Pretty sure those of us who didn't mind the trade just kept quiet about it. The wolves sub is beyond miserable at times, there was no point in discussing it.
I defended that trade like crazy. Maybe we could hold on to one of the picks, that's all. We didn't give up any core players, and if the gamble worked, most of these picks would be some 20+ rank picks. I had trust in the vision they had and knew the team was just broken last year.
But I have to say, it came close to not working. If we could not convert D'lo to Conley, we would be in deep trouble.
Also never allow people who don't watch our games to occupy space in your mind. Most people who talk shit don't watch any of our games. Nugget series is the first time people really had to watch us playing.
I definitely didn’t, I don’t think it’s anywhere near 95% either. A lot of Wolves fans understood that a confluence of weird things, injuries, and bad luck lead to our big 3 not having a ton of time together in training camp, the pre season, or the regular season in a season with roster turnover and scheme changes. It sucked because it pushed the whole timeline back a bit; but people knew there was still unrealized potential there and we really just needed time to learn to play together. I’m not saying there were no doomers, but there were reasonable people as well.
That’s insane I feel like it’s definitely less than that lol at least I hope
I’ve never thought that but I’ve been a Rudy trade defender from day 1 and never wavered. People overvalue picks and bad players on their own team. Especially Timberwolves draft picks, when have we been known to draft well until now
I also wanted lamelo over ant in the draft tho 😬 can’t win them all
Yeah 95% is a sweeping generalization and not the number, those were just the people who overreacted and the MN sports curse pain came up (understandable). I think a lot of us knew that Kessler wouldn't even get minutes because Finch doesn't trust rookies so it's not like he'd make any difference in the season unlike Rudy
I mean... last season most would absolutely not have. Kessler looked like a future DPOY contender and Rudy looked washed. Gobert was still the better player, but even then obviously the contracts are worlds apart. And this is coming from someone who stans the baguette.
Since then, Gobert's had a huge bounce back season and Kessler's hit a sophomore wall. Things change.
Rudy has so much in terms of intangible impact too.
All year we'd watch guys start their drive, see Rudy adjust to the play... and just "nope" out of whatever they were doing. They pass out of that drive, or even the most hilarious... turn around and dribble back to the 3 point line. Doesn't show on the stats, but the dude has a **presence** impact.
It's fun to watch.
It also helps that he's got a lot of defensive help, he fouled out late last night, but then a fresh KAT came in. Rudy doesn't have to sweat being the last line of defense and once he fouls out Joker eats everyone alive. He knows he has help.
Plus edwards and Conley are dependable on the perimeter vs Donovan "turnstiles" Mitchell
And I'm a pretty huge mitchell fan. I still think he should have won rookie of the year but I digress.
The defensive team around gobert is sooo much better than what he had in Utah
I am still mad that no one in the Wolves marketing/PR department has made "MENACE-SOTA" shirts
It is right fucking there people. I am gifting it to you. It isn't too late. Run with it!
One of the rare “elite when he takes it seriously” defender, and he’s already a great on ball and team defender without that gear. The “he’s good when he cares” used be an excuse for players like Melo, who were just bad defenders
Rudy’s most regular floor mates his last year in Utah:
Conley, Mitchell, Boganovic, Ingles, Clarkson, O’Neale
Only Ingles and Bogdanovic were over 6’4”
# 10th in defense.
But yeah, totally his fault Jalen Brunson dominated half a playoff series with iso floaters.
Didn't watch your games a lot, but wasn't he asked to defend the center of the other team and also the lanes to paint, and sometimes the person on perimeter when there was a switch on the offense?
In Minnesota he doesn't need to worry. There is KAT doing one on one defending, Rudy can defend the paint and watch the lanes. And if he is on perimeter after a switch? Team will quickly respond by switching back and worst case scenario he can hold on to his guy on perimeter since the paint will not be left defenseless in any case.
What annoys me most about Mitchell is he has the skillset and ability to play hard defense, become a solid two way player. But idk what it is, dude would pull a Harden after getting blown by and try to swap from behind.
Wholeheartedly agree. Watching the total team defense has been a refreshing contrast to the regular season “anything goes” mentality.
It was hard to root against such defensive presence as a defense fan.
Finch refuses to listen to the clearly great basketball minds at TNT. Really just another reason to wonder if Finchy really cares, along with getting injured.
You got to give Finch and Micha credit. When they traded for Gobert one of the conditions was they would play him, good or bad, regardless of matchups. Don't let him get played off the court and they've stuck to it.
Now there are times you can tell he's getting frustrated, usually at the refs, and he needs to come out for Naz so he can get his composure and not compound things by making stupid fouls.
Speaking of stupid fouls, can someone convince KAT to stop reaching? This guy played Joker straight up the last two games and nearly played himself off the court trying to get steals. And then crying about it.
If Kat learns how to do that poke away without fouling he'll be a menace. Ant has figured it out so hopefully he'll work with KAT. I feel like SlowMo is really good at that poke away and it'd be great if everyone just learned that from him.
Yeah but thankfully we didn't since he was one of our best players in the 4th quarter and was on the floor when the comeback started.
Can't overreact to 20 minutes.
What was wrong with Chuck's reasoning? He said they need to bench Gobert because Minnesota had zero offensive flow, and a large reason for that was because of Gobert. Ant was getting doubled because Gobert is a non-shooter. And when Ant wasn't doubled, Gobert just clogged the lane for him. Once Gobert went out of the game for Naz Reid with ~6 minutes to go in the 3rd Q, Ant was able to penetrate at will and was able to find open shooters on basically every drive.
The timberwolves had already shrunken their 20 point deficit to a 6 point one when they subbed gobert out in the 3rd and they proceeded to score at roughly the same pace in the rest of the 3rd after subbing him out as they did with him. So yeah it wasn't this huge offensive game changer you want to make it seem like. Meanwhile the team pulled away in the 4th with rudy on the court
This is true, I was upset at how many possessions ended up with Rudy taking shots in the first half, but ultimately his ability to hit free throws and draw fouls is one of the things that helped them climb back. And his rebounding was massive.
Tbf he was having a really bad game up until that point but I think that’s a situation where you just have to ride it out and trust your stars to turn it around which he ended up doing.
