The Minnesota Timberwolves had a decent campaign last season. With their superstar big man Karl-Anthony Towns finally available and their sophomore shooting guard Anthony Edwards building on his impressive debut campaign, the Timberwolves managed to finish in 7th position in a competitive Western Conference.
Given how the team impressed many, the franchise certainly stepped into the offseason with one goal in mind, to compete for a championship. With the Utah Jazz willing to split up their duo of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves saw an opportunity to capitalize.
In an unprecedented move, Minnesota made perhaps the biggest move of the offseason so far as they traded away multiple role players and 4 future 1st round picks to bring in 3-time DPOY Rudy Gobert.
The Frenchman was recently presented by the organization as well, and the 3-time All-Star made his goal clear to the team. “I came here to take this team to the Finals.”
“I came here to take this team to the Finals.” pic.twitter.com/6yqeUO3l0b
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) July 6, 2022
Many fans, on the other hand, had some contrasting opinions about the former Jazz center’s move and hilariously trolled the Frenchman for his recent comments.
Gonna buy finals tickets for his whole team. What a guy. https://t.co/eznWhbFQbn
— No Sixers No (@No_Sixers_No) July 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/illusiononyt1/status/1544802602579382272
Regular season exit + Ja owns the timberwolves
— manuel 🦅 (@ManuelsGoat) July 6, 2022
bro talking about the Cancun Finals
— JC (@jcfilmms) July 6, 2022
— € (@deltafish18) July 6, 2022
Lol …you to take the team to nba finals..dude you are a third choice on this team , don't get it twisted
— RIGHT 👌 (@Sasa95231845) July 6, 2022
— James Dake (@dreadlock_ween) July 6, 2022
lol
— bernie🥷 (@Chris89082795) July 6, 2022
— Dylan (@Pats_express) July 6, 2022
Twolves fans so down bad they’re in the Upside Down w/ Vecna
— Nick Piccone (@_piccone) July 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/sosa00711/status/1544798444652462081
The Timberwolves have a lot of talented players who can score the ball, but defense is where the team lacks a superstar. Gobert on paper, fits the billing and is certainly a great pickup in the same regard.
With the 30-year-old winning 3 Defensive Player of the Year trophies, the former Jazz center is a versatile defender. But if the last two playoffs have shown us anything, they are that Gobert cannot be the only defensive stop-gap in the team.
Often being exposed by shifty and faster guards, the Timberwolves will have to add some great perimeter defenders who are capable enough to defend guards. The Timberwolves look stacked on paper, but in reality, there are still many holes this team needs to fill before it begins to compete at the very highest level. What do you think is the ceiling of this Timberwolves team?
