Former Minnesota Timberwolves interim coach Ryan Saunders is now promoted as a full-time head coach and one of the first things on his wish list is seeing franchise superstar Karl-Anthony Towns work on his pick-and-roll defense.
According to Chris Hine of Star Tribune, the young coach feels that Towns needs to improve his defense for the Timberwolves to get better on the other side of the ball, which is one of the keys to winning and developing into a contender.
“It’s his feel in terms of pick-and-roll coverage. Not being in no man’s land,” Saunders said. “With that, I understand the responsibility that we have as a staff and I have as a coach, we need to find what his best coverage is, and really commit to that, and for him to become very good at that coverage.”
While not known for his defense going back to his days with the Kentucky Wildcats, the same deficiencies continue to hound the 7-footer in his short four-season NBA career thus far. Even under the defensive-minded tutelage of former coach Tom Thibodeau, Towns only showed some flashes of defensive upside but was largely inconsistent. It's certainly not for lack of tools either given that the 23-year-old possesses exceptional measurables such as a near 7-foot-4 wingspan and above-average mobility which should allow him to guard in space or the paint.
The Timberwolves hope that the Dominican Republic native finally puts it all together next season and help the team make a legitimate push for one of the lower playoff seeds.
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