by Karl-Anthony returned to Minnesota on Thursday evening and reminded them exactly why the Timberwolves miss him. It wasn’t just the 32 points he scored while shooting 5 of 5 on 3-pointers and 20 rebounds; It was about how perfectly he fit alongside Jalen Brunson in the Knicks’ offense – just like he used to fit alongside Anthony Edwards.
Minnesota’s offense without Towns stumbled in this game, as it has in most games this season. The bond between Edwards and Julius Randle — the man Towns was traded for — is neither natural nor smooth. After the game, Edwards didn’t hold back and said about Dane Moore how frustrated he was at the moment.
Edwards is an Olympianan All-NBA player and one of the game’s rising stars thriving in isolation. Randle likes to isolate and work near the basket. Combine these and everything gets clogged. Minnesota has completed the sixth-most isolation sets in the NBA this season while scoring just 0.77 points per possession, the fourth-worst in the league.
Regardless of how they looked against the Knicks on Thursday, the Timberwolves aren’t a bad team, thanks largely to an elite defense that can keep them in (most) games. However, this offense will not get them back to the Western Conference Finals, which leads to tough questions. A trade is possible, but a simpler solution might be in-house: start Naz Reid alongside Rudy Gobert and bring Randle off the bench (and let him be the all-touch star in the second unit). Reid puts in a lot of effort on defense and can create space for distance as a shooter (34.6% from 3 this season, numbers that have improved after a slow start).
Whatever changes are coming, the Timberwolves will have to figure something out in the coming weeks if they want to be a playoff threat again in the Deep West.
