Look for Minnesota Timberwolves alley-oops with Gobert

What does All-Star center Rudy Gobert add to the Minnesota Timberwolves? Some say, defense. Others say rim protection. Still, others point to the migration of teammate and former All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns to the power forward position as one of the true benefits of the blockbuster trade.

And they may all be true and perfectly acceptable answers.

But what is not talked about much is how Gobert will supercharge the Minnesota Timberwolves offense. And in several ways, too.

One of the mistakes of the Timberwolves’ rotations of the past is forcing Karl-Anthony Towns into generating the offense at one end of the basketball court, running at full speed to the other end of the basketball court, and then providing the primary rim defense there.  KAT got worn down quickly. Fatigued players get sloppier, meaning more turnovers and more personal fouls.

And that all sounds too familiar.

Rudy Gobert is the Timberwolves’ Roster cavalry

Instead, the Timberwolves have several ways to remedy the situation. With Gobert at the center, he becomes the primary defensive rim protector. That allows Towns to run to the perimeter initially,

But there is another way Gobert can save steps for Towns. The lob pass is an NBA play that is also known as the good old-fashioned Alley Oop play. That is something that the Minnesota Timberwolves have not made use of, until now:

Gobert’s presence allows the team to allow Gobert to lay back, allow a teammate to get a defensive rebound, and then Alley-Oop to Gobert at the rim for a quick and sweet dunk. No coast-to-coast running for KAT. Just a sweet fast break that puts up two points.

Yes, the Timberwolves will be slowing things down on defense. Yes, there will be changes to the style of play thanks to the Minnesota Timberwolves roster changes.

In the end, it’s not just the defense for the Timberwolves that will see some new wrinkles.

Alley Oop!