This franchise really has never gotten off the ground running. The Minnesota Timberwolves will be without defensive stalwarts Rudy Golbert and Jaden Mcdaniels in their Play-In matchup against the Lakers as the former is suspended and the later fractured his own hand.
When you think of the expression “shoot yourself in the foot”, the first thing to come to mind when thinking of a literal embodiment should be the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Not only did the team fail to live up to expectations this season as they finished 8th place in the West and won less than 45 games, but it also just “shot itself in the foot” in its Play-In matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers as both Rudy Gobert and Jaden Mcdaniels ruled themselves out of the game with Gobert getting suspended by the team for throwing a haymaker at teammate Kyle Anderson on the sidelines yesterday against the Pelicans, and Jaden Mcdaniel fractured his hand by punching a wall during the 1st half.
Is there a better Dumb and Dumber tandem in the NBA right now than Gobert and Mcdaniels?
Contrary to the reactions of Gobert and Mcdaniels, but the Timberwolves, against the odds as they trailed 55-47 at halftime, actually beat the New Orleans Pelicans to secure the all-important 8th seed in the Play-In round, while also dooming New Orleans suffer through a much harder Play-In journey as the 9th seed. All in all, yesterday should have been a great result for the Timberwolves.
But, in classic Rudy Gobert fashion, he ruined everything with his own stupidity.
I don’t know what was said between Gobert, who is a 4X All-NBA player, 6X All-Defensive player, and a 3X Defensive Player of the Year winner, and Kyle Anderson, but nothing justified Gobert abandoning the last remnants of logic and reasoning in his brain and throwing A HAYMAKER on THE SIDELINES! Is Gobert simply stupid or does he actually have no control over his emotions?
I hate to sound so harsh and judgmental, but this outburst completely damages the Timberwolves roster for the rest of the time Gobert and Anderson are on the same team, let alone the Play In battle vs. LA tomorrow!
We’ve seen how one fight can completely destroy the harmony of a locker room with the Warriors this year as even though Draymond Green and Jordan Poole have not had any more incidents since that viral practice brawl, Golden State has simply not been the same team they were last year.
I mean, the Warriors dropped from being the 3rd best team in the West last year to the 5th best, while their road win record (a great sign as to how a team gets along) dropped from an average 22-19 in 2021/22 to a horrific 11-30 in 2022/23. And this was a team that won the NBA championship!
Even if the Timberwolves win tomorrow, which is a big “if”, there’s going to have to be a massive shakeup to this locker room in the offseason as this outburst must have been brewing for a while.
Nevertheless, the Timberwolves will probably have a much earlier start to the offseason to fix this mess than most of the West as losing Mcdaniels, who brainlessly smashed his hand against a concrete wall in a game the Timberwolves actually won, is a massive loss.
Mcdaniels has been one of the best one vs. one defender in the league with a 115.4 defensive rating (which is really good for a player strictly defending one vs. one), while he’s also having a career high offensive season with 12.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.0 BPG, and a 51.7 FG%. Simply put, he’s one of the Timberwolves’ best defenders.
And his and Gobert’s absence will be massive when facing off against a team with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasly, Austin Reeves, and Rui Hachimura. Yeah, not a great matchup for the Timberwolves without Gobert and Mcdaniels.
Maybe the Timberwolves will be able to fend off the winner of the 9th vs. 10th seed (Pelicans vs. Thunder), but there’s no way they’ll beat the Lakers in the 7th vs. 8th Play-In game and/or the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs if they squeeze in as the 8th seed.
Way to go, Gobert and Mcdaniels.
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