KAT's Out of the Bag
Data Analysis + Video
Karl-Anthony Towns' complicated relationship with Mike Brown's offensive system is no secret. He's described it as 'different,' and early in the season he was openly uncertain about where he fits within it. Plenty was written about it at the time, I deliberately held off, wanting to give both Towns and Brown the time to work through it. That process has been anything but smooth. There have been stretches where KAT simply hasn't gotten enough looks, though Brown has since worked to simplify things for him within the offense. Via Clutch Points and Kris Pursiainen, Brown had this to say about the adjustments made for Towns:
“We try to make him more comfortable by putting him in his spots. He loves being at the top of the floor. He’s not always there, but we’ve added a couple more things that put him there with appropriate space. And then we found a post-up, and ISO situation for him that is pretty good from a spacing standpoint, and how he likes to operate. Those things, we didn’t have at the beginning of the year for him.”
Some of those adjustments are what we’ll dig into here, including the system Towns may have been indifferent or confused with.
What Does KAT Find “Different”
Mike Brown came in with a goal to begin the preseason, that goal was to have the team play more freely, without the need to call plays through the use of conceptual offense. I detailed this offense extensively throughout the season and in earlier posts:
Towns' role within this particular part of the system has been primarily as a hub and screener when he is at the five. As a four (in double big lineups) Towns has a different role, and it is this one where, according to Brown, he had to change the play-calling, saying “When he is at the 4-spot, we really simplified it so that he doesn't have to think as much. When he doesn't have to think as much, he can just react”.
When we look at the double big scheme, notice a lot of the recent play-calling has been increasingly minimal with a large rise in the freelance offense, along with a decline in the 4-out 1-in motion offense (MO Weave). They’ve leaned more into their Double Drag series and had fairly consistent Horns usage throughout the season. Both play-calling series make a lot of sense when having both bigs on the floor, since both are screening in the actions. See below: Double Drag set.
As a five, there's a misconception that KAT spends most of his time parked in the dunker spot in the motion offense, that's not accurate. The motion system leans on a 5-out alignment as well, with Towns as the centerpiece at the top of the key, where he's asked to process and make decisions. That includes looking to score.
The numbers back this up: New York has ran over 600 more plays out of 5-out than 4-out 1-in this season, and Towns' usage jumps eight percent in that alignment. In my opinion, he's at his best when operating from the top of the key, and that seems to be true, particularly when teammates find him on a trail or in delay action, where he can catch with momentum and attack before the defense has time to set.
The motion offense hasn't disappeared entirely, but the decline over the second half of the season is hard to ignore. My assumption is that this was always an expected outcome, for reasons I'll get into below, as well as Brown increasingly leaning on freelance opportunities for his stars rather than locking them into a conceptual system.
Notice how the set play-call rate overtakes the motion offense right around games 17 through 19, and it hasn't looked back since. That crossover point was effectively “the end of the learning period”, and the gap between the two has only widened as the season has progressed.
What Does Brown Want?
After installing the motion concepts as a foundation, Brown has gradually layered in openers and motion builders on top of them. He's spoken about the importance of getting to the 'second action', meaning the conceptual reads and decisions of the motion system. The openers are simply the vehicle to get there. So what does that look like?
One of those openers or motion builders is about as simple as it gets, a ghost screen. The Knicks have generated quite the volume of ghost screens from the action throughout the season, and it’s done plenty of damage on its own. On 171 ghost screen possessions out of this alignment, the Knicks have scored 1.09 PPP, a number driven largely by Brunson's craftiness as a handler and his ability to dissect switching coverages. Ghost screens are one of the better switch beaters in the game, and when opponents have chosen to switch the action, the Knicks have scored at an even sharper 1.20 PPP.
It operates out of a 4-out 1-in alignment, using the ghost screen to unlock the motion concepts that follow. Player (Brunson) sets the ghost screen, the ball gets reversed, and New York reverts to their 4-out 1-in alignment with the big (Towns) ready to either set a screen or initiate a pinch post play. That’s known as the second action. I characterize these as set plays, because they’re initiated within a structure, not just the alignment.
The chart makes it clear just how sporadically the Knicks have gotten to the action within the weave (4-out 1-in) set. They may set the ghost screen or run another action, but the second action might not happen. Usage has been inconsistent throughout the season and muted compared to their other offensive series, averaging just 3.7% on the year. My belief is that Brown originally intended to expand this offense more significantly, but ultimately made the decision to reshape it around the roster, including Towns.
