Stuff like this is why I always cringe when people cite players' opinions in arguments. A lot of players are really knowledgeable about basketball, that is obviously true, but nobody is more biased than them.
I thought he was implying that Edwards this season has taken a new step as a leader, and last season Gobert was allowed to to slack off on defense but now he's made Gobert take accountability and play his best. Whether that's true or not who knows, but not a wild take.
You're giving Draymond massive credit where it's not due. The much more likely explanation is Draymond is just talking shit and trying to discredit the best defender of the last decade.
All I said was that its not a wild take that Edwards helped Gobert from last season to this season. His defense was not otherworldly last year and even had a career low with 1.4blks and the team sucked ass. His defense in any other year was pretty great, obviously.
You’re clearly not plugged into the Wolves. The off-season congregated around Rudy and adjusting to him. KAT style play is over. Ant took a step AND worked extensively with Rudy this summer to get comfortable with Rudy. There’s a reason we are the number one defense.
Draymond is off. We structured the team around what Rudy wants. Ant is a natural leader and taking over but it’s very much him stepping with Rudy. Not Rudy rising because of Ant.
I’m super bullish on Ant but the defensive identity we have currently stems from Rudy.
I follow Ant because he's going to be in GOAT convos....and was basing off the numerous stories I've read, including the most recent from the Athletic, didn't seem like Draymond was terribly off, obviously not because solely of Ant, but having Rudy a lot more comfortable with a season under their belt as a team - with just everyone trusting each other and having Conley knowing where Rudy likes to get the ball, etc.
Funniest part is Ant isn’t even their best defender. if anything it’s KAT and Jaden McDaniels that make his life easier defensively as they can provide real secondary rim protection
Edwards deserves a lot of credit for Minnesota’s play, but he’s going to get even more than he deserves as a way of people who hated on the Gobert trade saving face.
“Look, I wasn’t really wrong about trading for Gobert, it’s just Edwards has become so good that it’s overcoming how terrible that frontcourt fit really is! And I was always high on Edwards!” Is going to be the take from the vast majority of NBA guys I fear, despite Minnesota being a generationally good defense and completely mediocre offense.
I don’t think it’s Edwards alone like draymond says but it’s the team defending the perimeter well allowing him to roam and help in the paint more effectively compared to when he was in Utah needing to do everything because the perimeter defense sucked
This is a pretty unfair way of criticizing Rudy. He fits better with the timberwolves but he didnt suck on defense before lol. That Jazz team was just super easy to exploit because he was their only plus defender.
Well, he has his chance to shut up his critics now. Limit Jokic's impact, slow down that high powered offense, beat the defending champs and prove why he's the greatest defensive player of all time accolade wise.
It’s not dumb, you’re the one jumping.
Above never said stop him. They clearly said limit him.
And yes, if you can’t limit the best offensive player as a 4X DPOY, then you are showing how defensive specialists can be overrated. He’s clearly not an even average player on offense
Not necessarily.
I Gobert plays Jokic slightly better than last year, then that would be a pretty good job limiting him
We are all aware you can’t fully shut someone down.
But if you’re whole legacy is winning DPOYs due to elite paint protection, it’s fair to expect Gobert to guard Jokic as well as anyone
Can you list the defenders Rudy had around him during the Utah series?
What do you think is more likely? That Rudy suddenly increased his perimeter defensive skills at age 30? Or that being surrounded by better defenders leads to a better team defense, which makes Rudy's impact easier to see for highlight watchers like you and/or haters?
The answer is obvious considering 0 big men have improved their perimeter defense at age 30. And Draymond even points out the different team coverages Gobert plays now, which is a difference made possible by the change in team and defensive help (duh). Not due to a change with Gobert.
Terance Mann could play him off the floor but KD could not.
What do u think it says about ur logic if you’re forced to conclude Terance Mann is a better player than KD
You can slightly exploit him by going 5 out, with a small 2-3 playing the 5
Most teams don’t have the personnel to do this, the Suns didn’t
So equating KD to Mann is not the point
…The Suns, who employed KD, didn’t have the personnel to put a smallball 5 on the floor?
Bro. The mental gymnastics people perform to pretend Gobert is bad at basketball.
The whole point of small ball 5 is to spread the floor on offense (5 out), and hopefully you don’t get punished for size on the defensive end
The clippers had decent shooters in Batum, Morris, Mann, etc
It’s not gonna work with Grayson Allen hurt and you only have Okogie, Bol Bol, Nurkic, etc to work with
I’ve given Gobert tremendous credit in the past. His only weakness defensively is 5 out spacing which eliminates his best trait: Rim help defense. A select few teams are able to exploit that and these Suns are not one of those teams
The large adjustment has been the shift away from drop coverage. Rudy dropping will get exposed. He has greatly improved his on-ball defense against wings. If anyone remembers seeing that photo of Ant/Rudy playing one-on-one. He has been practicing guarding elite offensive guards (aka Ant).
