Minnesota Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert was asked to compare his current team to the groups he played with in Utah
The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a rocky season, and while they may be in the mix for a top-four seed in the Western Conference, there's been a lot of lows that question if this Timberwolves team can repeat the success they've had the past two seasons and appear back in the Western Conference Finals.
Minnesota has lost their past two contests, those being an overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets and a sloppy game against the Brooklyn Nets. As the team looks to get dialed back in, star defender Rudy Gobert was asked about some of the prior teams he's played in with the Utah Jazz, and what the current Timberwolves can take from them.
Rudy Gobert Talks Comparisons With Former Jazz Rosters
“I feel like this team, the team we have now, is more versatile offensively and defensively. I think the one thing we could learn from that team is being more consistent with our habits. There were things that we had that were called ‘non-negotiables’, such as just running back in transition or running to the corner on offense," Gobert said.
Even though this Timberwolves team has top-end talent with players like Gobert, Anthony Edwards, and Julius Randle, they can't win games if they aren't doing the little things. Against the Nets, the team's ability to protect the paint was exposed, even though they have one of the NBA's best all-time defenders at the rim.
"Just little things that I think gave us that consistency that even on the nights when you don't have it, that happens in the NBA, right? No matter what people say, no matter what we say, there's nights when we're not necessarily going to have it as much," he added.
As Gobert said, doing the little things right can allow the team to still pull it out when things aren't going their way, whether that's unfortunate luck shooting the ball or poor officiating. It's a total team effort, and it starts at the top.
"We still got something that we know, regardless of the circumstances, we're still going to do. That's the one thing, but we got to find that urgency every night," he concluded.
The Timberwolves begin their four-game road trip on Monday against the Chicago Bulls, and they'll be playing their first two games in three days, then ending the road trip with a back-to-back. The competition won't be too strong, but if Minnesota can't get the little things right, they could find themselves dropping some winnable games as they've done this season.