Brown has used the word 'simplify' when describing the changes he's made. Towns functions better in possessions where a read is already made for him, where his job is to catch and score rather than process, decide, and then try to score. It’s not a question of whether the motion concepts work or don't; Brown said it best, it's about comfort. Towns needs to feel settled and confident within the offense to play at his best, and Brown started to prioritize giving him that, even if it's meant pulling back on some of the elements of the system.
More Changes
The coaching staff has introduced more ways to get Towns the basketball in positions where he can put it on the floor or go to work in the post, whether that comes out of a set play or through freelanced action.
Ball-screens
I don’t have the data for total ball-screens Towns has received, however this data point might illustrate the change: Since March 1st, Towns has finished a pick-and-roll handler play-type eight times. Over the rest of the season that’s happened only thirteen times. Within a set play framework, Towns is also being used as a ball-screen recipient, something that functions more as a last-resort option within the action. Whether that's being directed by the coaching staff or initiated by the players themselves in the moment, it's a relatively new wrinkle in the offense and a sign of how the system around Towns has quietly evolved.
Delay Action / Top of the Floor
Brown made a point of emphasizing that Towns thrives at the top of the floor, and the new plays he's added are designed specifically to leverage that space. One of the newer actions they've been running involves pitching the ball up to Towns in delay while the corner players set rip screens for the wing, or a pin-down on the opposite side. It's another avenue to put Towns in that same top-of-the-key environment, similar to the 5-out motion concepts. In 19 possessions running this action with Towns as the centerpiece, the Knicks are scoring 1.03 PPP, which is a more than respectable number for a newer play. And as we've already seen, when the initial action breaks down, they've shown a willingness to flow into a ball-screen for Towns out of the same set.
As we've established, the motion offense as a whole has faded over the course of the season. But that decline hasn't stopped the Delay concept from finding new life, Brown has found a different way to deliver it, along with sticking with the old motion offense. The set play version of Delay achieves the same goal: getting Towns the ball at the top of the floor in space.
Pistol 5
Pistol 5 fits squarely into this same evolution, another mechanism for getting Towns the ball in an elevated position on the floor rather than pinning him down near the basket. For a deeper breakdown of how that action works and what the Knicks have been able to do out of it, check out earlier pieces linked here:
What ties all of these pieces together is more touches for Towns in the places where he's most dangerous and feels comfortable in, the top of the floor.
Actions like these have had a compounding effect, as Towns has gotten more of these opportunities throughout the season, his passing usage has steadily climbed along with them. More touches in his preferred spots means more chances to make decisions, and the numbers reflect that growth as the year has gone on.
Post Ups and Isolations
For much of the season Brown largely steered away from post-up actions, it was never a real part of the offensive diet, and that's likely another reason Towns felt indifferent at times. Post-ups have always been one of the more reliable ways for him to get involved and score, so the absence of that option was noticeable. That's beginning to change. We're starting to see Towns used more deliberately in the post, through post-up sets, alongside an increased emphasis on help beaters designed to take advantage of defenses that commit to the ball.
One set in particular stands out, 'Wide Punch,' in which Towns sets a wide screen on the block before turning to establish post position. The action itself is well designed for him, trying to get leverage on the block. The results, however, have been a struggle. In 22 possessions running this action the Knicks are scoring just 0.53 PPP, and the culprit is turnovers, whether from Towns himself or from the player tasked with making the entry pass. It's been sloppily executed so far.
What has been working, are the help beaters. As the clip shows, help beaters are designed to punish defenses that send help on post-ups and isolations. Possessions that include help beaters have a possession quality of 1.14 ePPP, compared to 0.97 ePPP in possessions without them.
Post-ups should be a go-to option for Towns going forward, particularly when he draws a wing or guard as his matchup. The recent game against the Houston Rockets illustrated exactly why. With Towns not drawing the opposing big for much of the night, the Knicks fed him in the post to keep the offense functioning rather than defaulting to Brunson absorbing an outsized share of the usage, which has happened under both Brown and Tom Thibodeau in such situation.
Overview
What makes all of this encouraging is the kind of coach Mike Brown has shown himself to be. He isn't rigid, and he doesn't operate with the belief that his system is infallible. Over the course of this season he's demonstrated a genuine willingness to adapt, giving his assistant coaches a real voice in games, and remaining open to input from his players. The evolution around Towns is proof of that. Not to mention, a significant part of the responsibility falls on Towns himself and his teammates, getting him going consistently has to be a collective effort, and the pieces are clearly there to make it happen.
References
Clutch Points: The Karl-Anthony Towns adjustment that sparked Knicks turnaround, by Kris Pursiainen
This is the Knicks content I’ve been searching for
loved this title lmao