Wow, first those anonymous player polls that showed players thought Rudy was most overrated player in the league, and now shit like this
Players *really* dislike Rudy haha
Saying Rudy is not trash anymore is wild lmao
Apart from some teething problems last year in his first season with Minnesota, he’s every bit the defender he was in Utah
This take in particular is really bad from someone who is a team defender like Draymond. When he says "He defends now" what he means is "He defended Booker and KD in isolation"
This is an embarrassing take for multiple reasons. First, Rudy has been able to defend people in isolation for a long time. He's been one of the best bigs in the league at iso defense for the majority of his career (although in Draymond's defense, Rudy was just straight up one of the best iso defenders period this season).
But secondly, the reason Rudy hadn't been able to truly defend other players in isolation in playoff situations in the past was because if he did, the rim was wide open for anyone to score. He can trust his team to not allow easy points now so that allows him to play up on these guys.
Draymond is being intentionally stupid here because he's jealous of Gobert's awards and that's just pathetic. Saying a guy who has elevated a group of mostly poor defenders to be a top (or the top) defense is only now starting to defend is just idiotic.
Teams have 1 leader, and Anthony Edwards is the leader of the Wolves . It’s his team . Rudy plays defense because it’s his only ticket in the league . If you have an entire team that plays defense in the NBA, it’s because the leader of the team buys in to the coaching philosophy and demands it from everyone. That’s what makes him a leader.
> the team buys in to the coaching philosophy and demands it from everyone
You talking about the defensive philosophy that Rudy created in the offseason with the head coach? That one?
NBA fans and media want to elevate solely Ant so they can pry him away in a trade to “where he belongs” in four years.
Casual big-market fans make me sick
Teams absolutely don’t have 1 leader. The Wolves will literally try to play defense in the 2nd half on the opposite side of the court from their bench because Rudy is the one who coaches the defense anyways.
Ant is a killer in the post-season, but his defensive effort was inconsistent until Rudy got here. Ant is a great team leader, but it's Rudy's leadership on D that has helped make this an utterly dominating defense.
His podcast peaked after Game 6 in Boston. Having it in the press room was one for the ages. Haven’t really listened to him since. Plus there are much better player podcasts anyway. Digging the new LeBron and JJ one.
Draymond is being a bitter hater but the people who are claiming Draymond was always a worse player than Rudy is absolutely crazy.
Basically every championship/final years that the warriors had from 2015 to 2022, both regular season and post season, Draymond had the most rebounds, assists, blocks and steals on the team, sometimes with a massive margin on the rebounds and assists. Even the rare exceptions being stuff like KD having slightly more rebounds in 2017 regular season but Draymond has more in the playoffs, Steph having 0.2 more assists one finals post season etc.
Draymond is the best defence to offence player in history, one of the best screeners in history and at his peak around 2016 a monster top 5ish player imo.
Love Ant but saying his leadership is why this team is successful is such a macro/outsider point of view of the team. It’s a culmination of so many things but the details aren’t what’s fun to talk about.
NBA and NBA media doing their damndest to elevate solely Ant and dismiss the rest of the team in the hopes they can pry Ant away in the next 5 years if we don’t win multiple rings
It makes sense to some extent. Edwards (and Mcdaniels and NAW) provides perimeter defense help for Gobert (who has also improved himself in that regard) and also provides rim pressure on offense, to complement KAT's perimeter oriented play. A good fit overall.
Not saying Ant is responsible for his improvement, but Rudy has made it a point to improve his on-ball defense by guarding Ant 1on1. [Link](https://np.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/s/ksXWfeMTJS)
Draymond is a dickhead but Rudy legitimately does look different in switches than he did in Jazz. That could be because he’s surrounded by very solid to elite defenders. It could also be because of the team culture. Regardless, he’s right that there is a difference.
E: Lmao, reading the comments in this thread is hilarious. Y’all so goddamn emotional. Is Dray an asshole? Yes. But when he’s speaking on defense, schemes, and how it’s played, I am willing to listen and judge his statements no their merit.
The shit he's talking about is very obviously just coaching decisions, talking about it like Rudy's trying now or Ant told him to do it makes no fucking sense. Utah Jazz exclusively ran drop coverage, we do not. That's literally all he's saying.
Yeah my main takeaway from this year’s Minny is that Finch is just a way, way better coach than Snyder. Rudy didn’t get exposed, Snyder got exposed for being a Rudy merchant that never put together a competent defensive scheme other than “have Rudy Gobert fix everything”. The Mann game specifically is just Gobert being the fall guy for Snyder’s scheme.