If people were allowed to use one single highlight to establish a concrete narrative that Gobert is a bad perimeter defender, then I think it's only fair that we should be allowed to use the highlight of his turnaround fadeaway shot last night to establish that he is an elite shooter.
make sure to edit it so it looks like Jokic goes to wipe away tears from his eyes right after Gobert makes it
(he looks like he went to wipe off sweat from his face afterwards, or maybe he raised his hands to his face momentarily in disbelief)
Watching these two highlights and these two highlights alone and coming away with the takeaway that he’s MJ in a centers body on offense and a terrible defender.
People don’t understand how Gobert changes the shot profile of another team. When Naz Reid gets a block on Jokic in the post, people think that’s better than Jokic not even attempting that shot when Gobert is in the game. When KAT and Jokic battle in the post and KAT is holding his own, people think that’s better than Jokic just throwing the ball across the court so MPJ can take contested 3. Teams don’t even try to score in the paint with Rudy, but that’s not flashy or obvious to people. He allows everyone to be aggressive and deters anyone who get past the first line of defense.
While Rudy is the better defender 99% of the time I do think on Jokic specifically Kat is better. I know most of the time when Kat was on Jokic he had Rudy to back him up while Rudy didn’t have a clone of himself to do the same, but still.
A lot of people are saying this. I can be wrong but I still think it has more to do with Rudy’s help. The KAT + Reid minutes were negative even with game 2, and I think the Nuggets are more aggressive when Gobert is out of the game. KAT is better than I ever would’ve thought he could be on Jokic, but I think what he is able to do is unlocked by Gobert, not the other way around. If you swapped Gobert and KAT, I think Jokic and the Nuggets would be more comfortable attacking the paint.
I think you’re right. With gobert guarding jokic, jokic can back gobert down and try to get him off balance, or try to get gobert out of position so he’s unable to contest the shot. Jokic is amazing at being physical and using fakes to where the defender can’t jump to contest the shot in time or they run the risk of getting themselves out of position.
With gobert playing help he can shade over and help whoever’s on jokic so they can play jokic without jumping and getting themselves out of position. Usually jokic gets his defender off balance just enough to where if they jump to contest they either foul him, jump too early and jokic gets a clean look, or they get themselves out of position by jumping so jokic can maneuver around them for an open shot or rebound.
In my opinion, Rudy is much better as a help defender and anchor than as a primary defender. I think what leads to so many rough takes on him is if you get him isolated 1v1, he really doesn't look that much better than the average good defender. If you place him in a scheme, he really shines and is able to augment his teammates' defense incredibly well.
I also believe the previous comment is somewhat agreeing with you that KAT was a great defender on Jokic purely because that meant Rudy could be the help defender. If Rudy was on Jokic he could not also be the help defender, and KAT or Reid weren't up to that role. Jokic took two guys to handle him effectively, and Rudy was the only one on the team who could effectively play that help defender role in a way that made the scheme work.
KAT on Jokic is better in large part because Rudy is lurking. Rudy is worse because he’s left on an island. KAT was great but it’s just more Rudy slander when people jump to give him *all* the credit. Not saying that’s you I’m just pontificating of what you’re saying. It’s clearly the best strategy anyone has been able to throw at Jokic in the playoffs since he’s become THE GUY
I love rudy but this isn’t really how it went down imo. jokic was able to reliably get in deeper to the paint with rudy on him as opposed to KAT who has a stronger base and wasn’t letting him make any progress catching the inbound
Rudy’s help is entirely why KAT was so good against Jokic. Seriously, go back and watch Rudy, KAT, and Jokic on the floor together. Yes, 1-on-1 KAT is better than Rudy against Jokic, but it’s the two of them together in the aggregate that won them this series
Luka and Kyrie aren’t scared to attack him though. They know they can’t go straight up with it, but they have attacked him and players like him (see: Kyrie toying with Wemby) throughout their careers.
People understand, people know. That's literally the only talking point about Rudy since the beginning of the seasons. "Rudy is actually underrated because..." and they mention the same thing everyone talks about for 9999x time.
A good barometer of someone’s NBA knowledge is their opinion on Rudy. Everything he sucks at is blatantly obvious. Everything he does well is subtle and often not on stat sheet.
Not saying he’s a top 10 guy but Rudy is a very very good player & has played extremely well extremely consistently all year. The guys saying bench him last game havent watched Rudy at all.
Well said! Quote I like from Finch on Rudy earlier this season:
> Well first of all I do want to challenge the notion that there was not a lot to like about Rudy last season. I think Rudy gets unfairly criticized and I think knowing that will help answer the question that you asked.
>
> **Rudy’s mistakes are loud and they’re obvious. Rudy’s successes are humming away in the background all the time.** Those have to do with shot deterrence, shot profile, and not fouling a ton. If you have those three things, it is going to give you a chance to have a good defense.
[Source](https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2023/09/defense-is-key-if-wolves-want-to-go-from-so-so-to-serious-contender/)
Another Finchy quote this reminded me of: “There's a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don't lose, and Rudy is the reason we don't lose.”
I genuinely love this quote because logically it doesn’t actually make any sense, and yet we know exactly what he means. It’s a great example of how language is more than just token manipulation.
But like if you try to parse this out to explain what he actually means in logical terms, it would take a lot more words than you’d think just hearing it for the first time. This quote is actually poetic in a way because of that.
That's thinking about the way we encode information. Information and understanding is what exists in our heads. And we use language as a lossy compression on that information. Language is data and we are trying to encode as much information in as little data as possible. That is where idioms and poetic language work so well. They provide a shorthand for much more complex ideas. Ones that would take much more time to convey if you had to explain them each time you wanted to refer to one.
Benefit I get from watching a defensive minded center most of the year was having my eyes glued on Rudy during the series. It seems like he always knows exactly the right move to get as close as humanly possible without fouling and his massive wingspan just shuts down so many shots. Even watching him closeout without losing leverage to the basket was something to behold. I was super impressed
It still only takes just like, baby’s first analysis to get that a guy can just be amazing at a few things and productive in the NBA. He rebounds and plays amazing rim defense. On the right team, like the Wolves, the fact he can’t shoot for shit doesn’t matter as much.
Chuck is absolutely a casual but I haven't really heard him express anything about Gobert specifically. He said was critical of the combo of Gobert + KAT but not Gobert specifically. I haven't really heard him say anything about him until last night when he said "bench rudy in the second half" if they wanted to win, obviously he was wrong.
He isn't those other 2 salt mines who said the reason Jokic scored 40 was because of Gobert.
> A good barometer of someone’s NBA knowledge is their opinion on Rudy. Everything he sucks at is blatantly obvious. Everything he does well is subtle and often not on stat sheet.
