Knicks fans are still coming down from the shock of Friday night’s blockbuster trade that dealt New York Julio Randle and Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns. The acquisition brings home one of the best shooting bigs of all time who has the potential to turn his offense into a liability.
There is little concern as to how the Knicks will perform to that end with Towns at the five. Jalen Brunson is their engine and Mikal Bridges and AND Anunoby are skilled connectors and finishers, while Towns spreads the floor and picks defenses apart.
The real question comes on the defensive end.
Historically, Minnesota has been lackluster at stopping opposing offenses with Towns as their primary edge defender, but the trend has shifted in the right direction — and he’ll have the best defensive supporting cast of his career.
This question is pivotal to the success of New York, because teams that are not above the league on both sides of the ball rarely win a title. So will the Knicks’ new lineup be able to thwart opponents, or will its promise be dead on arrival?
Regardless of the defensive personnel around him, City-centered teams were glorified pitchers for much of his early career. Minnesota ranked in the bottom 10 in defense for six straight seasons from 2015-16 to 2020-21, with their best performance coming in the year Towns missed nearly half of its games.
This didn’t all fall on Towns, and being ineffective defensively as a young NBA big isn’t a unique story. He improved modestly as the years went by, and the team’s performance turned with it.
The Timberwolves ranked 13th in points allowed per 100 possessions in 2021-22, with Towns at the center position and some dynamic help surrounding him in Jared Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels. Minnesota then brought in a perennial Defensive Player of the Year. Rudy Gobert to man the five, and after an injury-plagued and disastrous debut season, he, Towns and Anthony Edwards led Minnesota to the best defense in the league last season.
Even with Gobert off the floor and Towns under center, Minnesota allowed just 111 points per 100 possessions, which would rank top five in the NBA. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate to the playoffs, where the Timberwolves were smoked in Towns lineups that didn’t include Gobert.
The eye test was better. Cities had some nice moments, including a lockout Nikola Jokic down from Game 7, and generally looked sharper — but will it be enough for the Knicks to be contenders?
To start with the positives, Towns is aware of schemes and doesn’t lack for effort on the defensive end. He also works with some great tools: a huge seven-foot, 250-pound frame with a 7-foot-4 wingspan that somehow reads bigger on film than on paper.
That goes for the defensive glass, where Towns has been reliable throughout his career. His numbers were down next to Gobert, but stood up to scrutiny without him and impacted the team numbers consistently.
Towns also uses his physicality to shut down post-up bigs and prompt smaller wings and guards on switches into pull-up jumpers that he can counter well. He looked much better guarding smalls and switching around than advertised or compared to his play in a rim protection role.
This will likely drive New York’s defensive schemes around Towns-at-the-5 lineups because he’s simply not a deterrent or impact defender around the rim. Towns hasn’t put up 1.5 blocks per-36 minutes in five seasons, and has routinely had poor defensive field goal percentage marks within six feet of the rim in that span.
If he’s in position, the results aren’t bad, but he’s often in no man’s land and doesn’t show the instinct you want from a low man.
Some of this could be attributed to playing with Gobert for a few seasons, and could be improved with more reps at center and a Thibodeau mound, but there are glaring concerns. Towns is completely passive in drop coverage, giving opponents whatever they wanted in Thibodeau’s favorite coverage.
He is much better at the level when he is fully engaged and moving his feet. Whether there or blitzing, he can look downright intimidating as a mobile big, but can stray into flat-footedness and lean out of position in other stretches.
Towns will give you a handful of head-scratchers game by allowing inexplicable hits, leaving his feet at the wrong time, or other oddity. His transition defense is completely lacking, and he doesn’t make a significant amount of plays with steals and blocks.
There’s an extra gear he can get to, especially in the playoffs, but Thibodeau requires that energy from an opening night tip. Can Cities consistently carry that intensity?
Ultimately, Cities will need to fully buy in and be planned creatively, depending on the matchup and with multiple options ready to go. This is not an easy task, and will rely on Anunoby and Bridges to be exceptional to help inside and make multiple efforts.
Expect Thibodeau to have Anunoby guard the primary screener or even opposing centers in these settings, leaving Towns to a perimeter assignment. He can also implement more switching between the two and five spots with Brunson, and all five slots without him.
Maybe Towns has a career year and shuts down his drop coverage. Thibodeau had a rocky first tournament with Towns, but they eventually got over it, and he got the best of bigs on the Knicks.
However it goes, how Towns performs defensively in these lineups could be the biggest non-healthy factor defining the Knicks’ championship chances.
