In today’s NBA, players who can shift positionally are a boon.
This versatility is most commonly recognized in a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo, who can shift up in position from small forward to power forward.
Similar to Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns is also versatile and shifts positions. But this season, Towns’ shifts have started to exceed situational gimmick; in 2017, the Minnesota Timberwolves big man has become a power forward.
For Towns, the perception of “center” will forever be hard to shake. At the University of Kentucky, Towns played with his back almost exclusively to the basket on offense and on defense, where he was a shot-blocking and a left-shoulder hook-making stalwart. Everything about the, then, 19-year-old prospect screamed “Center!”.
But Towns no longer functions the way he did in college.
The Minnesota big man has down-shifted from burly post-presence to what profiles as an agile power forward in two distinct ways this season:
- The players who defend Towns are now smaller.
- Towns has a growing propensity to operate on the perimeter.
Defended By Power Forwards
In the first game of Karl-Anthony Towns’ career, the Minnesota Timberwolves played the Los Angeles Lakers. In that game, Towns lined up for the opening tip with the 7’2″ Roy Hibbert and was guarded by Hibbert throughout the night.
25 months later, the script has changed with Towns; power forwards now defend him.
In Tuesday night’s meeting between the Wolves and the Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid was guarding Towns on the first possession of the game. After that possession, Embiid moved away from Towns, defending Wolves centers Taj Gibson and Gorgui Dieng. Embiid was Towns’ primary defender on only three of the 16 possessions in which Towns attempted a shot.
The Wolves other four opponents this month — Oklahoma City Los Angeles (Clippers), Memphis, and Dallas — similarly shifted their bigger and slower starting post player (Steven Adams, DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki) onto Gibson and Dieng. In each matchup, the opponent’s quicker and smaller defender guarded Towns.
In a late-November interview with Zone Coverage, Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic explained why this is the strategy.
“I won’t be starting on him, Aaron (Gordon) will,” said Vucevic. “(Towns) plays the four, Taj plays the five. Towns steps out and shoots more than Taj. So, Aaron has the size to match up.”
Considering the fact that Aaron Gordon measured in at 6’7.5″ at the NBA’s Draft Combine in 2014, Vucevic believing Gordon has ample size to defend the 6’11” Towns matters.
In this practice, the Magic are not unique; they are merely echoing a sentiment that has spread league-wide. The book is out on Towns, defending him with a smaller and quicker big has become common.
Increased Perimeter Presence
As Vucevic points out, Towns has developed a propensity to step out and shoot from deep.
As a rookie, Towns was shooting 37 percent of his total field goal attempts from the mid-range. That has changed. Towns’ quantity of mid-range shots has been cut in half replaced by a 3-point volume that continues to tick upwards.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ Career Shot Distribution
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | |
| Within 5 Feet | 40.9% | 45.2% | 43.2% |
| 5-10 Feet | 14.5% | 17.9% | 14.5% |
| Mid-Range | 37.0% | 18.3% | 17.9% |
| 3-pointers | 7.6% | 18.6% | 24.4% |
It is not as if Towns cannot punish opponents on the interior. He still does that, but a growing point of emphasis for him is the perimeter.
This has been a great piece of coaching instilled by Tom Thibodeau, Towns’ coach the past two seasons. Functionally, Towns presents advantages similar in nature to small-ball power forwards like Antetokounmpo.
When a player like Giannis slides up to the four, he can punish bigger defenders by forcing them to move their feet in space.
Similarly, when Towns draws the mismatch – in his case, a center – he forces them to move in space as well. The slight adjustment with Towns is that he forces those centers to move by chasing him when he doesn’t have the ball.
Centers guarding Towns – like Andrew Bogut in this clip from 2016 – are just as uncomfortable guarding him as power forwards are when they need to defend Antetokounmpo.
Towns’ aptitude on the perimeter is more of a threat than his interior presence is. To be fair, it is a bit of a pick-your-poison proposition. But again, the poison opponents are now choosing is the interior. This is indicated by their propensity to have the smaller of their two bigs guard Towns.
This shift in positional distinction does not only lie in the eyes of Minnesota opponents, the Wolves are self-recognizing Towns’ shift.
“I think we play Karl a little bit more at the four,” Tyus Jones told Zone Coverage when comparing Towns to Sixers center Joel Embiid. “Embiid is more of the natural center.”
Jones is right.
