This offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves gave up pretty much everything they had in order to acquire star center Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. In Utah, Gobert was a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, a three-time All-Star, and a four-time All-NBA player, but never had much playoff success with his team.
Minnesota experienced the same thing with their star, Karl-Anthony Towns. In 2015, Minnesota drafted Towns first overall, hoping that his talents would lead them to a championship. Since then, Towns has been a three-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA player, but the team has only made two unsuccessful playoff appearances. Now, Minnesota adds Gobert with the hope of maximizing Towns’ talents.
The Timberwolves are challenging norms with their two center lineup.
Combining two big men is not unheard of in today’s league. Boston plays Al Horford and Robert Williams III together. Cleveland lets Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen share the court. The majority of the league, however, would rather one center and surround him with smaller wings. There have been mixed results in past pairings of two bigs.
These combinations usually do not work when the two players share overlapping skillsets. That is not the case in Minnesota since Towns and Gobert could not be more different as players.
Taking an in-depth look at Gobert, Towns, and their fit together.
Gobert is a traditional center, who is comfortable in the paint on both offense and defense. Towns is more of a stretch big who likes the freedom of roaming the perimeter. When Towns and Gobert share the court, Towns will be moving to the power forward position as Gobert takes over the center. As one of the best shooting big men in the league, Towns should be more than comfortable with that move. Last season, Towns shot 41.0 percent from 3-point range on 4.9 attempts per game. Next season, he should be able to increase that volume since he’ll be spending less time in the paint.
Having Gobert dominate the rim gives Towns many new options offensively other than just shooting threes. He will be able to move a lot more, come off screens, cut towards the basket, or throw some lobs to Gobert after a pick and roll.
Last season, Gobert averaged 15.6 points per game. That is a decent number, but most of his scoring is a result of putbacks or lob passes. Gobert does not create all that well for himself and is not a shooter either. In Minnesota, that should not be a problem though because he will constantly be surrounded by shooters and will be free to do what he does best. Gobert offers Minnesota advantages they did not have on the same level before, like his ability to set strong screens for their guards and ball handlers or to gather up any missed shots.
Gobert’s impact will be felt more strongly on the defensive end. While Towns is an excellent three-level scorer, he is not a great defender. Minnesota’s biggest deficits in the past few seasons were rim protections and defensive rebounds. Last season, they allowed opponents to shoot 66.9% close to the basket, which was one of the worst averages in the league. They had similar deficiencies when it came to defensive rebounding. Gobert, one of the best rim protectors and rebounders in the game, should solve those issues.
Thus, Gobert’s main responsibility for the Timberwolves will be to anchor the defense and improve it as much as possible.
The Timberwolves’ big men play to each other’s strengths.
Gobert’s defensive impact means some drastic changes for Towns on that end of the floor. When the two big men are sharing the court, Towns will have to guard power forwards instead of centers. In some cases, he might have trouble staying with more agile players like Kawhi Leonard or Andrew Wiggins — especially because he is such a foul-prone player. Nevertheless, it will be a comfort for Towns to know that Gobert will be there to have his back and protect the rim.
The two big men will have to get accustomed to several adjustments throughout their first season together, but with this frontcourt, Minnesota will have the best team it has seen in a while. Minnesota’s front office was very much aware of this concept when they traded for Gobert and put a lot of pressure on their frontcourt players. They gave up so much for Gobert and Towns is already on his second max contract. Now, they have to prove that they can win together.
Towns and Gobert form a scary frontcourt because they complement each other so well, but the question is, how well that will translate to the playoffs? Both players have a shaky postseason history of never quite living up to their potential.
Now, as they both appear to be surrounded by better-fitting pieces, they have a chance to make up for that.