The splash heard around the land of 10,000 lakes

Staying alive out there Wolves fans? Good, because we’re inching closer to having some real basketball again. As we wade through the waters of the NBA dead period, fanbases tend to cling onto various workout videos and news breadcrumbs scattered throughout the Twitter landscape and Google search history.

On the Timberwolves front, something intriguing surfaced a couple of days ago during one of my evening Timberwolves seeking doom scrolls through Twitter. Rudy Gobert launching up three-point shots in practice… and making them?

While I couldn’t contain my initial excitement, reason quickly took back control. Telling myself “It’s only warm-ups, doing it in live action is a whole different animal.”

Two days later, the French National Basketball team suited up against Montenegro in a FIBA exhibition match. While you may not find the Montenegro National Basketball team at the top of many FIBA rankings, they do sport some NBA talent featuring the Bulls All-Star center Nikola Vucevic.

Sure enough, I stand corrected yet again. On an inbound play below the net, Rudy faded off a screen at the top of the key and called for the ball. The hulking 7-foot-1 center gathered the ball, set his feet, and let the ball fly from deep and… Splash.

Talk about the splash heard around the land of 10,000 lakes.

While it is important to preface this excitement with the acknowledgment that making a three in a FIBA exhibition game against Montenegro is far from canning one from deep on the Target Center hardwood during live NBA action. What you cannot deny is that he did display good shooting form.

While good form on a single attempt does not magically morph someone into a shooter, it does provide an encouraging outlook that something once thought to be impossible could now potentially be entering into the realm of reality.

So how would Rudy making defenses even have to think about him on the perimeter impact the Wolves’ offense? I’m glad you asked! Let’s dive in.

Rudy gets his teammates open through screens

I would like to caution anyone reading this hopeful essay regarding the Rudy Gobert developing a three-ball to temper their expectations of him successfully doing this in NBA action.

With that out of the way let’s have some fun with this thought.

Rudy Gobert has been one of the best screen setters in the NBA over the past decade. This past season he averaged 4.9 screen assists per game, leading to 11.5ppg of those screen assists. Both of those stats are good for 4th in the NBA. What all those fancy stats mean is that Rudy is able to get his teammates an open look off a screen at an elite level.

You can directly see the impact of this when you look at the Wolves’ highest-volume shooter last year, Anthony Edwards. It is no coincidence Edwards’s three-point shot accuracy shot up to 37 percent this year given the open looks off Rudy Gobert screens.

As you can see from the clip, Rudy is effective at using his size to seal off Ant’s man while his man sags off low, creating space for Edwards to get a shot off. This isn’t limited to three-pointers either. He can also get his man open going downhill, creating options for an open midrange shot, pick and roll, or warping the defense to create an open kick-out look.

While this is already great offense created by Gobert screens, there is something that sticks out significantly in both of those clips. Rudy’s man is camping out near the paint, completely careless about what Rudy is doing on the perimeter.

What if the opposing center DID have to care about Rudy on the perimeter?

Impact of Rudy commanding attention on the perimeter

One common theme I’ve always seen from the Twin Tower naysayers is that Rudy clogs the pain for Anthony Edwards. In the clips shown on the previous slide, I had pointed out how deep the opposing center would sag off Gobert. This was primarily done to deter Edwards from blazing a trail to the rim all night, but without any real threat from Gobert on the perimeter leaves the defense able to cheat.

Now, because Gobert will not be respected on the perimeter until he regularly proves he can make a trey at a clip that demands him to be respected, Rudy stands to get wide-open looks off any pick-and-pop situation. He’ll initially have the time to gather the ball, set his feet, and let it fly. But if he can’t make the defense pay for leaving him wide open, the defense will simply allow that shot all day.

Let’s say in our little perfect hypothetical world that he does force the defense to acknowledge him, then his man will inevitably be forced to guard up in coverage and slightly further away from the rim. Those few steps are all Anthony Edwards needs to make his move to the hoop. Sure, Edwards will still have to finish through contact, but what those steps do is open up just enough space to create more options in the offense.

For a team that struggled with spacing and chemistry issues last year, Rudy Gobert adding the threat of a three-ball allows you to play him even more prominently as a screener and pick-and-roll/pop threat on the perimeter.

If he can command just a hair of respect from the defense on the perimeter, it opens up space for his teammates to put pressure on the defense. Forcing a defense to move and react creates opportunities to swing the ball for open looks on the perimeter and at the rim. When he’s up on the perimeter, then he’s not down low with his man in the paint.

Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards struggled at times with their offensive chemistry last season. Getting those two on the same page, while opening up the floor is a recipe for the Timberwolves’ win total to skyrocket up the standings.

That is fun to think about.