Karl-Anthony Towns' return to Timberwolves has noticeable downside

If you've ever had to manage people, you might be familiar with the term "compliment sandwich" — a method of delivering constructive feedback whereby something that could be construed as negative is sandwiched between two things that are positive.

The Timberwolves, it seems, had themselves a compliment sandwich kind of weekend when it comes to star Karl-Anthony Towns.

The good news: Towns returned Friday from a 15-game absence, playing back-to-back games and generally looking like himself with a little predictable rust. And after Friday's game at Indiana, Towns declared in rather firm terms that he is happy being with the Timberwolves and dedicated to building a winning team in Minnesota.

The bad news: The Wolves lost both games to playoff-bound Eastern Conference teams (Indiana and Toronto), looking competitive in stretches but seeing familiar deficiencies resurface.

Namely: defense, specifically when Towns is on the court.

The Wolves ranked No. 2 in the NBA in defensive rating (points per 100 possessions) at 104.0 in the 15 games Towns missed.

He talked about that on Friday, too. "All of a sudden I get hurt, we're going around screens like the best defensive team in the world. We're contesting every shot off the midrange," Towns said, joking that he told his teammates they were making him look bad.

Neither is a huge sample size, particularly the second, but both are on par with what we've seen for other longer stretches from the Wolves during Towns' tenure.

For all the program-building being undertaken during Gersson Rosas' first year as team president, two of the biggest questions that need to be answered this season are these:

1) Is Towns in it for the long run? He seemed to answer that question in a satisfying way. 2) Can he evolve into the type of defensive player who makes his team great on both ends of the court instead of one? That one is still very much up for debate, and is up to Towns to prove over the final 40 games.

• Another big Wolves question centers on the ceiling of rookie Jarrett Culver, which early this season was looking more like a crawl space.

But after some atrocious shooting numbers early, Culver has been better lately — pouring in 40% from three-point range and a much-improved 67% from the free throw line in his past eight games, providing optimism to the idea that his overall game might yet evolve beyond defense and useful drives to the hoop.

• Impressive victory for Lindsay Whalen's Gophers on Sunday, 72-59 at Purdue after a tumultuous week in which suspended guard Destiny Pitts announced she intends to transfer. Five players scored in double figures, led by freshman guard Sara Scalia with 18.