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T-Wolves Insider: Rudy Gobert's Play Failing to 'Inspire Faith from His Teammates'
December 27, 2022
When the Minnesota Timberwolves spent a small fortune to acquire Rudy Gobert this offseason in a trade with the Utah Jazz, the expectation was that his defensive and rebounding prowess would turn a playoff team into a true contender.
But that simply hasn't been the case. The Timberwolves have limped to a 16-18 record, and Gobert has struggled to make the impact the team was expecting.
In particular, Gobert has struggled to have much of a positive impact on the offensive end at all. Part of that has stemmed from the team's difficulty in getting him easy looks near the basket, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported, though his play in general hasn't helped:
"[D'Angelo] Russell and Anthony Edwards seem to have trouble finding him in the halfcourt against smaller defenders, and the team turned the ball over 22 times on Monday night to short-circuit so many of their possessions practically before they even started.
"But Gobert's struggles with catching passes from his teammates in traffic, securing rebounds that are contested and blocking shots to intimidate opponents have made it difficult for him to inspire faith from his teammates. The ball moves better on offense and the defense is more active, though not as effective, when Gobert is off the floor. The Timberwolves simply cannot afford for that to be the case."
Gobert, 30, is averaging 13.9 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game this campaign. All of those marks are down from a season ago. The Wolves score 106.0 points per 100 possessions when he plays and 116.2 points per 100 possessions when he sits, per NBA.com, a drastic shift in offensive productivity.
Worse, the team has a net rating of minus-2.7 when he plays and plus-2.4 when he sits. To this point, the Wolves have been better when he's on the bench.
There are plenty of other factors to consider, including his fit next to Karl-Anthony Towns in an NBA that is progressively shifting to less traditional centers and more versatile wings up and down the lineup. But it's clear that, at least to this point, the Gobert experiment is going poorly.
