We are over halfway into the season and it's finally starting to dawn on me how big of a win the Rudy Gobert trade was for Utah, and subsequently how big of a loss it was for Minnesota. For anyone who has forgotten how big of an overpay Minnesota sent to Utah, the trade package included rookie Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Leandro Bolmaro, Patrick Beverley, four first round picks, and a pick swap. Several of those guys are already blossoming into valuable pieces in Utah, while the others are on the trade block or have already been traded. Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Timberwolves' coaching staff can't seem to figure out how to use Gobert in their system, and their season is quickly going to hell because of it.
pc: via Yahoo Sports
I want to start off with the biggest piece in the trade, that being Walker Kessler. Kessler was the 22nd pick to Minnesota in the 2022 draft after having a stellar tenure at Auburn. He was a raw prospect, but it was widely known that if any rookie could replace Gobert's defensive impact it was him. So far this season Kessler has been great in limited minutes, and with the recent injury to Kelly Olynyk he has become the full-time starter and has shown out accordingly. In his most recent game (which was ironically against the Timberwolves) Kessler dropped 20 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Jazz to a win without Lauri Markannen. One could easily argue that Kessler has been better than Gobert this season, which is an argument absolutely nobody could have predicted before the season.
The only other notable players Utah received in the trade are Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. Vanderbilt has been great this season as the primary defender on the team. He has looked better in Utah than he did in Minnesota as his touches and minutes have increased. Beasley has been an off the bench sparkplug. He isn't the most efficient player in the world, and is definitely a guy who will likely be traded, but so far his impact has been noticeable.
Now to touch on what's been going on with Gobert in Minnesota. Gobert is averaging his lowest point total since 2016, his lowest rebounding total since 2018, and his lowest blocks total since his rookie season. On the surface it would appear that Gobert has taken a massive step back, but I just don't think that's the case. When you watch him play he still looks like himself, but it's obvious that he's not fitting into the system in Minnesota. When Towns is on the floor they clash, which should've been obvious considering you have two seven foot centers playing at the same time, one of which being a very bad defender. Then Russell and Edwards don't look for Gobert at all on offense, a dynamic that has somehow been worse than the one we saw in Utah. At the end of the day Rudy Gobert is a system player, one of the greatest system players we've ever seen, but a system player nonetheless. If the system doesn't fit him, or refuses to fit him, he's going to struggle.
All in all, the Gobert trade gave the Jazz a strong young core and an array of draft picks to help get their rebuild started, while the Timberwolves received a star player who they aren't interested in building a system around. The Jazz obviously won the trade, but it's not Gobert's fault. For years he had a defensive system that was catered to him, and now he has been thrust into one of the worst defensive systems in the league. What this really comes down to is that the Timberwolves are a poorly run NBA franchise. They traded a ton of assets for a guy they had no idea how to use, and are now on the losing end of one of the biggest trades we have seen in recent memory because of it.
Comments