Wolves Rudy Gobert – Karl-Anthony Towns duo: Job’s not done

Time to wait this one out

Hasteful management of an NBA roster almost always leads to trouble. Giving up on an NBA player too soon not only hurts a team’s chances in the here and now but is harmful to any future opportunities as NBA free agents steer clear of a team that does not have its act together.

Neither Rudy Gobert nor Karl-Anthony Towns had a particularly effective performance during the 2022-23 NBA season but for different reasons. For Gobert, he arrived at a new team only to find that the point guard, D’Angelo Russell, was not particularly interested in facilitating what Gobert did best.  Without an offense from Gobert, the Timberwolves’ strategy seemed a bit misdirected.

It was not until the team shed the unmotivated Russell, replacing him with a far more suited veteran point guard in Mike Conley Jr., that Gobert’s offense got back on track.

Towns never got on track in 2022-23

For Towns, the Timberwolves’ power forward suffered a serious illness in the offseason and had lost a lot of weight and durability before finally returning to the Timberwolves. When he finally suited up and played basketball, it was apparent that he would need time to recover his former self. But he never got the time, as he fell to injury early in the season and was out of the Timberwolves rotation for 53 games.

By the time he returned to the Timberwolves roster, he had just eight games to tune up and prepare for Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. That was hardly enough time to get up to speed for the NBA regular season, let alone for the physicality and competitiveness of the post-season.