{"id":94041,"date":"2024-09-02T19:58:06","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T23:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94041"},"modified":"2024-09-02T19:58:20","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T23:58:20","slug":"timberwolves-president-tim-connelly-addresses-rudy-goberts-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/02\/timberwolves-president-tim-connelly-addresses-rudy-goberts-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves President Addresses Rudy Gobert\u2019s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert<\/a> may be a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, but he can\u2019t stop NBA fans and analysts from attacking him every chance they get. Even his peers \u2014active and former NBA players \u2014have a lot to say about him.<\/p>\n

To be frank, one of the major reason why he\u2019s constantly under fire has nothing to do with how he looks on the court. In 2020, Gobert \u2014then with the Utah Jazz \u2014didn\u2019t take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously<\/a>. He carelessly and purposely rubbed his hands over microphones and his teammates belongings. Days later, he was diagnosed with COVID, prompting the NBA to shut down the season.<\/p>\n

After that incident, Gobert was a pariah. Whether or not it\u2019s fair, his arrogance or ignorance \u2014whichever led to his actions \u2014have made him highly unpopular. Yet, there are also legitimate on-court criticisms the 32-year-old faces. The Frenchman\u2019s primary problem is that, in a league that\u2019s become more reliant on the 3-ball and spacing, he\u2019s being phased out.<\/p>\n

Timberwolves President Tim Connelly Addresses Rudy Gobert\u2019s Future<\/h2>\n

A traditional shot-blocker who is at his best defending the paint, Gobert\u2019s choppy footwork makes him vulnerable to shifty ball-handlers. Drafted in 2013, Gobert entered a league with plenty of quality scorers in the backcourt. However, as the analytics age hadn\u2019t reached its zenith, a lot of points were generated inside the arc. That obviously works to Gobert\u2019s benefit. Indeed, he started getting Defensive Player of the Year votes as early as his second season.<\/p>\n

Now, many teams have five starters that can shoot the 3-ball. This places more pressure on Gobert to guard on the perimeter while taking him away from his strength. The result isn\u2019t always bad, but his lowlights are ugly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite Gobert\u2019s struggles, Timberwolves president Tim Connelly says that they\u2019d \u201clike Rudy to be here for a long time<\/a>,\u201d per KSTP Sports reporter Darren Wolfson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love his agent. He\u2019s been a friend for a long time and is one of the best guys in the league.<\/p>\n

\u2026Our goal with most of these guys is to keep them here as long as they want to be here\u2026 Ideally, I think continuity is going to be one of the better strengths we have going into the season and we really like our core group.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly, part of Connelly\u2019s focus was on Gobert\u2019s agent, Comsport\u2019s Bouna Ndiaye. Ndiaye representing several French players, including San Antonio Spurs building block Victor Wembanyama<\/a>. With that being said, Connelly\u2019s comments could be diplomatic, the executive keeping an eye on the big picture. Whether he\u2019s employed with the Timberwolves or with another franchise<\/a>, having a good relationship with Ndiaye could benefit him in the future.<\/p>\n

Trust, Communication, Chemistry<\/h3>\n

Connelly\u2019s comments about continuity are also important. Trust, communication, and chemistry don\u2019t always show up on a stat sheet but they\u2019re invaluable for championship teams. As it relates to Gobert, the locker room leader doesn\u2019t have a problem acknowledging where and how his team can improve. His experience, IQ, and vocality help him anchor the defense.<\/p>\n

Gobert still has work to do so far as defending perimeter players, even if he improved last season. He may never be beloved league-wide, especially when the \u2018cool\u2019 thing to do is to bag on him. Nonetheless, he was and is a smart acquisition by the Timberwolves. Those who have seen Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>\u2019s porous rim-protection should be the first ones to attest to that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert may be a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, but he can\u2019t stop NBA fans and analysts from attacking him every chance they get. Even his peers \u2014active and former NBA players \u2014have a lot to say about him. To be frank, one of the major reason why he\u2019s constantly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":94057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1608,62,3,24],"tags":[394,4706],"class_list":["post-94041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-jazz","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-tim-connelly"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}