Here’s what Minnesota Timberwolves fans learned this week:
1. Anthony Edwards is a poor man’s Derrick McKey.
2. Rudy Gobert is the worst player in the NBA. Once upon a time
3. The Timberwolves will regress this season because they got “lucky” the Nuggets didn’t have bigger ones to help Nikola Jokić in the playoffs.
This is some ominous information when the preseason opener is less than a month away. While the discourse itself was mostly nonsensical, it was informative in one sense.
For most of the last two decades, while the Timberwolves floundered in the NBA gutter and were largely ignored or ridiculed by the rest of the league and those who cover it, fans and the organization’s employees held firm to the belief that the tune would change once. the play on the court did.
What has become clear is that three straight playoffs and a run to the Western Conference finals that have ignited the Twin Cities with energy still aren’t enough to win over the larger NBA population.
The run the Wolves had last season was revelatory as they were only this deep in the playoffs one other time in their 35 seasons in the league. But it seems as though many across the NBA landscape see it as just a cute little season easily dismissed. This season will be the most anticipated since their first.
The Wolves will just have to do it again. They will have to be even better than they were last season. Their two thrilling championship series wins were swept aside thanks to the loss to Dallas, and because they happen to be home to two magnets for derision.
Gobert is the league’s favorite pincushion. Whether it’s Shaquille O’Neal, Chauncey Billups, Draymond Green or Dereck Lively II, everyone loves to poke holes in him. The reasons are easy to identify.
Gobert has made a lot of money in his career and won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, but has yet to play in an NBA Finals. His offensive game is clumsy and he had some tough moments in big spots. France played its best basketball of the Olympics after Gobert’s minutes were drastically reduced. They needed more offensive versatility next to Victor Wembanyama in the frontcourt and they got it from Guerschon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort, both of whom were not on NBA rosters at the time.
And yes, Luka Dončić beat him in isolation at the end of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals and proceeded to say some very mean things to him. (The fact that there is no big man on the ground who could be expected to stop Dončić from draining his shot in that situation seems bizarrely ignored when examining the context. The way that play was discussed, you’d think Gobert got cooked by Theo Pinson, but I digress.)
Gobert is a surefire Hall of Famer, one of the best defensive players of this or any generation. His arrival in Minnesota ensured that Edwards played meaningful games early in his career, setting a standard of expectation for him that Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Kevin Love and any other young player that Wolves fans hoped would elevate the franchise never had. Gobert was vital to the Wolves’ success last season and will be needed even more this season.
4x DPOY.
4 minute blocks.#NBADfenseWeek pic.twitter.com/B7oTtN0tZq– Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) 4 September 2024
Then there’s KAT, who can’t seem to get the smell of smoke out of his clothes after Jimmy Butler’s fiery exit nearly six years ago. Towns played well against Phoenix and Denver in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the first postseason success of his nine-year career, but he couldn’t get a shot against the Mavericks for most of the series. He played the best defense of his career last season and sacrificed more than anyone on the Wolves to accommodate Gobert, but that wasn’t enough for some people.
Towns and Gobert will earn about $93 million combined next season, contracts they’ve earned through their All-Star resumes and the league’s soaring earnings over the course of their careers.
O’Neal often laments how much money the modern players make, but it’s only a reflection of the growing financial pie that the owners and players share.
It’s sad to see someone who has done as much as you have @SHAQ and in sport and business continue to be triggered by the economy and achievements of another man. I get the entertainment part but unlike other people, you don’t need those things to stay relevant. https://t.co/KPHs2VmfIb
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) September 5, 2024
This does not mean that the Wolves should be considered unacceptable. Edwards’ comments about Michael Jordan being the only player with skills back in the day are stupid and worthy of rebuke. The same goes for some of Towns’ comments on the podcast circuit.
As for the team itself, they will be competing in a Western Conference that will be tougher than ever. Teams around them have improved while the Wolves will rely on internal improvement, 37-year-old free agent Joe Ingles and rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr. to help offset the losses of Kyle Anderson, Jordan McLaughlin and Monte. Morris. Conley and Gobert are a year older. There isn’t a player on the roster who has been to the finals, so there will be questions about their ability to break through until they do.
Gobert acknowledged as much last season as the Wolves emerged as legitimate contenders in the West. There were times earlier in his career when the criticism stung him much more. Now, he’s trying to rise above it.
“We saw it with Giannis; we saw it with Jokic,” Gobert said in April. “Everybody always had something to say about their game and who they were as players until they won a championship. And then what did people have to say after that? Not much. They can only respect. So I have to earn their respect.”
Lively played great in the conference finals against the Wolves and may very well be on her way to a standout career. But he has to pray that he has close to the individual run that Gobert had. O’Neal is one of the most dominant players to ever play the game and it is understandable if he is a little salty that today contracts over the agreements he signed in the 1990s.
But calling a player as accomplished as Gobert the WOAT is comically off base. And Rasheed Wallace comparing Edwards to McKey, a very good role player for Seattle and Indiana who never averaged more than 15.9 points per game, is dense for a player of his intelligence.
If anything, it strengthened the bond between Wolves fans and this team. They have a rising superstar in Edwards, a folk hero in Naz Reid and the most connected and capable administration and coaching staff in ages. The only thing people in these parts could enjoy more is holding grudges when they feel they’re being unfairly picked on by people who aren’t from around here and have never walked a mile in their snow boots.
They’re rallying around Gobert now, just like they did for Towns during the playoffs. They’re family, which means they can mumble under their breath when they’re frustrated with their front yard, but you can’t.
Every Field Goal Attempt In The 2024 Playoffs Where A Perimeter Player Isolates Rudy Gobert pic.twitter.com/ftJO9ujLRQ
— Pitless (@pitlessball) 4 September 2024
Maybe it’s a sign that the offseason is just a little too long. We need some games to cut through all this nonsense. In a little more than a month, the Wolves will be in Los Angeles to open the season against the Lakers.
It can’t get here soon enough.
(Photo of Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards: David Berding/Getty Images)