Embiid is a natural center – there is no positional ambiguity there. If Embiid draws a smaller defender, Philadelphia will immediately look for him to use his size to overpower in the post.
Embiid’s greatest advantage in the post is his strength. This is different than Towns, who specializes in touch around the basket. A post game that is reliant on touch can ignore the size of the defender.
Towns does not move opponents with crab-dribbles like Embiid does. Often times, where Towns catches the ball in the post is where he will shoot from. Even if the defender is smaller.
To Towns’ credit, it is impressive that he has maintained similar overall offensive efficiency given the notion that opponents are now, theoretically, guarding him with a more suitable defender.
This may speak to a broader point that Towns is deserving of the “unguardable” demarcation Embiid and Antetokounmpo also warrant. If an opponent wants to remove either big man from the offensive flow, the best option for a defense is to double-team them.
But simply because Towns, like Embiid, is deserving of a double-team in the post does not mean the two play the same position.
Karl Towns is too often guarded by different types of players and has different points of emphasis to his offensive game than Embiid to consider them to be the same.
The Financial Importance Of Positional Distinctions
More than ever, players do not cleanly fall into one of the five positional categories. There are stretch-fours, tiny shooting guards, undersized centers, and tall point guards that can be found up and down rosters throughout the NBA.
Positions blur. Yet the NBA has an incentive structure that defines players based on specific position.
This forces us to choose.
NBA players compete for awards amidst colleagues who play the same position. Those awards trigger salary adjustments that can be massive. Given the role salary plays in roster construction – due to the restrictions of the salary cap in the NBA – deciphering positions is important.
For example, Embiid signed a maximum rookie contract extension prior to this season for five years and $148 million. However, if Embiid makes an All-NBA team this season that contract swells to $178 million.
This is due to the “super max” provision for players who meet at least one of the following criteria: Winning the MVP or Defensive Player of the Year Award, starting in two All-Star games, or making an All-NBA team the year prior to extension. This rule is more commonly known as the “Rose Rule” – named after Derrick Rose who won the MVP while still on his rookie contract.
With Towns currently viewed in NBA circles as a center, he could have an effect on Embiid making the All-NBA team this season. If Towns edges out Embiid for an All-NBA spot, Embiid is out $30 million and the Sixers gain a substantial amount of salary cap flexibility.
Towns himself is also up for a rookie contract extension entering next season. He is a lock to sign a maximum rookie contract extension like Embiid. However, with the salary cap continuing to swell, Towns’ maximum extension would be five years, $158 million.
If he meets one of the super max’s criterion, his next contract would be five years, $190 million.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ Potential Super Max Extension
| 2019-20 | $32,400,000 |
| 2020-21 | $34,992,000 |
| 2021-22 | $37,791,360 |
| 2022-23 | $40,814,669 |
| 2023-24 | $44,079,842 |
| Total | $190,077,871 |
If Towns is viewed by the fans and the media – the people who decide these awards – as a center, he has a far easier path to unlocking this provision. The “center position” is far less convoluted than the “forward position.”
Towns’ next contract will have a serious effect on Minnesota’s financial flexibility entering 2019-20. For 2018-19, the Wolves currently have $115 million in guaranteed salaries — only $8 million below the luxury tax line. And that is with Towns making a paltry $7.8 million.
If Towns’ contract spikes to the super max, he will receive a raise of over $24 million – boosting the Wolves well above the tax line. Each and every dollar above the tax line requires paying a tax to the league.
For example, a team with a total salary $12 million over the tax level pays a tax of $21.25 million. That additional money is a check the owner writes out of pocket. If the tax is exceeded by more, the luxury tax paid to the league becomes even more punitive with each additional $5 million.
To make matters worse, 2019-20 is also the year Jimmy Butler becomes an unrestricted free agent. Butler also will be due a massive raise that season, meaning even more tax.
Every additional dollar Towns’ contract fluctuates costs the Wolves, literally.
The super max being determined by positional distinctions is silly, but it is the rule. This makes Towns’ positional distinction a serious conversation and not an arbitrary decision.
Because of this, relying simply on the notion that Towns played center in college to determine his position today is short-sighted and, quite frankly, lazy. This viewpoint could affect not only Towns but the Wolves as an organization and therefore the league as a whole.
Karl-Anthony Towns is a big man, but that is only one factor. Being big does not mean he is definitely a center. His versatility and how players actually guard him in response should define his position.
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