When the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Ayo Dosunmu from the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline, they knew they were getting an energetic offensive player that can come off the bench and provide reliable 16 points per game.

But for Dosunmu, he's looking to use his experience with the Timberwolves to transform himself into a better defender as well, and he's looking to Minnesota's leading defender and one of the best defenders in the league to do it. 

Dosunmu expressed his excitement at the prospect of playing alongside Rudy Gobert when he first came to the Timberwolves and went on about how much he admired the four-time Defensive Player of the Year and how, despite his accolades, there's still aspects of his defense that people don't realize. 

“It’s amazing, that’s one of things I was very excited about when I first found out, I get to play with Rudy," Dosunmu said (via Andrew Dukowitz). "Multiple time defensive player of the year, great rim protector, he’s got great feet, he can contest shots… I’ve been trying to pick his brain on the defensive side."

It may seem like an add pairing at first with Dosumu being a guard and Gobert being a center, but the importance of defense in basketball means that picking up skills wherever you can is crucial for any player and with how multi-faceted Gobert is on the defensive end, there's plenty that Dosunmu can learn. 

Dosunmu also stands out defensively at his position. He has an above average defensive rating of 120.4 for his position this season and his size and physicality means that he can be a major factor of altering the shots and stopping drives of opposing guards. 

Some time learning under Gobert means that Dosunmu can take that already excellent defense up another level and round out his capabilities as a two-way asset for the Timberwolves coming off the bench. 

The Timberwolves as a team benefit from Gobert's defensive knowledge and capabilities and stand out as one of the better defensive teams in the league with a defensive rating of 112-6, the sixth-best in the league. 

Dosumu is sneakily one of the best pickups at the trade deadline for any team and with him looking to get even better the Timberwolves could be poised to make a deep playoff run this season. 

The Timberwolves are just one of five teams to be top 10 in the NBA in both offensive and defensive ratings and Dosunmu is determined to do his part in keeping them in both of those positions and a desire from him to learn from the best in Gobert is a great sign for the Timberwolves from their newest team member.