How Minnesota Should Use Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyus Jones

The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking to have an improved year after going 16-66 last season. 16 Wins was the lowest in the league and good for last place in the Western Conference. Compare that win/loss record with the 1st place Golden State Warriors who went 67-16 in the regular season. There is no doubt that Minnesota has a long road ahead of them. The good thing is, the only place for the Timberwolves to go is up.

Here are a few plays used by Flip Saunders last season.

Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Offense – Pinch Post Wing Double
2 cuts off of a screen from 3 at the high post. 1 passes to 3 then cuts around him to the corner looking for a possible hand-off. If the hand-off isn’t there, 3 faces up and looks to shoot or pass to 2 cutting off of a double screen from 4 and 5. If 2 isn’t open, 3 looks for 5 diving to the basket.

Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Offense – Horns Hand-Off Flex Action
1 passes to 5 at the high post then cuts around him for a hand-off. If the hand-off isn’t there, 1 screens for 3 in the corner. 3 curls the screen and moves across the lane. 3 sets a flex screen for 2 as 5 is giving 1 the ball on a dribble hand-off. After 3 screens for 2, 4 screens down for 3. If 3 isn’t open, 1 looks to pass to 2 cutting off of a screen from 5.

Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Offense – Wing Ball-Screen Post Cross
1 dribbles up the right side of the floor as 2 cuts off of a screen from 3. If 2 isn’t open, 4 steps out to set a ball-screen for 1. 1 drives middle as 4 pops to the wing. 1 passes to 4 as 2 screens across for 5. 4 looks to shoot or pass to 5 inside.

Click on the pdf link below to download the Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwloves Offense:

Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Offense by Wes Kosel

Read more on Coach Flip Saunders here: Flip Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Offense Article

The Power of Youth

Minnesota is a young team. Although adding some veterans (Andre Miller, Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince, and Kevin Martin), the future is in the young players’ hands. A lot is expected out of Andrew Wiggins, Shabazz Muhammad, and Zach Lavine. Last season, all 3 players averaged 16.9, 13.5, and 10.1 point per game respectively. In addition to this youth, Gorgui Dieng is in his 2nd year out of Louisville and Ricky Rubio is only 24 years old.

Karl-Anthony Towns

The future of the Timberwolves will center around Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. Karl-Anthony was taken as the number 1 pick in the 2015 NBA draft. As a freshman last season with Kentucky, Towns averaged 10.3 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and led the team with 88 blocks. This performance was good enough to lead Kentucky to a 38-1 record, 19-0 at home, and undefeated in SEC play.

In these highlights, you can see some skills that were not shown very often at Kentucky. Towns looks like he is going to be quite the passer, shooter, and play maker.

In an article by Coach Max Sass on CoachSass.com, he states that “Towns is a current and future star and a definitive All-star, sooner rather than later”. Below is an excerpt from the article with Coach Sass talking about watching Towns play in high school.

“Dating back to seeing Towns in high school at St. Joseph’s of Metuchen (including almost dunking on current Bard sophomore DeVahnte Mosley in a New Jersey state playoff game), I saw the potential Towns had to stretch the floor at every level. He could truly stroke it from three-point range as well as dominate with smooth interior moves. I was shocked when Towns’ perimeter shooting ability was reigned in at Kentucky. Luckily for the 19-year-old, NBA front offices (or at least the Timberwolves) saw past his limited shots from distance in college and knew the type of potential Towns had in the new NBA.”

Read the full Coach Sass article here: Karl-Anthony Towns: Believe the Hype

To prove his point, watch these highlights on Towns. He looks GOOD.

Tyus Jones

Tyus Jones is a sleeper in my book. He got better and better as the season progressed last year, and through summer league and pre-season he looks like he has the same confidence he showed in the National Championship game against Wisconsin. Jones is great at shooting off of pick-and-rolls, and this will be a big part of his role for the Timberwolves this year. In addition to knocking down open shots, Jones will of course be a facilitator and make sure that Wiggins and Towns are getting the ball.

Using the High Ball Screen

Let’s flash back to April and the National Championship game. Duke was firing on all cylinders and Jones had a great game. In this article featured on the Team Fast Model blog, I broke down some clips of Jones using ball-screens and creating space.

Jones was outstanding driving left to right using ball-screens from his big men. Like a veteran player, Jones attacked Kaminsky off of the ball-screens and waited for the perfect moment to pull-up for a jump shot. Throughout the game, the Wisconsin guards kept getting caught on the ball-screens and by the time they got around Jones was already taking the shot. Jones hit several big shots down the stretch to ensure the win for the Blue Devils.

Jones creating space on the ball-screens:

Duke Top PNR – With 1:36 left in the game vs. Wisconsin, Tyus Jones hit a huge 3-point shot to put the Blue Devils up 66-58. The play started with Jones dribbling to the left as Winslow looped around to set up for a ball-screen. Jones waved off Winslow sending him out to the wing. Okafor sprints up to set a ball-screen for Jones. Koenig goes over the top of the screen and Kaminksy is moving backwards as Okafor rolls leaving just enough room for Jones to pull up for a 3-point shot.

Duke High Overload PNR – In this play, Tyus Jones attacks from left to right off of a high ball-screen with an overload on the left side of the floor. The open space puts even more pressure on Kaminsky to stop the penetration and guard the roll. Jones came off of the ball-screen as if he was going to attack the rim, but instead pulled up at the elbow using Koenig’s momentum against him.

To read the full article, click here: 2015 NCAA Championship Game Recap

To see more of Jones’ game, watch these highlights from the 2014-2015 season.

Jones is a master of creating space off of the pick and roll. In the first play of the highlights below, he shows how deadly he can be using high ball-screens. If the post defender stays low, it’s almost automatic.

Adding it All Up

It seems like the Timberwolves are going to have a lot more to work with this season. I am going to be surprised if they end up with only 16 wins… As for Towns and Jones, the plan should be pretty simple: Allow Towns to develop into a star. Let him play further from the rim than he did at Kentucky. With what he has shown so far it looks like he will have a big impact. Jones will take his shots when called upon, but the coaches should make use of his pick and roll abilities. The Wing Ball-Screen Post Cross play (in the Flip Saunders article) is a perfect start to get Tyus Jones some open looks.