August is the slowest month in the NBA’s off-season. The draft, hype around free agency, and Summer League have all passed. The NBA community is left to wait for training camp to open in late October to get their next taste of basketball. However, there is more buzz than usual right now. The 2023 World Cup is right around the corner, and teams are beginning their preliminary games as they gear up for the global competition in late August.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have six members of the team who are participating in the World Cup. Those players include Anthony Edwards (USA), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Rudy Gobert (France), Kyle Anderson (China), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Canada), and Matteo Spagnolo (Italy).
Due to the lack of content, it’s not uncommon for NBA fans to overreact to certain things in the off-season. For example, Edwards played in his first game with Team USA Monday, and by the looks of it, he is on pace to lead his team to a gold medal. That may be an overreaction or simply just an educated guess. With Ant, you never really know. Regardless, we still got a glimpse into his leadership ability and how that will transfer over to NBA-level play.
Despite Ant leading his country to a massive win in their first game together, his play and participation in the World Cup haven’t been the only thing that has had a chokehold on Wolves’ Twitter.
You saw that right, Rudy Gobert drilled his first career three-point shot while playing for France. A clip like this is usually par the course. Guys who don’t specialize in 3-point shooting may upload a video of them draining triples to social media. See JaVale McGee. Usually, that is all just a public relations stunt. A player may just be trying to build some level of hype around them or draw the attention of various teams. Ultimately, these are the NBA players we are talking about, and most, if not all, could go at least 7-for-10 from three in a closed practice.
However, what Gobert did was much different than a PR stunt in the form of a social media video. After all, Rudy’s triple came in the second quarter of a game where his team only had a two-point lead. It wasn’t intended to stir up any internet craze. However, Gobzilla’s comments on the similarities between making that shot and losing his virginity created a little extra buzz.
Amidst that quote going viral, people have asked whether it would be valuable for him to add or attempt more triples in the NBA. His shot form looks improved, and he was able to knock one down in a close ball game, so why should the Timberwolves not give him some type of green/yellow light from deep?
The beginning of the 2022-23 season was filled with a ton of ups and downs. If you wanted to, you could through the clip above into one of those down points in that part of the season. Like his 3-point shot with France, the opponent left Gobert alone at the top of the key as he hoisted up a triple attempt. With Minnesota already down 16 points with over seven minutes left in the third quarter, it felt as if the game was over when Rudy attempted this triple and missed everything. I’m not here to bash Gobzilla for this one play. It was early in the season, and everyone was still figuring out how to play with him. The fit and flow weren’t there.
Throughout Gobert’s seven-year career, he has never needed to add an outside shot. And why would he? For a player to rack up three Defensive Player of the Year awards and become one of, if not the most intimidating defensive forces, that doesn’t happen if that player wasn’t always sitting in the painted area. Now, if Gobert still played for the Utah Jazz, there may be some talk that he would need to add an outside shot. Think what Brook Lopez has been able to do. However, now that the Tower of Power is sharing the floor with Karl-Anthony Towns, the most prolific 3-point shooting center of all time, he doesn’t seem to need to attempt triples in a Timberwolves uniform.