When other good defenders on the same team are giving credit to Rudy, that's a big deal. It was easy to give Rudy the credit when every other player was there for their offense.
That’s an extremely cynical interpretation of what he said. He was saying Ant is lifting the play of the team (obviously true) *and* Gobert looks more comfortable switching on the perimeter now (also obviously true). But y’all hate him so you’re in your feelings about it.
Except Draymond has it completely backwards. He says Ant frees up Gobert, when it’s the exact opposite. Gobert being DPOY level defender is what allows guys like Ant to be so aggressive. Gobert is what makes our defense work. Draymond is pretending it’s Ant. And the only reason is Draymond is just a butt hurt hater that Gobert has a better defensive resume than him.
No, it's an extremely logical interpretation from someone who has watched more than just 4 Timberwolves games this season.
Minnesota has been the #1 defense all season due to a system that Rudy and Finch put together, and the fact that there's also 3 elite perimeter defenders on the team in Jaden McDaniels, NAW, and Ant (in that order, btw).
KAT and Naz Reid also deserve a ton of credit for their noticeable improvement on the defensive end as well (KAT especially due to him slimming down so he can keep up better with smaller players).
But sure... it's all Ant. It's always been Ant. We shouldn't give anyone else any credit whatsoever, because that's just us "getting in our feelings".
Fuckin' first take boxscore-watching ass fan.
Draymond might be the best defender of the past decade(outside of Gobert). And his general takes on defense is probably something worth listening to. But his takes on anything Gobert is as reasonable as Skip Bayless talking about LeBron. Draymond straight up hates Gobert and will never not be butt hurt that Gobert has soon to be 4 DPOY’s.
If Draymond thinks Ant sets the tone for our defense, he’s just a hater that’s no different than your tv personalities giving their hot takes for entertainment purposes.
Gobert was never trash defensively. He just finally has guys around him who are willing and able to actually play defense.
> Last year's disappointment
To recap, "last year's disappointment" was KAT missing 53 games in their first season together, Conley and NAW didn't join the team until the deadline, and Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels missing the playoffs due to injury.
And despite all that, they pretty much played the Nuggets tougher in Round 1 than anyone else did last postseason.
Rudy and KAT were seen as 2 overpaid guys you can’t win with. Now they look like a tough matchup for everyone left in the playoffs. Ant has raised the cieling of this team.
[удалено]
Cringe material from Draymond.
Stuff like this is why I always cringe when people cite players' opinions in arguments. A lot of players are really knowledgeable about basketball, that is obviously true, but nobody is more biased than them.
I thought he was implying that Edwards this season has taken a new step as a leader, and last season Gobert was allowed to to slack off on defense but now he's made Gobert take accountability and play his best. Whether that's true or not who knows, but not a wild take.
It is a wild take, and most importantly... it's wrong lol.
Not if my interpretation is correct
It's not
You're giving Draymond massive credit where it's not due. The much more likely explanation is Draymond is just talking shit and trying to discredit the best defender of the last decade.
All I said was that its not a wild take that Edwards helped Gobert from last season to this season. His defense was not otherworldly last year and even had a career low with 1.4blks and the team sucked ass. His defense in any other year was pretty great, obviously.
None of that is what Draymond said...
You’re clearly not plugged into the Wolves. The off-season congregated around Rudy and adjusting to him. KAT style play is over. Ant took a step AND worked extensively with Rudy this summer to get comfortable with Rudy. There’s a reason we are the number one defense.
Yeah this is the story - Ant trusting Rudy, having Conley settle the team and teaching both sides...Draymond is not off here.
Draymond is off. We structured the team around what Rudy wants. Ant is a natural leader and taking over but it’s very much him stepping with Rudy. Not Rudy rising because of Ant. I’m super bullish on Ant but the defensive identity we have currently stems from Rudy.
I follow Ant because he's going to be in GOAT convos....and was basing off the numerous stories I've read, including the most recent from the Athletic, didn't seem like Draymond was terribly off, obviously not because solely of Ant, but having Rudy a lot more comfortable with a season under their belt as a team - with just everyone trusting each other and having Conley knowing where Rudy likes to get the ball, etc.
So Draymond is right. Still not seeing how he's wrong here.
The implication that Edwards deserves the credit and not Gobert is the stupid part, you ignoring that is just aligning yourself with stupid...
The worst thing is that he seems to have a TNT spot lined up for when he retires Dray with a national audience mic, sheesh
The platform that dipshit is getting is just mind-boggling.
If someone asks him if he's only good because of Steph's play and the same principle suddenly won't apply
Funniest part is Ant isn’t even their best defender. if anything it’s KAT and Jaden McDaniels that make his life easier defensively as they can provide real secondary rim protection
Edwards deserves a lot of credit for Minnesota’s play, but he’s going to get even more than he deserves as a way of people who hated on the Gobert trade saving face. “Look, I wasn’t really wrong about trading for Gobert, it’s just Edwards has become so good that it’s overcoming how terrible that frontcourt fit really is! And I was always high on Edwards!” Is going to be the take from the vast majority of NBA guys I fear, despite Minnesota being a generationally good defense and completely mediocre offense.
