NBA – Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert together: Why the Timberwolves plan is already doomed to failure

Rudy Gobert’s offseason transfer didn’t come as a real surprise to insiders and die-hard NBA followers. A dismantling of the Jazz seemed inevitable after a new disappointment in the playoffs for the Salt Lake City franchise, eliminated in the first round. In contrast, the drop-off point, Minneapolis, raised some eyebrows. Because the Timberwolves have already been built around an All-Star pivot since they drafted Karl-Anthony Towns first in the 2015 draft. top-8 in the Conference for only the second time since 2004.

The leaders studied the market to find a star who could be traded and then they pounced on the Frenchman, not hesitating to give up four players and four draft rounds, an absolutely massive counterpart for a player who is certainly dominant defensively but with an atypical profile. Gobert was quick to display his ambitions: “I’m going to come in and do whatever it takes to help this franchise get where it wants to go. The title is the goal. That’s what this exchange suggests. Towns still has room for improvement, he will mature. We are going to make this team better. We want to get there fast. The objective is not only to play the play-offs, it is to be a candidate for the trophy. I’m not going there to take the temperature.“

No space, no basket

He did not come to take the temperature but if ever the native of Saint-Quentin has already got used to the great cold of Minnesota, he was undoubtedly cooled by the very delicate beginnings of his new team. He did not imagine Wolves with a record of 5 wins after 11 matches. Especially with a very affordable start to the season in terms of the calendar. In the end, the only time they made a strong impression was in the absence of their major offseason rookie, sick, when they won against the Rockets (129-117).

That said, they also lost to the Knicks (107-120) without him on Monday night. The group still seemed more relaxed during the game against Houston. Anthony Edwards, for example, slammed his very first dunk of the season after 9 games. An abnormally long series for a player as athletic and as focused on the circle as he is. A few days earlier, he defended himself with a statement that was certainly not insignificant. “The racket is clogged, everyone is inside… I am 1.98 m tall. I can’t just jump over everyone. I get asked to dunk like it’s that easy. I need space and a clear penetrating line to the basket to dunk.“

The first pick of the 2020 Draft chose his words well. There is a slight form of hypocrisy there. He knows he can dunk in traffic, even with defenders in front. The last sentence is arguably the most important. Edwards was keen to point out how tight the Timberwolves have played since they decided to field two insides together on the field. Again, it’s a bit dishonest since the young man does not always find himself in the company of Gobert or Towns during meetings. But it is the proof that he tries above all to convey a message. New example when, after a lost game against the Suns, he shows his teammate Jordan McLaughlin the poor collective performance of the five major. All out loud in front of the journalists, knowing full well that the scene is being filmed.

While Anthony Edwards’ attitude and body language at the start of the season are two worrying points, the fact is that the 21-year-old guard highlights what stands out each time the Minneapolis franchise brings together its four major players. The quartet of Gobert, Towns, Edwards and D’Angelo Russell have a differential of -9.4 points on 100 possessions. The equivalent of the worst rating in the entire NBA (the Detroit Pistons). This group collects 106 points out of 100 possessions, which shows the beginning of the defensive impact of the tricolor pivot, but only scores 97. No space, no basket. The 129 points passed to the Rockets – one of the worst defenses in the league that said – tends to show that the Timberwolves are more comfortable in a more modern system with a control tower and outsides around it.

Rudy Gobert is still looking for himself, the Wolves too

It is simply in their habits. Rudy Gobert is also struggling to find his place in attack. His teammates looked for him at first, just to help him fit in. But it has been used less and less since. He only took one shot in the game against Phoenix. He fell below 10 points 4 times in 9 outings. In the end, he’s no more fueled at the low post in Minnesota than he was in Utah. 12.6 points on average for 8 attempts per game. With an even more limited offensive impact. Somewhere, it is obviously normal that his arrival requires time to adapt, for him as for his teammates. It is all the same to wonder if they will want to make the effort to make it work or if they will remain focused on the idea that they prefer to play differently.

And even while seeking to maximize the strong points of the workforce as well as this atypical association in the paint, the current basketball in the NBA shows each season the limits of the “Tall Ball”, opposite philosophy of the “small ball”, namely when the coaches play with the most mobile and versatile elements on the pitch. “You have to be crazy to think size doesn’t matter in basketball“, retorted Gobert. Yes, it matters. But what matters even more is the way in which this size is exploited.

The Bucks can afford to play Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez together because the less gifted of the two offensively can just sit wide and stretch the lines. At Wolves, it’s almost the role that falls to Karl-Anthony Towns. To ensure a certain “spacing”, he spends his time behind the three-point line – which he loves – and therefore does not fully exploit his panoply of scoring. And when KAT goes under, Gobert is simply ignored by the defense when he’s far from the basket. He even swung an airball behind the arc recently.

“We complete each other. He covers my weaknesses and me his“, assured Towns before the start of hostilities. In the end, no, not really. This pair is unplayable but in the bad sense of the word. Defensively, Towns is not fast enough to follow smaller opponents away from the basket. Offensively “, they are stepping on each other’s feet. The association does not work on either side of the floor. And it could be even worse in the event of the playoffs, where the opposing attacks, more applied than in the regular season, will undoubtedly take a It’s a pleasure to target them on pick-and-roll. Minnesota is the second team that takes the most three-pointers every night. Because its two interiors are not mobile enough and it often only takes two passes to destabilize the team. defense and find an open shot behind the arc.

So yes, it’s still very early days, but leaders already have questions to ask. Given the massive investment, they will probably not dare to turn their backs too quickly on this team. And it will probably be a mistake. There will be changes to make anyway before Wolves resume their march forward. Maybe it will be via a new transfer from Rudy Gobert. Or maybe it will be downright via a departure from Karl-Anthony Towns, whose lack of leadership is proving problematic season after season.

A player of his caliber could allow the franchise to recoup some of the assets sent to the Jazz. A team built around Edwards and Gobert with good veterans around can do well. But it’s never easy to sacrifice an All-Star. Talents like KAT rarely end up in Minnesota. Wolves know all about that as they broke the bank to get their hands on another All-Star just last July…