Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert did not hold back about what he saw as a lack of defensive effort from his teammates.
Gobert openly advocated for coach Chris Finch to start benching players after a 119-115 home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Saturday. Gobert even suggested the players were failing to get the message themselves, so more drastic action was required.
“It should start with ourselves, but it seems like we don’t have that, so I think at some point (it has to come) from the coaches,” Gobert said, via Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “It’s not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It’s not something that you want to do, but I think if the players don’t show any effort, at some point, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don’t have that, you just can’t be a winning team.”
Those are unusually pointed comments from any player. It highlights an ongoing issue with the Timberwolves, who blew an 18-point third quarter lead in the game.
Gobert infamously threw a punch at one of his own teammates in a game three years ago. This sort of brutal honesty might best be relayed in-house, but it sounds like the veteran center has tried that already without success.