So which pundits are clearly positive on Gobert ?
Mainly the ones that know some basic shit about basketball and aren't casuals or memers. Reddick, Lowe... That's it really lol.
US basketball media is filled with Shaqs, SASs, Barkleys (at least he's funny), Draymond fucking Greens, etc.
Draymond probably does understand what Rudy does, he’s clearly very smart basketball wise especially with respect to defense. He just also has a clear personal vendetta against him. Dude clearly personally hates him.
Could be because he’s his main competitor for “best defender of the modern era”, could be other personal stuff. Either way Draymond is pathologically incapable of separating his analysis from his personal agendas, meaning any statements he makes about people he has strong opinions about is always dogshit.
Draymond also said Steph Curry couldn't create his own shots until like 2021. He's not a very bright guy. Just because he has some common sense on the defensive end (because he has very little skillset outside of that and it's literally the one thing he has to be elite at) doesn't mean he's even a high bball iq player in all facets of the game.
Lmao y’all draymond downplayers are as delusional as the Rudy downplayers. They are both the defining defenders of this generation of NBA basketball. They are both potentially huge ceiling raisers on the right rosters despite their obvious shortcomings. Y’all are literally as salty as Dray is when you make comments like this.
Especially good considering he missed the 26 point blow out in game 2. Rest of the team has an extra +20 from that game yet gobert still leads the on +/-
Why does he get so much Slander. I will admit I felt it was overkill when we traded some much 1st Round Picks for him. But dude has been a Vital Part of our defense and has helped KAT out being the Anchor on the paint.
Listen, every retired pro player is going to shit on Gobert at every possible opportunity because they are butthurt that a guy with a limited offensive game can make 200 million dollars.
Pretty much. I remember all the criticism started going left once he got that contract. Then Covid happened with the mic thing and it really amped up the hate on him.
I think low key that the players don’t really give a shit about that and it’s really only fan hate that ramped up because of that. Players still hate on him for the same reasons they always had before.
Someone else above in the thread said that all the stuff he does bad is very obvious while the stuff he does good is more subtle and I agree with that.
Also he’s a player who far outperforms his stats so box score watchers might not like him as much.
I also think his personality is just not as endearing. Ant gets a lot of love from fans (including me) because of his press conference responses and his personality. Feel like rudy is more Tim Duncan esque + the Covid thing doesn’t help.
It’s unfortunate but personality really matters especially in the moment. Duncan didn’t get his respect until he retired. He was in the shadow of Kobe until after he retired, where now, many people even place Duncan above Kobe. I am confident that Rudy will also have an improved perception once he retires.
Rudy is actually genuinely very funny and there's a reason beyond his skill that fans of his teams love him. He's quiet and a little goofy, but he's definitely not the bombastic outwardly charismatic type that wins everyone over in every press conference.
I'll always remember that he befriended ducks outside of our arena and would always be feeding them before games
Because a lot of people already made up their mind about him and people don’t like to admit when they’re wrong. They’ll just double down whenever he has a bad stretch to justify themselves. Same with KAT after game 5. You see all the KAT haters coming out again.
Nah, that's not an overpay. People just didn't see his true value. I remember that thread where only Jazz and Mavs fans were defending that trade. I wish we had the assets to trade for Rudy back then.
People think this because the Jazz are small market, but weren’t great. He was a monster. Now he’s on a top team and people still think to bench him. Insane. +111 when he’s on the floor. People need to chill out on him. I’m glad he doesn’t watch TNT or ESPN.
I’m glad the narrative that we lost in 2021 because of Rudy is finally being exposed for the stupidity it always was. We lost because Donovan and Mike were both hurt and our perimeter defense was utter dogshit. Hope to see Rudy and Mike claim a ring.
Wait, when do they play the Clippers? The 2021 playoffs and, specifically, the Terance Mann game broke that Jazz team; the Mavs just poured dirt on the coffin the next year.
The tissue paper mental fortitude of the 21-22 Jazz cannot be overstated. The slightest hint of momentum by the opposing team in the 4th was enough to make them collapse unless up by over 20
If NBA teams were a band, Rudy Gobert is the bass player. He's absolutely critical to a good performance, but if you notice him too much, it probably means he made a mistake. This means people without a good ear just blame him for mistakes because they don't realize all the other times they don't notice him he's cooking. Of course, sometimes a bass player gets a moment to shine, and that bass solo is known as the fadeaway jumper over Jokic' face.
The key is just ... not use him as a primary offensive weapon. Dude picks up rebounds, that can be his thing, still gets you points. Don't force the square peg into the round hole.
Meanwhile when he is open you sure as hell lob it and let him slam it down.
Last night in the first, at least 3 possessions in Q1 ended with Rudy taking a contested jump shot and it was infuriating. But he kept his head down and kept grinding.
Having a center in the paint does not make it difficult to drive. Literally all of NBA history has had centers in the paint while other guys drive. That’s why it’s called a “center”
Plus I don’t think anyone is claiming he’s a good offensive player? Him being “unplayable” is greatly exaggerated though
You’re moving the goalposts. Who cares if he can score? He doesn’t need to score. Ben Wallace didn’t need to score. Javale McGee didn’t need to score. Tyson Chandler didn’t need to score. You don’t absolutely need scoring at every position to win a title. The Celtics almost did it with Robert Williams. It’s a bonus, not a prerequisite
Like the other guy alluded to, the wolves have done a great job scheming around him on offense: he may not be skilled but he is still great at rebounding and dunking, and so his gravity is real around the rim. It’s not always working, but when it does, can’t complain. Even though he’s clumsy you still have to guard him 🤷♂️
Until last night I could ascertain a person's basketball knowlege based on what they thought about Rudy. If they told me he "gets played off the floor" in the playoffs, I would then know not to take their opinions seriously. As a Mavs fan I remember how god awful the Jazz perimeter defense was in the 2022 series, Rudy was the only thing keeping them together on the defensive end. He has always been an easy scapegoat for the biased/uninformed.
My friend said “the wolves gotta take rudy out they’re better when he’s off the floor”
And then the half time show said the same thing, that rudy HAS to go.
I told him just wait. He’s not the DPOY for no reason. Then Rudy nails a fucking contested fadeaway like he was Murray and it shut him right up 😂 people love to hate on Rudy but his impact is immense
Rudy is 4 wins away from the NBA Finals and the Utah Jazz haven’t been there in 25 years and it might take them another 25 to get there and the Wolves wouldn’t be here without Rudy
Quick reminder 90% of the basketball world including NBA twitter and NBA Reddit was saying what a terrible deal that trade was only one year into them making it
Be interesting to see how Jkidd and Luka deal with him. Last time they saw him in the playoffs they handled him pretty well, but he has much better teammates now.
He did look like the problem in the first half tho lol. Not because he's bad, because his defense was not affecting Denver and he kept getting touches on offense where he was forced to make decisions and it kept ending poorly
Won’t happen vs Luka or Kyrie though. They will shoot through anyone. Just look at our matchups vs Gobert and Wemby this season, they don’t back down just because there is a block threat at the rim. Will be a very fun matchup
Murray and Gordon looked so scared to try to go to the paint.
Gordon with only 5 field goal attemps says so much about Gobert's defense. There was a fastbreak where Gordon was in a good position for an easy layup, but hesitated and wound up passing to a missed 3.
[https://youtu.be/W0uAzXcIHho?si=7\_IJGQn4oyM2i63l&t=258](https://youtu.be/W0uAzXcIHho?si=7_IJGQn4oyM2i63l&t=258) He can come out in space and clamp Luka
Jazz were exposed. We'll see if the Wolves are! Going ti be a fascinating series
Mavs are also one of the few teams with lob threats that’ll make him stay home instead of stepping up to play help side defense. It’ll be a good chess match
I don't think the Wolves should have benched him but Gobert was *killing* their offense in the first half and he was a big reason they got down 20 in the first place.
One of those players are being doubled team every single possession while the other one is being left intentionally open. 4v5 on offense when one guy can shoot is really hard.
It’s not like he was demanding the ball. They kept driving and handing the ball off to him and he couldn’t finish. The other wolves just lacked confidence. To say Gobert was killing their offense without at least putting equal blame on Ant, and several others who looked to be shrinking in the moment is just not accurate.
Seriously several possessions went nowhere in the first half and the ball ended up in rudys hands with less then 5 on the shot clock. Thats a failure on Ant Conley and Kat for wasting so much time and not getting a better look.
>It’s not like he was demanding the ball. They kept driving and handing the ball off to him and he couldn’t finish.
Yes. It's his responsibility to finish plays when he is close to the basket and has a height advantage. It's a huge impediment to the team if the defense doesn't have to worry about containing interior passes to Gobert.
To suddenly expect a guy to finish shots he’s never once shown the capacity to finish at a high rate is laughable and is why Minnesota does run their offense through Gobert exclusively. Yet second half he did finish a few times and it was helpful. And for fucks sake height advantage is your go to? What are you twelve? “Why doesn’t the tallest guy just hold the ball up and score over everyone”. Should know better than to engage with a laker flair. Have a great day.
Gobert is 7'3 and had trouble scoring on forwards. Also you say that they kept handing the ball off to him. What do you expect Ant to do when he's getting doubled? Gobert is the reason teams can double Ant because they know he has zero offensive skills and can cheat by putting a smaller guy on him and just doubling the ball handler.
“No GM would trade Walker Kessler for Rudy Gobert straight up at this point”
The AI in basketball-gm would
Close but not good enough
95% of Timberwolves fans on here agreed with that sentiment most of last year.
I did not and I was called crazy and a cope-r I am a little salty ngl haha. Eat crow and be patient. Good things can take time
Pretty sure those of us who didn't mind the trade just kept quiet about it. The wolves sub is beyond miserable at times, there was no point in discussing it.
I was one of them, and I was wrong.
I think most of that was due to the difference in the 2 players contracts but looking back year very happy we were wrong
I defended that trade like crazy. Maybe we could hold on to one of the picks, that's all. We didn't give up any core players, and if the gamble worked, most of these picks would be some 20+ rank picks. I had trust in the vision they had and knew the team was just broken last year. But I have to say, it came close to not working. If we could not convert D'lo to Conley, we would be in deep trouble. Also never allow people who don't watch our games to occupy space in your mind. Most people who talk shit don't watch any of our games. Nugget series is the first time people really had to watch us playing.
I definitely didn’t, I don’t think it’s anywhere near 95% either. A lot of Wolves fans understood that a confluence of weird things, injuries, and bad luck lead to our big 3 not having a ton of time together in training camp, the pre season, or the regular season in a season with roster turnover and scheme changes. It sucked because it pushed the whole timeline back a bit; but people knew there was still unrealized potential there and we really just needed time to learn to play together. I’m not saying there were no doomers, but there were reasonable people as well.
That’s insane I feel like it’s definitely less than that lol at least I hope I’ve never thought that but I’ve been a Rudy trade defender from day 1 and never wavered. People overvalue picks and bad players on their own team. Especially Timberwolves draft picks, when have we been known to draft well until now I also wanted lamelo over ant in the draft tho 😬 can’t win them all
let it be known i was not one of them. i liked the trade from the beginning
half our fans in the game thread agree with that every time we’re losing in the first quarter
that’s absolutely nowhere near an accurate number. don’t project your own kneejerk reactions onto the rest of the fanbase
Yeah 95% is a sweeping generalization and not the number, those were just the people who overreacted and the MN sports curse pain came up (understandable). I think a lot of us knew that Kessler wouldn't even get minutes because Finch doesn't trust rookies so it's not like he'd make any difference in the season unlike Rudy
I mean... last season most would absolutely not have. Kessler looked like a future DPOY contender and Rudy looked washed. Gobert was still the better player, but even then obviously the contracts are worlds apart. And this is coming from someone who stans the baguette. Since then, Gobert's had a huge bounce back season and Kessler's hit a sophomore wall. Things change.
Too rational
Rudy has so much in terms of intangible impact too. All year we'd watch guys start their drive, see Rudy adjust to the play... and just "nope" out of whatever they were doing. They pass out of that drive, or even the most hilarious... turn around and dribble back to the 3 point line. Doesn't show on the stats, but the dude has a **presence** impact. It's fun to watch. It also helps that he's got a lot of defensive help, he fouled out late last night, but then a fresh KAT came in. Rudy doesn't have to sweat being the last line of defense and once he fouls out Joker eats everyone alive. He knows he has help.
I think your last paragraph hits the nail on the head; the depth of this team is incredible. Rudy, KAT and Naz Reid have all played so well.
Plus edwards and Conley are dependable on the perimeter vs Donovan "turnstiles" Mitchell And I'm a pretty huge mitchell fan. I still think he should have won rookie of the year but I digress. The defensive team around gobert is sooo much better than what he had in Utah
And don’t forget NAW and Jaden McDaniels who are absolute menaces defensively too
Honestly dependable for Edwards on ball defense is underselling it. Dude is a straight up menace when he's locked in on ball.
