Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
Friday night, the Minnesota Timberwolves laid yet another egg at home vs a bad basketball team. Same 2025-26 season story, different opponent.
With newly acquired Ayo Dosunmu watching from the bench, Anthony Edwards and the boys lacked motivation in a 119-115 loss to the now 14-40 New Orleans Pelicans.
If you’re interested, I went way deeper into last night’s loss — and the many troubling developments surrounding our favorite basketball team, of late — in an article I posted this morning.
Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images
Featured in my breakdown was a clip of Rudy Gobert from the home locker room at Target Center clearly frustrated from Friday’s loss.
That frustration boiled over when Gobert called on the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching staff to start benching guys who don’t bring it on any given night, since his teammates can’t be accountable for their own energy and effort.
“It starts with ourselves but it seems like we don’t have that. So, I think at some point it comes from the coaches…It starts with me, if I’m not showing effort, bench me, take me out of the game. And everyone else has to follow.”
“At some point, if you’re not veteran enough to [play hard] yourself, [benching] might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when you come back on the court, you will show effort.”
Rudy Gobert after loss vs Pelicans (video)
As I noted this morning, Gobert (112) was the only Wolves rotation player vs the Pelicans who finished with a defensive rating below 125. That’s not winning basketball, no matter how well a team plays offensively.
Still, it takes some balls to *essentially* call out your head coach and the rest of his staff for their rotation decisions and/or accountability process for teammates.
Chris Finch responds to Gobert; Explains MN Timberwolves law
Thus, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Chris Finch met with reporters on Saturday with a VERY strong message for his center about how things work in his locker room.
To sum things up — ‘Gobert is paid to play and Finch is paid to coach’. Seemingly, that’s how it will stay going forward.
Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert’s comments after the Pelicans games calling for accountability
“I’m well aware of his comments, I’d say a couple things one is anybody who knows how we do things here knows there’s a high degree of accountability, secondly I handle all our… pic.twitter.com/QsTuJQh4Yz
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) February 7, 2026
“I’m well aware of his comments, I’d say a couple things: One is — anybody who knows how we do things here knows there’s a high degree of accountability. Secondly, I handle all our conversations with each other in house.
I’m disappointing he felt the need to go outside, but nonetheless, that’s been addressed already today. There has never been a team that’s won anything meaningful that’s substituted their way there.”
Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert’s comments
What I was intrigued by, during Finch’s response to Gobert this afternoon — even more so than his not-so-subtle tonguelashing — was the head coach’s summarized explanation for why he refuses to change the rotation.
Should we trust Gobert or Finchy?
As much as I’d like to research how many NBA champions have had deeper rotations vs those that have not… I don’t have two days to write this follow-up article. If he is proven correct (someone on the internet will find out for us) then I might open my viewpoint on this subject.
Because you can’t tell me riding Julius Randle when he is refusing to care on defense is the best way to coach a basketball team. But I am always open to new ideas.
In the meantime, here is Jaden McDaniels — who finished with 6 points and a 132 DEF rating vs NO — staying AS FAR AWAY from a question about Rudy Gobert’s comments from yesterday as humanly possible.
Jaden McDaniels regarding Rudy Gobert’s post game comments calling for more accountability
“I don’t know nothing about it(smiling). I don’t even want to talk about it for real, I just try to do my job and try to do my job to the best of my ability” pic.twitter.com/nOgyIBx7ja
— Andrew Dukowitz (@adukeMN) February 7, 2026
Mentioned in this article: Chris Finch Rudy Gobert
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