This summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off one of the biggest trades in franchise history. Giving up a haul of picks and role-players, Minnesota essentially gave up their future for the services of defensive specialist Rudy Gobert.
Contrary to popular belief, Gobert hasn’t been awful this season. With averages of 13.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game, he’s not too far off from the marks he put up with the Jazz.
The difference is, his team isn’t finding nearly as much success and Gobert has played the role of their biggest scapegoat.
But in the aftermath of their win over the Clippers on Friday, Gobert preached patience as he addressed the doubters:
“I don’t think we’ve seen the best Rudy yet. I’ve been putting in a lot of work. My teammates are sticking with me. The coaching staff is sticking with me. And I know that it’s going to pay off. It’s a long season.”
Rudy Gobert: "I don’t think we’ve seen the best Rudy yet. I’ve been putting in a lot of work. My teammates are sticking with me. The coaching staff is sticking with me. And I know that it’s going to pay off. It’s a long season."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) January 7, 2023
As a 3x All-Star, 4x All-NBA player, and 6x All-Defensive player, Rudy has the repertoire to be given the benefit of the doubt. And because the team gave up so much to get him, they have no other choice but to find a way to maximize his game.
Internally, however, the T-Wolves are reportedly frustrated with Gobert’s offensive play.
Rudy Gobert Source Of Frustration For Timberwolves Organization
The Wolves have been pretty banged up over the past few months, and Gobert is not the only reason why. But some of his mistakes are starting to add up, and it’s causing some to question what his value really is.
“They knew that Gobert had limitations. They didn’t expect him to walk in and everything would be perfect. They knew it was going to take some time. But he has really frustrated the fans there and frustrated his teammates because earlier this season, he kept having turnovers. They would run plays, pick-and-rolls for him and the ball would go through his hands. I don’t have the number in front of me to tell you how many of those turnovers he had, but for the Wolves and their fans, it felt like 100. There was some frustration there and then his defense was good, but wasn’t game-changing like they thought.”
It’s still far too early to draw any final conclusions on Gobert or the Timberwolves this season, but something has to change if they want to avoid wasting another year of Edwards and KAT.
As the trade deadline looms, Minnesota could be a team to watch and Gobert will be someone to keep an eye on as fans figure out whether or not trading for him was worth it in the first place.
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