The Timberwolves’ acquisition of Ayo Dosunmu at the trade deadline on Thursday presented what appears to be a golden opportunity for the guard. He escaped a Chicago Bulls team that is all but certain to miss the playoffs and landed with a franchise that has gone to back-to-back Western Conference finals.
Dosunmu was on the Wolves’ bench for Friday’s game against New Orleans at Target Center — he is expected to play on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers — and got his first opportunity to see what life with the Wolves will be like.
Gulp.
Not only did the Wolves blow an 18-point lead in the third quarter in what turned into a 119-115 loss to a 14-40 team, but center Rudy Gobert aired his grievances with a talented team that far too often comes with a side of dysfunction. Gobert didn’t name names, but in cases like this that’s unnecessary because the targets are obvious.
“Just no effort. We’ve seen that many, many times this year, last few years, since I’ve been here,” Gobert told reporters. “We always know it’s coming. When it comes there’s no sense of urgency, no accountability. So I think at some point, if the players don’t have accountability, someone has to have accountability for the players.”
That would be coach Chris Finch, who unsuccessfully has spent this season attempting to convince his team that every game matters.
“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. “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.
“ … It starts with me. If I’m not showing effort, bench me. Take me out of the game. Everybody else will follow. Our best players, leaders, if we don’t show any effort, it doesn’t matter if you score 50, we’re not going to win. At some point, if we’re not mature enough to have that accountability ourselves, that might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when we come back onto the court, we’ll show effort.”
The 50-point reference makes it clear that Gobert, a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, is pointing to the effort of Anthony Edwards on defense. Julius Randle, who has been in a funk since his name surfaced in rumors as the NBA trade deadline neared, also doesn’t escape the criticism.
It’s noteworthy that Gobert is prodding Finch to stop lecturing his top players about their effort on defense and start using playing time as the way to get his message across.
“At some point, if the players don’t have accountability, someone has to have accountability for the players,” Gobert said. “I’m on straight effort. I’m just talking straight effort. I’m not even getting to the basketball side of things, like there’s always mistakes are a part of the game, but the effort to me for a team that wants to play for a championship, it’s unacceptable.”
By this point, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about? The Wolves are 32-21, hold the sixth seed in the Western Conference and are only four games behind San Antonio for the second spot.
But here are a few things that are extremely problematic: