Timberwolves are banking on a dangerous Rudy Gobert proposition in the playoffs

Rudy Gobert's offensive impact is undeniably one of the biggest swing factors regarding the Minnesota Timberwolves' playoff outlook. To win at the highest level, they'll need consistent scoring production out of Gobert. Whether they can get this is a massive question, though. 

Last playoffs, Gobert averaged just 7.9 points, including 5.8 points against the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder. During this year's regular season, we've seen both the highs of how good the Timberwolves can look with Gobert producing on offense and the lows of his limitations. 

The Wolves are 9-0 in Gobert's highest scoring games, and 14-3 when he scores at least 15 points. Nevertheless, he's notched fewer than seven points 15 times, and the Wolves are just 5-10 in these games. 

Gobert's limitations as a scorer, stiff movement, and poor hands allow opposing defenses to ignore him, blitzing Anthony Edwards (and others). This problem is only elevated by Gobert's teammates not trusting him when he's left open.

Friday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers was a painful example of Gobert's offensive shortcomings as he shot just 2-of-8 from the field en route to a 115-103 loss. If teams are already exposing this flaw in the regular season, just imagine what it could look like in the playoffs.

Rudy Gobert's offensive limitations could prove to be costly

Gobert generally is fine against bad defenses. Notably, only four of the games in which he has scored 15 points or more have come against an above-average ranked defense according to Cleaning the Glass. Conversely, Gobert has only scored double digits against a top-three defense in two of the eight chances he's had to do so. In these matchups, Gobert is averaging 7.6 points and 54.8 percent from the field. 

To accomplish their championship aspirations, the Wolves will likely have to beat both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. Doing so with Gobert is inherently difficult, and it might prove to be flat-out impossible. Frankly, the Timberwolves feel poised to lose in the second-round and Gobert is a key reason why.

It's clear that the Wolves reach another level when Gobert is involved and productive on offense. Regardless, it's unclear whether this is a genuine possibility against top-end teams.

Gobert could be played off the court to an extent due to his poor offense. We saw this happen last year as his minutes declined from 33.2 in the regular season to 27.4 in the playoffs.

The real trouble is that Gobert is essential to the Timberwolves' defensive success. Without him, they have no rim protection. Statistically speaking, their 119.7 DRTG without Gobert equates to a bottom-five defense. 

Undoubtedly, the Timberwolves need Gobert to be an offensive threat to give their offense another wrinkle and stay afloat on defense, but it's unclear if this is truly a realistic possibility.