Rudy Gobert explains how Timberwolves can fix this key issue

The Minnesota Timberwolves have had their fair share of issues to begin the 2024-25 season, and this should come as a surprise to no one. Any team that radically shakes up their roster one month before the season is going to have to take some significant time to adjust to their new group, and that is far from an indication that the Timberwolves are in some type of big trouble.

Realistically, every team is in an adjustment period right now, even the ones that have their same cores from last season. The start of the season is the first time every team has played together consistently, and there are naturally going to be things each team has to work through as the season goes on. It is no different for the Timberwolves.

In the first 10 days of the season, one of the biggest issues Minnesota has been consistently running into is transition defense. As of this writing, they are still surrendering the fifth-most transition points of any team in the association.

At Wolves practice on Wednesday, prominent Timberwolves podcaster Dane Moore asked Rudy Gobert about a situation where he has seen a consistent problem with Minnesota's transition defense. Oftentimes on a Wolves miss, an opponent is snatching a defensive rebound and then throwing an outlet pass to an open offensive player who will then score easily in transition.

Gobert: Guys have to pick up bigs running in transition

This has been occurring primarily because of centers "leaking out" on a Minnesota shot attempt. In other words, not going for an offensive rebound and instead opting to make a play for a transition bucket, and the Wolves have been getting burned in such instances.

When asked about this, Gobert described how the key to fixing this issue is by simply having other guys get back on defense. "We work on those situations in practice," he explained. "But sometimes it might be Mike (Conley), it might be Ant (Edwards), it's usually going to be a small guy. Whoever took the shot is going to be the first guy with the big, and he's got to hold him until I get back or someone bigger gets back."

Gobert also admitted that sometimes the team may have to take the easy way out in those situations as well. "Or sometimes even use a foul," he said. "We don't want to be a team that just gives up layups or dunks. Those are 100% shots, especially early in the game."

This is a great breakdown of the problem from Minnesota's starting center. Being aware of these problems early in the season will go a long way toward making sure they are ancient history by the time the playoffs come around.