shrink wrote:wolves_89 wrote:I was happy with how KAT played smart and stayed under control in the Italy game, unfortunately against Angola he fell back into his worst habits. He made very poor choices and then lost his composure when he didn't like the refs calls (resulting a technical which also counts as a foul). I'm hoping Finch takes a more proactive approach to KAT this season and pulls him whenever he seems on the verge of spiraling out of control. It's usually pretty obvious when KAT is starting to lose it, so rather than waiting to see if he can self-correct just give him a stint on the bench.
I thought this was a good post, and that it might generate some interesting discussion.
Towns must be a very difficult player to coach. It’s not that he’s a bad guy, or he refuses to listen, or that he’s stupid, or that he doesn’t put in the work (you don’t get that skilled without a ton of work!). He just seems to be emotional and have issues with matching his role to his personal image of himself. He is also very sensitive about what everyone thinks about him, and for years, he’s heard that he’s just empty stats, who can’t get a team to the playoffs — and even when MIN makes the playoffs, other players get the credit, and people move the goal line and say he can’t get the team to the second round. I don’t think historically MIN did him any favors either, when the first half of his career his supporting cast was the wrong draft picks and tanking by February. I think he sees even more unfairness in that he doesn’t get the superstar calls from refs that his peers get. Then an emotional guy acts out, people dislike him more, and it just adds to the cycle.
I am hoping that having a national, positive focus on Ant will help Towns feel he isn’t playing under a spotlight. He may continue to not receive superstar calls, but he doesn’t have to carry the team every night. He is tremendously talented, and while he may not have the mentality (or position) to be a true #1, he could be one of the best #2’s in the entire NBA. I think he’s willing to accept that role (I give him credit for being so welcoming of Gobert), but Finch and Connelly are going to have to be very careful walking the line to not insult the sensitive Towns, if they want to get the most out of him. I agree a quick hook when you see him start to get emotional will save him from silly fouls, but they need to do it in a way that he doesn’t feel further penalized for (what he sees as), bad calls. There is a tremendous amount of value this team can get out of Towns if they play it right, and deal with his emotionalism correctly.
That is why we have Gobert and Naz as insurance. I agree with the quicker hook approach. At the same time, Towns needs to fix the calls himself - no extra arms / legs swing. He sometimes makes it look like a foul on him when there isn't. Often, he doesn't back off when he gets a call. Almost like trying to challenge the ref - I dare you to give me a second foul.