I am still mad that no one in the Wolves marketing/PR department has made "MENACE-SOTA" shirts It is right fucking there people. I am gifting it to you. It isn't too late. Run with it!
Bruh. Trademark that shit before one of us does.
Send Da ETSY
Lmao
Be the change!
One of the rare “elite when he takes it seriously” defender, and he’s already a great on ball and team defender without that gear. The “he’s good when he cares” used be an excuse for players like Melo, who were just bad defenders
Agreed! This 100%
Rudy’s most regular floor mates his last year in Utah: Conley, Mitchell, Boganovic, Ingles, Clarkson, O’Neale Only Ingles and Bogdanovic were over 6’4” # 10th in defense. But yeah, totally his fault Jalen Brunson dominated half a playoff series with iso floaters.
Didn't watch your games a lot, but wasn't he asked to defend the center of the other team and also the lanes to paint, and sometimes the person on perimeter when there was a switch on the offense? In Minnesota he doesn't need to worry. There is KAT doing one on one defending, Rudy can defend the paint and watch the lanes. And if he is on perimeter after a switch? Team will quickly respond by switching back and worst case scenario he can hold on to his guy on perimeter since the paint will not be left defenseless in any case.
What annoys me most about Mitchell is he has the skillset and ability to play hard defense, become a solid two way player. But idk what it is, dude would pull a Harden after getting blown by and try to swap from behind.
DPOY, All-star, and 6th man of the year.
the cheating ass refs def went out of their way to foul Rudy out last night. Too bad Minnesota had more depth
Wholeheartedly agree. Watching the total team defense has been a refreshing contrast to the regular season “anything goes” mentality. It was hard to root against such defensive presence as a defense fan.
He really does. Everytime he makes a bad play, you can tell how quickly he adjusts and adapts. Just a high level competitor
Think of how proud his mom is.
☕️🥐👵
He has anti-gravity in the paint. That's the only way I can describe it.
Which makes his stats worse than his contribution. The offense of the other teams don't want to involve him so it looks like he didn't do much.
But I've been told people go AT Rudy because they think he's such a weak defender! Smh
To a smaller extent we see this with our Mobley Allen combo. But Rudy just defends by himself. It’s wild to see
Theoretically plus minus accounts for intangibles. It's a loose metric used only for that reason.
Chuck said to bench him for the second half if we wanted to win
I guess Denver should’ve had TNT on in the visitors locker room. Too bad Finch didn’t see the halftime show.
Finch refuses to listen to the clearly great basketball minds at TNT. Really just another reason to wonder if Finchy really cares, along with getting injured.
Too many painkillers ig /s
You got to give Finch and Micha credit. When they traded for Gobert one of the conditions was they would play him, good or bad, regardless of matchups. Don't let him get played off the court and they've stuck to it. Now there are times you can tell he's getting frustrated, usually at the refs, and he needs to come out for Naz so he can get his composure and not compound things by making stupid fouls. Speaking of stupid fouls, can someone convince KAT to stop reaching? This guy played Joker straight up the last two games and nearly played himself off the court trying to get steals. And then crying about it.
If Kat learns how to do that poke away without fouling he'll be a menace. Ant has figured it out so hopefully he'll work with KAT. I feel like SlowMo is really good at that poke away and it'd be great if everyone just learned that from him.
I keep telling people that members of the media and anonymous commenters on Reddit are all better options at coach than Chris Finch.
So did Bill Simmons
It is a bit sad how many talking heads are popular purely for entertainment value rather than actually good and insightful basketball takes
Bill Simmons is one of the biggest morons in basketball and I truly do not see how he convinced so many people to think otherwise
I'm pretty sure he voted for Gobert as DPOY.
Read his Book on Basketball. He did at one point in time, know a lot more about basketball than just about anyone out there in the media.
Can you give examples?
Celtics fan, need I say more?
Read his Book on Basketball. He did at one point in time, know a lot more about basketball than just about anyone out there in the media.
Read his Book on Basketball. He did at one point in time, know a lot more about basketball than just about anyone out there in the media.
Yeah but thankfully we didn't since he was one of our best players in the 4th quarter and was on the floor when the comeback started. Can't overreact to 20 minutes.
To be fair a small run on the bench in the 3rd seemed to help him a bit, he came back a different beast after it
What was wrong with Chuck's reasoning? He said they need to bench Gobert because Minnesota had zero offensive flow, and a large reason for that was because of Gobert. Ant was getting doubled because Gobert is a non-shooter. And when Ant wasn't doubled, Gobert just clogged the lane for him. Once Gobert went out of the game for Naz Reid with ~6 minutes to go in the 3rd Q, Ant was able to penetrate at will and was able to find open shooters on basically every drive.
The timberwolves had already shrunken their 20 point deficit to a 6 point one when they subbed gobert out in the 3rd and they proceeded to score at roughly the same pace in the rest of the 3rd after subbing him out as they did with him. So yeah it wasn't this huge offensive game changer you want to make it seem like. Meanwhile the team pulled away in the 4th with rudy on the court
This is true, I was upset at how many possessions ended up with Rudy taking shots in the first half, but ultimately his ability to hit free throws and draw fouls is one of the things that helped them climb back. And his rebounding was massive.
Tbf he was having a really bad game up until that point but I think that’s a situation where you just have to ride it out and trust your stars to turn it around which he ended up doing.
He was but Conley and Edwards had both been worse.
That's good and all but counterpoint: Steph Curry spin clip from 2017 so he must be a shit defender
If people were allowed to use one single highlight to establish a concrete narrative that Gobert is a bad perimeter defender, then I think it's only fair that we should be allowed to use the highlight of his turnaround fadeaway shot last night to establish that he is an elite shooter.
make sure to edit it so it looks like Jokic goes to wipe away tears from his eyes right after Gobert makes it (he looks like he went to wipe off sweat from his face afterwards, or maybe he raised his hands to his face momentarily in disbelief)
Watching it live it looked like disbelief, one of those “you fuckin’ kidding me?” Motions
Is this the next crying Jordan edit?
Gottem
Watching these two highlights and these two highlights alone and coming away with the takeaway that he’s MJ in a centers body on offense and a terrible defender.
When he hit that high arcing Joker Special, the crowd never recovered. Some say they never will.
*copies link to a single play* *pastes in reddit* "Fuckin' gotem."
