Suddenly, basketball fans around the world will be following the Minnesota Timberwolves closely, curious about how well Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns will play together. The pairing will naturally have growing pains because they only played one preseason game together. Still, that was to be expected, regardless of how much they played together in the preseason. It takes time to adjust. However, the Wolves could benefit from watching Cleveland Cavaliers film because they built their team around bigs last year.
The Cavs famously had a 3-4-5 of all near 7-footers in Lauri Markkanen, rookie Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen. Like the Wolves, they caught many people’s attention because nobody really knew what they were building. Last year’s Cavaliers entered the season with a win total over/under set at 26.5. Cleveland easily cleared that number last year, finishing the year at 44-38, and injuries didn’t allow them to hit their true ceiling. It was easily seen as a success. Last year was their first season of taking that leap forward, with players in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen taking that next step.
The Cavs took an unorthodox look and turned it into a positive, holding the 5th best defensive rating in the league despite their core piece Jarrett Allen missing some time to injury.
So, how can the Wolves emulate their defense?
The Wolves will be touting a 3-4-5 of similar stature in Jaden McDaniels, Towns, and Gobert. You can instantly draw parallels between each team’s personnel.
McDaniels and Mobley are the more agile, switchable players. Jaden is better on the perimeter than he is in the paint, while Mobley is more of a balanced player – he’s able to be more versatile. They both are excellent in help-side defense, using their frame and instincts to affect and block shots.
Versatile defenders are incredibly valuable in the league, and McDaniels and Mobley play essential roles on their respective teams. Despite being a year younger, Mobley does better at being a consistent, versatile defender. It also is a reminder of how important Jaden’s development is this season. But from a comparative perspective, they play similar roles in defense.
Here are some clips of what Jaden and Evan do well. Both excel in help-side defense. When they are beaten off the dribble, they still play good defense in recovery and allow the other defenders to help out.
Towns and Markkanen are going to have similar roles. Both look like the odd man out of defense. They have slower footspeed and have struggled defensively throughout their career. But now their teams have put them into an interesting position. Markkanen saw a lot of time off the ball in both corners in either their matchup zone look or straight man-to-man. That allowed them to have better length and size on the floor while still offering offensive strengths on the other side of the ball. That’s an undeniable similarity. They both can be X-factor players despite being less skilled than their teammates defensively.
The last comparison is the easiest to make. Allen and Gobert are the anchors of their respective defenses. They dictate how the defense is being played and how those coverages can be lined up. Depending on the guard matchup, we may see more of an aggressive rush from the center to cover up the lacking defender that is being screened.
In other cases, their coaches can deploy a drop scheme. They can trust them to hold it down, while the corners can stick to their kick-out matchups. Allen had more freedom to switch this past season due to Cleveland’s personnel underneath. That’s also something Rudy should look to take advantage of more this season.
Here is an example of what Rudy can do on the perimeter and how the Cavs used Allen this past season. These clips highlight their ability outside of the obvious paint presence. Look at how much easier it makes on the defense when they can be aggressive on switches and how the rest of the defense lines up. What teams might think is favorable turns into a bad possession.
The Cavs didn’t build this defense overnight, though. The beginning of their season included glimpses of promise and genuine struggles, and they started 9-10. Things took a turn, though. They won 10 of their next 12, including wins over the Wolves, Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks, and the Miami Heat twice. Through these games, we saw the Cavs give up an incredible 97 points per game and hold a defensive rating of 100.6. Those are incredible numbers compared to the league average number of 106.9, showing that focusing on defense would unlock this team’s potential.
There’s an obvious parallel with the Wolves here. The offensive game will work itself out because they have talented players like D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Karl-Anthony Towns. If the Wolves want to be taken seriously, they must perfect their defensive scheme sooner than later, and the Cavs are the perfect template for them to look at to achieve their goals in the Rudy Gobert era.
