrote:Harden doesn't play defense , Houston works around that factor. The Wolves need to do the same.

Much easier to build around a weak perimeter defender than a weak Center.....Also, Harden has turned out to be good when guarding post players, so there are situations where he's fine defensively. I think he's improved since all those youtube clips of his "featuring" his horrible defensive possessions some years ago.

I think we agree here. I didn't relay that point properly.

I've said it plenty on Twitter, but I would love -- LOVE -- to see Jerami Grant in Minnesota. He's one of my top free agent targets and I think he's attainable. Luckily, he'd also fit what Gersson Rosas is attempting to do here and won't cost an arm and a leg.

Camden wrote:I've said it plenty on Twitter, but I would love -- LOVE -- to see Jerami Grant in Minnesota. He's one of my top free agent targets and I think he's attainable. Luckily, he'd also fit what Gersson Rosas is attempting to do here and won't cost an arm and a leg.

I sorta dig Jerami Grant, too. I just checked his stats...

3.6 reb per game.
5.0 per 36 min.

thedoper wrote:I said it in another thread. I think you need to play another big. I would actually play Towns as a 3 or sometimes 4. I don't think he would lose that much ground to the bigger 3s in the league. Have a traditional big in the middle. That's why I was always pining for Horford so bad on this team. Towns plays offense like a 4 or 3 and is useless plugging up the middle. Let him guard the perimeter a bit, and put a stay at home guy inside. If he's too slow he can play the 4. I actually think with towns guard instincts and agressivement he could figure out how to be a good help/team defender if he was more of a roamer than a weakside helper form the inside.

Doper - I agree with you completely.

Q12543 wrote:

PorkChop wrote:Harden doesn't play defense , Houston works around that factor. The Wolves need to do the same.

Much easier to build around a weak perimeter defender than a weak Center.....Also, Harden has turned out to be good when guarding post players, so there are situations where he's fine defensively. I think he's improved since all those youtube clips of his "featuring" his horrible defensive possessions some years ago.

Easier? Yes. Much easier? Not so sure. But the point of course is that KAT shouldn't be this team's center. His skill set allows our coaching staff the flexibility to play him at the 4. This team needs one really good interior defender. That guy doesn't have to be an all-star. He just needs to be really good defensively.