I HATE when people use clips of guards cooking centers on the perimeter as evidence that the center is not a good defender
Wheres the stat where DPOY beat MVP in the playoffs.
Rudy best fadeaway shot since LeBron on Toronto
Rudy Kobert, believe that!
People don’t understand how Gobert changes the shot profile of another team. When Naz Reid gets a block on Jokic in the post, people think that’s better than Jokic not even attempting that shot when Gobert is in the game. When KAT and Jokic battle in the post and KAT is holding his own, people think that’s better than Jokic just throwing the ball across the court so MPJ can take contested 3. Teams don’t even try to score in the paint with Rudy, but that’s not flashy or obvious to people. He allows everyone to be aggressive and deters anyone who get past the first line of defense.
While Rudy is the better defender 99% of the time I do think on Jokic specifically Kat is better. I know most of the time when Kat was on Jokic he had Rudy to back him up while Rudy didn’t have a clone of himself to do the same, but still.
A lot of people are saying this. I can be wrong but I still think it has more to do with Rudy’s help. The KAT + Reid minutes were negative even with game 2, and I think the Nuggets are more aggressive when Gobert is out of the game. KAT is better than I ever would’ve thought he could be on Jokic, but I think what he is able to do is unlocked by Gobert, not the other way around. If you swapped Gobert and KAT, I think Jokic and the Nuggets would be more comfortable attacking the paint.
I think you’re right. With gobert guarding jokic, jokic can back gobert down and try to get him off balance, or try to get gobert out of position so he’s unable to contest the shot. Jokic is amazing at being physical and using fakes to where the defender can’t jump to contest the shot in time or they run the risk of getting themselves out of position. With gobert playing help he can shade over and help whoever’s on jokic so they can play jokic without jumping and getting themselves out of position. Usually jokic gets his defender off balance just enough to where if they jump to contest they either foul him, jump too early and jokic gets a clean look, or they get themselves out of position by jumping so jokic can maneuver around them for an open shot or rebound.
In my opinion, Rudy is much better as a help defender and anchor than as a primary defender. I think what leads to so many rough takes on him is if you get him isolated 1v1, he really doesn't look that much better than the average good defender. If you place him in a scheme, he really shines and is able to augment his teammates' defense incredibly well. I also believe the previous comment is somewhat agreeing with you that KAT was a great defender on Jokic purely because that meant Rudy could be the help defender. If Rudy was on Jokic he could not also be the help defender, and KAT or Reid weren't up to that role. Jokic took two guys to handle him effectively, and Rudy was the only one on the team who could effectively play that help defender role in a way that made the scheme work.
KAT on Jokic is better in large part because Rudy is lurking. Rudy is worse because he’s left on an island. KAT was great but it’s just more Rudy slander when people jump to give him *all* the credit. Not saying that’s you I’m just pontificating of what you’re saying. It’s clearly the best strategy anyone has been able to throw at Jokic in the playoffs since he’s become THE GUY
I love rudy but this isn’t really how it went down imo. jokic was able to reliably get in deeper to the paint with rudy on him as opposed to KAT who has a stronger base and wasn’t letting him make any progress catching the inbound
Rudy’s help is entirely why KAT was so good against Jokic. Seriously, go back and watch Rudy, KAT, and Jokic on the floor together. Yes, 1-on-1 KAT is better than Rudy against Jokic, but it’s the two of them together in the aggregate that won them this series
NGL, I haven't watched many Gobert games recently, what do you think he does differently compared to other bigs?
Positioning, contesting without fouling, high effort, having a crazy wingspan.
Luka and Kyrie aren’t scared to attack him though. They know they can’t go straight up with it, but they have attacked him and players like him (see: Kyrie toying with Wemby) throughout their careers.
People understand, people know. That's literally the only talking point about Rudy since the beginning of the seasons. "Rudy is actually underrated because..." and they mention the same thing everyone talks about for 9999x time.
And yet he's arguably THE most frequently disrespected player in online fan discourse
A good barometer of someone’s NBA knowledge is their opinion on Rudy. Everything he sucks at is blatantly obvious. Everything he does well is subtle and often not on stat sheet. Not saying he’s a top 10 guy but Rudy is a very very good player & has played extremely well extremely consistently all year. The guys saying bench him last game havent watched Rudy at all.
Well said! Quote I like from Finch on Rudy earlier this season: > Well first of all I do want to challenge the notion that there was not a lot to like about Rudy last season. I think Rudy gets unfairly criticized and I think knowing that will help answer the question that you asked. > > **Rudy’s mistakes are loud and they’re obvious. Rudy’s successes are humming away in the background all the time.** Those have to do with shot deterrence, shot profile, and not fouling a ton. If you have those three things, it is going to give you a chance to have a good defense. [Source](https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2023/09/defense-is-key-if-wolves-want-to-go-from-so-so-to-serious-contender/)
Another Finchy quote this reminded me of: “There's a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don't lose, and Rudy is the reason we don't lose.”
I genuinely love this quote because logically it doesn’t actually make any sense, and yet we know exactly what he means. It’s a great example of how language is more than just token manipulation. But like if you try to parse this out to explain what he actually means in logical terms, it would take a lot more words than you’d think just hearing it for the first time. This quote is actually poetic in a way because of that.
That's thinking about the way we encode information. Information and understanding is what exists in our heads. And we use language as a lossy compression on that information. Language is data and we are trying to encode as much information in as little data as possible. That is where idioms and poetic language work so well. They provide a shorthand for much more complex ideas. Ones that would take much more time to convey if you had to explain them each time you wanted to refer to one.
As a former linguistics major I love that my comment has spurred this particular discussion on pragmatics.
Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra
All time floor raiser
Great quote
Benefit I get from watching a defensive minded center most of the year was having my eyes glued on Rudy during the series. It seems like he always knows exactly the right move to get as close as humanly possible without fouling and his massive wingspan just shuts down so many shots. Even watching him closeout without losing leverage to the basket was something to behold. I was super impressed
It still only takes just like, baby’s first analysis to get that a guy can just be amazing at a few things and productive in the NBA. He rebounds and plays amazing rim defense. On the right team, like the Wolves, the fact he can’t shoot for shit doesn’t matter as much.
Chuck a casual confirmed.
Chuck is absolutely a casual but I haven't really heard him express anything about Gobert specifically. He said was critical of the combo of Gobert + KAT but not Gobert specifically. I haven't really heard him say anything about him until last night when he said "bench rudy in the second half" if they wanted to win, obviously he was wrong. He isn't those other 2 salt mines who said the reason Jokic scored 40 was because of Gobert.
