Rudy Gobert understood that the Timberwolves‘ adjustment wouldn’t be easy after shaking up their roster to acquire him from Utah, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Not only did Minnesota give up five players in the deal, the team committed to an entirely different style of play with Gobert clogging the middle and forming a modern-day Twin Towers alongside Karl-Anthony Towns.
Nineteen games into the season, Gobert’s concerns have been proven correct. The Wolves are a game above .500, but they’ve had some ugly losses along the way, including Friday’s at Charlotte, where it’s seemed like the pieces don’t really fit together.
“Each bad game, they’re going to be ready to talk. That’s great. We love it,” Gobert said before the season began. “That’s part of the process. Nothing great comes easy. If it was going to happen in one game, that wouldn’t be worth having. We gotta work hard and work every night to get better.”
After a 5-8 start, Minnesota had strung together five straight wins before Friday. But perimeter defenders have been relying too much on Gobert to bail them out after their man drives by, Krawczynski observes, and the chemistry between Gobert and D’Angelo Russell on the pick-and-roll remains a work in progress.
“Sometimes, you know, passes are tough. Sometimes I fumble it,” Gobert said. “Most of the time, I get it and something good happens. As long as we can keep that trust and I can try to put myself in the right spots for him to find me and whether it’s that pocket pass or that lob, any pass actually, just trusting me.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince suffered a right shoulder subluxation during Wednesday’s game and could miss a week or two, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Coach Chris Finch said Jordan McLaughlin is “more in the day-to-day category” with a left calf injury.
- Bruce Brown continues to look like a major free agency bargain for the Nuggets, Mike Singer of The Denver Post notes. Brown posted his first career triple-double Wednesday to help Denver pull out a win despite the absence of four rotation players. “Some guys are in the foxhole with you, some guys, like they’ve got one foot in, one foot out,” Malone said. “Bruce is, he’s all the way in.”
- Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins has the unusual distinction of five starts and five DNP-CDs already this season, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Coach Mark Daigneault explained that it’s a result of having so many young players to develop.
If I remember correctly didn’t the Wolves only lose by a few points? Within 10 right? And Karl Anthony towns was 1-11 from 3. Not sure if I would count the loss to not having good chemistry or good pieces fitting into a game plan. It was just one of those nights.
The Wolves would be fine. They’ll figure it out because it all starts with defense and they addressed that in the off season. I have to hand it to them for going for it. You can be mediocre forever but why not go for it once in awhile? I Love It, Go wolves.
My thoughts exactly KAT and McDaniels shot really poorly that game. Dlo was great for a change.
I think for them it’s experience and leadership. There wasn’t a vet out there with the respect of the team to tell KAT to stop shooting and look to create off the space or make the adjustments.
They need that vet who will make the adjustments and do the little things.
That’s why I’ve been saying they should go for a guy like Mike Conley or Kyle Lowry or someone of that ilk. A true leader at the 1 who can give you some points and assists but has the respect of his team mates is experienced and can adjust in game and do the little things
Gobert making all the excuses for DLo… Gobert ain’t the issue…
The problem with this team is the PG is an idiot with an ego… Terrible BBIQ and thinks he’s a top 5 player when he’s not top 25 at his position…
There are plenty of bench PGs that would have this offense humming… Hell even McLaughlin has better BBIQ…
If this team starting Tyus Jones the offense wouldn’t be a problem…
With DLo there are massive issues on both sides of the ball…
Unfortunately for the Wolves they have no assets to trade to upgrade over DLo.
Ditto Philly
Minny has fallen for the Utah defense trap. Rudy is not a safety. He is too easy to move out of the way in the way he is used.
He presents a target in such a way that teams whom for the most part have no interior passing game, all of a sudden do when playing against him.
Minny has failed to take the old clip board notes out of the coaches hands. This has resulted in Minny being forced to hang out in the mid high and are being forced to execute on both ends from father out than accustomed to.
This has resulted in a disheveled over all treading in place mostly looks.
I am not the least bit surprised an old school coach like Clifford was able to separate them so easy.
Minny has had its worst games against coaches from the old school.
If Minny keeps this up Quin Snyder will be coaching this team soon enough.