Minnesota Sports Forum

That's the clearcut, no doubt about it, consensus. He's never been this good or efficient. EVER!

Is it true though?

24.6 / 9.8 / 3.7 / 52.9% / 40.9% / 82.6%

None of those stats are a career high... and the rebounding is a career low. He's still averaging his usual 3.1 TOs per game. And still hovering around his usual (high) amount of fouls. The only stat thats at a career high is steals... but is that what they're referring to when they claim he's playing better?

Truth is... the guy has been remarkably consistent throughout his career. He is who he is at this point. Turns out... new coaches and teammates and schemes and priorities can significantly change the narrative.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:That's the clearcut, no doubt about it, consensus. He's never been this good or efficient. EVER!

Is it true though?

24.6 / 9.8 / 3.7 / 52.9% / 40.9% / 82.6%

None of those stats are a career high... and the rebounding is a career low. He's still averaging his usual 3.1 TOs per game. And still hovering around his usual (high) amount of fouls. The only stat thats at a career high is steals... but is that what they're referring to when they claim he's playing better?

Truth is... the guy has been remarkably consistent throughout his career. He is who he is at this point. Turns out... new coaches and teammates and schemes and priorities can significantly change the narrative.

Couldn't agree more in terms of his effectiveness in aggregate - he's been remarkably consistent. Great offensive player, mediocre to OK-ish on defense, and overall our best player and Tier II star. But significantly better as an individual player this year versus past seasons? Nope - pretty much the same.

He's finally got some other "plus" players around him and frankly, a lot of the team improvement is more due to lack of negative contributors. There are no Jarrett Culvers or Josh Okogies or 1st half of season rookie Ant being force-fed minutes and in the regular rotation. We have legit vets and other guys that have clawed and scratched their way to earn their playing time.

The one thing that I do think is legit different is our ability to get him touches in crunch time. And that's just my eye test - I have no clue if the stats bear this out, but it feels like we're getting him the ball and more shots late in close games than in previous seasons.

Do D'Angelo Russell next!

I haven't watched as many games this year so idk what all the factors are but it seems Towns is doing more things that actually help his team win. The screens he sets are one of the things I have noticed are much better. The reality is as has been alluded to already is that most of his stats were already pretty good. Too improve those he wound have had to really blow up offensively to score like30 a game or start yanking down 15 rebounds a game or be even more ridiculously efficient or maybe start averaging 6-7 assists a game. I think even the biggest Towns fans would admit there were other little things (or maybe not so little) he didn't do. It seems like this year he is doing a lot more of those things and doing them more consistently. I do think it's not just Towns either there are more guys doing these things around him more consistently too. It creates some real synergy. Obviously the team actually winning and he is the best player on it matters in how he is perceived.

I would like to point out this has been my best year as poster and a fan. The Bo Jackson of the board.

monsterpile wrote:Do D'Angelo Russell next!

I haven't watched as many games this year so idk what all the factors are but it seems Towns is doing more things that actually help his team win. The screens he sets are one of the things I have noticed are much better. The reality is as has been alluded to already is that most of his stats were already pretty good. Too improve those he wound have had to really blow up offensively to score like30 a game or start yanking down 15 rebounds a game or be even more ridiculously efficient or maybe start averaging 6-7 assists a game. I think even the biggest Towns fans would admit there were other little things (or maybe not so little) he didn't do. It seems like this year he is doing a lot more of those things and doing them more consistently. I do think it's not just Towns either there are more guys doing these things around him more consistently too. It creates some real synergy. Obviously the team actually winning and he is the best player on it matters in how he is perceived.

Yes, DLO is somewhat similar. His raw numbers are not all that different from his career numbers - even some of his advanced stats aren't all that different (others are, like win shares and net rating). I do think we have seen a discernible difference in DLO's defense this year. He is a much better team defender than in years past. But offensively.....pretty much the same.