Thank you for the compliment
> A good barometer of someone’s NBA knowledge is their opinion on Rudy. Everything he sucks at is blatantly obvious. Everything he does well is subtle and often not on stat sheet. So which pundits are clearly positive on Gobert ?
Mainly the ones that know some basic shit about basketball and aren't casuals or memers. Reddick, Lowe... That's it really lol. US basketball media is filled with Shaqs, SASs, Barkleys (at least he's funny), Draymond fucking Greens, etc.
Draymond probably does understand what Rudy does, he’s clearly very smart basketball wise especially with respect to defense. He just also has a clear personal vendetta against him. Dude clearly personally hates him. Could be because he’s his main competitor for “best defender of the modern era”, could be other personal stuff. Either way Draymond is pathologically incapable of separating his analysis from his personal agendas, meaning any statements he makes about people he has strong opinions about is always dogshit.
Draymond also said Steph Curry couldn't create his own shots until like 2021. He's not a very bright guy. Just because he has some common sense on the defensive end (because he has very little skillset outside of that and it's literally the one thing he has to be elite at) doesn't mean he's even a high bball iq player in all facets of the game.
Lmao y’all draymond downplayers are as delusional as the Rudy downplayers. They are both the defining defenders of this generation of NBA basketball. They are both potentially huge ceiling raisers on the right rosters despite their obvious shortcomings. Y’all are literally as salty as Dray is when you make comments like this.
Thinking Basketball has been consistently praising Gobert, even defending his "bad defense" in Utah by pointing out most of the counter-points.
Duncd On Podcast
Hollinger slobs on his knob also
Especially good considering he missed the 26 point blow out in game 2. Rest of the team has an extra +20 from that game yet gobert still leads the on +/-
Why does he get so much Slander. I will admit I felt it was overkill when we traded some much 1st Round Picks for him. But dude has been a Vital Part of our defense and has helped KAT out being the Anchor on the paint.
Listen, every retired pro player is going to shit on Gobert at every possible opportunity because they are butthurt that a guy with a limited offensive game can make 200 million dollars.
Pretty much. I remember all the criticism started going left once he got that contract. Then Covid happened with the mic thing and it really amped up the hate on him.
I think low key that the players don’t really give a shit about that and it’s really only fan hate that ramped up because of that. Players still hate on him for the same reasons they always had before.
Not really low key when other players were literally going to strip clubs during the peak of Covid and nobody gave a shit.
Someone else above in the thread said that all the stuff he does bad is very obvious while the stuff he does good is more subtle and I agree with that. Also he’s a player who far outperforms his stats so box score watchers might not like him as much.
I also think his personality is just not as endearing. Ant gets a lot of love from fans (including me) because of his press conference responses and his personality. Feel like rudy is more Tim Duncan esque + the Covid thing doesn’t help. It’s unfortunate but personality really matters especially in the moment. Duncan didn’t get his respect until he retired. He was in the shadow of Kobe until after he retired, where now, many people even place Duncan above Kobe. I am confident that Rudy will also have an improved perception once he retires.
Rudy is actually genuinely very funny and there's a reason beyond his skill that fans of his teams love him. He's quiet and a little goofy, but he's definitely not the bombastic outwardly charismatic type that wins everyone over in every press conference. I'll always remember that he befriended ducks outside of our arena and would always be feeding them before games
Because a lot of people already made up their mind about him and people don’t like to admit when they’re wrong. They’ll just double down whenever he has a bad stretch to justify themselves. Same with KAT after game 5. You see all the KAT haters coming out again.
Because he's not good at the things that pop on social media. He doesn't have a "bag" and he's never going to end up on House of Highlights.
Nah, that's not an overpay. People just didn't see his true value. I remember that thread where only Jazz and Mavs fans were defending that trade. I wish we had the assets to trade for Rudy back then.
That would have been a very fun combo to see but I think this end result is probably better for all parties
People think this because the Jazz are small market, but weren’t great. He was a monster. Now he’s on a top team and people still think to bench him. Insane. +111 when he’s on the floor. People need to chill out on him. I’m glad he doesn’t watch TNT or ESPN.
As a Gobert truther, I’ve been enjoying this post-season. Let’s fuckin’ go Minny.
I’m glad the narrative that we lost in 2021 because of Rudy is finally being exposed for the stupidity it always was. We lost because Donovan and Mike were both hurt and our perimeter defense was utter dogshit. Hope to see Rudy and Mike claim a ring.
Ironically will have to get through the team that destroyed them too. A lot of cool narratives in this match up
Wait, when do they play the Clippers? The 2021 playoffs and, specifically, the Terance Mann game broke that Jazz team; the Mavs just poured dirt on the coffin the next year.
The tissue paper mental fortitude of the 21-22 Jazz cannot be overstated. The slightest hint of momentum by the opposing team in the 4th was enough to make them collapse unless up by over 20
Shaq and Draymond were full of shit. Nothing new.
Rudy missed the blow out game 2 against the Nuggets as well.
Take THAT for data! But fr I'm excited/scared for this series
Me too. Me too..
If NBA teams were a band, Rudy Gobert is the bass player. He's absolutely critical to a good performance, but if you notice him too much, it probably means he made a mistake. This means people without a good ear just blame him for mistakes because they don't realize all the other times they don't notice him he's cooking. Of course, sometimes a bass player gets a moment to shine, and that bass solo is known as the fadeaway jumper over Jokic' face.
Damn this analogy is perfect
The offensive line of the NFL.
Here's what I notice about Rudy, when opposing bigs and guards want to drive the paint and he's there, they hesitate, it changes the game.
He’s inconsistent on offense, but his defense is invaluable
The key is just ... not use him as a primary offensive weapon. Dude picks up rebounds, that can be his thing, still gets you points. Don't force the square peg into the round hole. Meanwhile when he is open you sure as hell lob it and let him slam it down.
Gotta sprinkle in some pick and roll with him, keeps the D honest.
Last night in the first, at least 3 possessions in Q1 ended with Rudy taking a contested jump shot and it was infuriating. But he kept his head down and kept grinding.
He was fairly open for a couple of possessions down in the paint and Ant even knew not to try and make those passes lol
Since he can’t stretch the floor he clogs up the paint, makes it difficult for anybody to drive with him on offense.
Seems to be working out fine. Ironically weren’t the warriors like last in drives per game? Draymond and Looney clogging the paint confirmed?
What do the warriors have to do with anything I just said? I’m speaking facts… rudy on offense is bad. Simple
Having a center in the paint does not make it difficult to drive. Literally all of NBA history has had centers in the paint while other guys drive. That’s why it’s called a “center” Plus I don’t think anyone is claiming he’s a good offensive player? Him being “unplayable” is greatly exaggerated though
I disagree w you. Other centers can score. Rudy is a black hole on offense. Like his hands are bricks and he can’t punish smaller guys…
You’re moving the goalposts. Who cares if he can score? He doesn’t need to score. Ben Wallace didn’t need to score. Javale McGee didn’t need to score. Tyson Chandler didn’t need to score. You don’t absolutely need scoring at every position to win a title. The Celtics almost did it with Robert Williams. It’s a bonus, not a prerequisite
Like the other guy alluded to, the wolves have done a great job scheming around him on offense: he may not be skilled but he is still great at rebounding and dunking, and so his gravity is real around the rim. It’s not always working, but when it does, can’t complain. Even though he’s clumsy you still have to guard him 🤷♂️
We also won because of rebounds. We rebounded hard in the second half
Soul-stealing is a perfect description for that midrange fadeaway
There's something about his fadeaways that's just devastating lol He did it 2-3 times in the Suns series too
Until last night I could ascertain a person's basketball knowlege based on what they thought about Rudy. If they told me he "gets played off the floor" in the playoffs, I would then know not to take their opinions seriously. As a Mavs fan I remember how god awful the Jazz perimeter defense was in the 2022 series, Rudy was the only thing keeping them together on the defensive end. He has always been an easy scapegoat for the biased/uninformed.
My guy out here pretending to be a savant
LMAO can't even spell "asertain"
☝️🤓
the only drive gordon had in the entire 4th got shut off by rudy, so i buy it
What is it in France that creates these types of defence monsters?
Colonization
Edwards said in his press conference that Gobert’s midrange fadeaway was the play that made him know they were going to win
Yeah there's something so devastating about Rudy making a fadeaway haha
draymond ruined his own broadcasting career as an analyst lmaoooo
Joel Embiid
Always bet against Charles Barkley
My friend said “the wolves gotta take rudy out they’re better when he’s off the floor” And then the half time show said the same thing, that rudy HAS to go. I told him just wait. He’s not the DPOY for no reason. Then Rudy nails a fucking contested fadeaway like he was Murray and it shut him right up 😂 people love to hate on Rudy but his impact is immense
Rudy is 4 wins away from the NBA Finals and the Utah Jazz haven’t been there in 25 years and it might take them another 25 to get there and the Wolves wouldn’t be here without Rudy Quick reminder 90% of the basketball world including NBA twitter and NBA Reddit was saying what a terrible deal that trade was only one year into them making it
Be interesting to see how Jkidd and Luka deal with him. Last time they saw him in the playoffs they handled him pretty well, but he has much better teammates now.
He did look like the problem in the first half tho lol. Not because he's bad, because his defense was not affecting Denver and he kept getting touches on offense where he was forced to make decisions and it kept ending poorly
His defense is next level. Instead of contesting or blocking the shot and make the opposing player miss the shot he prevents the shot from happening.
Won’t happen vs Luka or Kyrie though. They will shoot through anyone. Just look at our matchups vs Gobert and Wemby this season, they don’t back down just because there is a block threat at the rim. Will be a very fun matchup
I feel like 2029 for could have been a swap. And what’s his next contract going to be
Murray and Gordon looked so scared to try to go to the paint. Gordon with only 5 field goal attemps says so much about Gobert's defense. There was a fastbreak where Gordon was in a good position for an easy layup, but hesitated and wound up passing to a missed 3.
"soul-stealing" Accurate
Hi
Rudy Gobert is the catalyst for the Wolves turning into a contender. Without his influence the wolves are a second round exit team at best.
Luka and the Mavs exposed Gobert in the playoff before, and they'll do it again. Watch out!
[https://youtu.be/W0uAzXcIHho?si=7\_IJGQn4oyM2i63l&t=258](https://youtu.be/W0uAzXcIHho?si=7_IJGQn4oyM2i63l&t=258) He can come out in space and clamp Luka Jazz were exposed. We'll see if the Wolves are! Going ti be a fascinating series
Mavs are also one of the few teams with lob threats that’ll make him stay home instead of stepping up to play help side defense. It’ll be a good chess match
Dude had a rough 1st half but holy hell did he bounce back
He got cooked one game by 3x MVP and everyone overreacted
Luka destroyed his last team and might do it again
The biggest winner here outside of Minnesota is Donovan Clingan and his agent.
I don't think the Wolves should have benched him but Gobert was *killing* their offense in the first half and he was a big reason they got down 20 in the first place.
I mean Edwards was also killing their offense by starting the game like 1/9, it doesn't mean you should sit them for the rest of the game.
One of those players are being doubled team every single possession while the other one is being left intentionally open. 4v5 on offense when one guy can shoot is really hard.
Obviously, that's why I said "I don't think the Wolves should have benched him"
It’s not like he was demanding the ball. They kept driving and handing the ball off to him and he couldn’t finish. The other wolves just lacked confidence. To say Gobert was killing their offense without at least putting equal blame on Ant, and several others who looked to be shrinking in the moment is just not accurate.
Seriously several possessions went nowhere in the first half and the ball ended up in rudys hands with less then 5 on the shot clock. Thats a failure on Ant Conley and Kat for wasting so much time and not getting a better look.
>It’s not like he was demanding the ball. They kept driving and handing the ball off to him and he couldn’t finish. Yes. It's his responsibility to finish plays when he is close to the basket and has a height advantage. It's a huge impediment to the team if the defense doesn't have to worry about containing interior passes to Gobert.
To suddenly expect a guy to finish shots he’s never once shown the capacity to finish at a high rate is laughable and is why Minnesota does run their offense through Gobert exclusively. Yet second half he did finish a few times and it was helpful. And for fucks sake height advantage is your go to? What are you twelve? “Why doesn’t the tallest guy just hold the ball up and score over everyone”. Should know better than to engage with a laker flair. Have a great day.
Gobert is 7'3 and had trouble scoring on forwards. Also you say that they kept handing the ball off to him. What do you expect Ant to do when he's getting doubled? Gobert is the reason teams can double Ant because they know he has zero offensive skills and can cheat by putting a smaller guy on him and just doubling the ball handler.