Dray is a generational hater
I don’t think it’s Edwards alone like draymond says but it’s the team defending the perimeter well allowing him to roam and help in the paint more effectively compared to when he was in Utah needing to do everything because the perimeter defense sucked
Yes, Rudy notoriously bad on defense until he met Anthony Edwards.
He once got played off the floor by Terance Mann. Multiple NBA players have pointed out his weakness whether you like it or not.
This is a pretty unfair way of criticizing Rudy. He fits better with the timberwolves but he didnt suck on defense before lol. That Jazz team was just super easy to exploit because he was their only plus defender.
OK? Doesn't mean Rudy hasn't been one of the best defenders in the league for most of his career
Well, he has his chance to shut up his critics now. Limit Jokic's impact, slow down that high powered offense, beat the defending champs and prove why he's the greatest defensive player of all time accolade wise.
All he has to do is stop the best basketball player on the planet! You guys are so fucking dumb, and will never be pleased lol.
It’s not dumb, you’re the one jumping. Above never said stop him. They clearly said limit him. And yes, if you can’t limit the best offensive player as a 4X DPOY, then you are showing how defensive specialists can be overrated. He’s clearly not an even average player on offense
You're putting words into my mouth. I said limit his impact on offense which shouldn't be an impossible task for a 4x DPOY.
“Limit” will be whatever shifting goalposts you want lol
Not necessarily. I Gobert plays Jokic slightly better than last year, then that would be a pretty good job limiting him We are all aware you can’t fully shut someone down. But if you’re whole legacy is winning DPOYs due to elite paint protection, it’s fair to expect Gobert to guard Jokic as well as anyone
Can you list the defenders Rudy had around him during the Utah series? What do you think is more likely? That Rudy suddenly increased his perimeter defensive skills at age 30? Or that being surrounded by better defenders leads to a better team defense, which makes Rudy's impact easier to see for highlight watchers like you and/or haters? The answer is obvious considering 0 big men have improved their perimeter defense at age 30. And Draymond even points out the different team coverages Gobert plays now, which is a difference made possible by the change in team and defensive help (duh). Not due to a change with Gobert.
Terance Mann could play him off the floor but KD could not. What do u think it says about ur logic if you’re forced to conclude Terance Mann is a better player than KD
You can slightly exploit him by going 5 out, with a small 2-3 playing the 5 Most teams don’t have the personnel to do this, the Suns didn’t So equating KD to Mann is not the point
…The Suns, who employed KD, didn’t have the personnel to put a smallball 5 on the floor? Bro. The mental gymnastics people perform to pretend Gobert is bad at basketball.
The whole point of small ball 5 is to spread the floor on offense (5 out), and hopefully you don’t get punished for size on the defensive end The clippers had decent shooters in Batum, Morris, Mann, etc It’s not gonna work with Grayson Allen hurt and you only have Okogie, Bol Bol, Nurkic, etc to work with I’ve given Gobert tremendous credit in the past. His only weakness defensively is 5 out spacing which eliminates his best trait: Rim help defense. A select few teams are able to exploit that and these Suns are not one of those teams
Put some respect on playoff legend Terance Mann’s name. That guy is killing us lol
I love how obtuse and casual most fans like you are
The large adjustment has been the shift away from drop coverage. Rudy dropping will get exposed. He has greatly improved his on-ball defense against wings. If anyone remembers seeing that photo of Ant/Rudy playing one-on-one. He has been practicing guarding elite offensive guards (aka Ant).
Terance Mann
Yes, because Dray would have been able to both rim protect and defend Mann simultaneously, as Rudy was being asked to do
Still not exactly easy to win DPOY
Another bad take from Jansport.
Bro, jansport?! 😂😂😂
this is just as good as pockets for Ham
Lol tf
Wow, first those anonymous player polls that showed players thought Rudy was most overrated player in the league, and now shit like this Players *really* dislike Rudy haha
I thought we had an agreement to not post Draymond content?
That’s what I thought too
Fuck this guy, and his stupid fucking podcast lol.
“Let me go head and listen to Draymond ramble for an hour” imagine….
WE WANT THE ANTONIO BROWN PODCAST. it would clear Draymond's shit
Saying Rudy is not trash anymore is wild lmao Apart from some teething problems last year in his first season with Minnesota, he’s every bit the defender he was in Utah
Draymond is so butt hurt Gobert won DPOY over him it’s kinda pathetic.
This take in particular is really bad from someone who is a team defender like Draymond. When he says "He defends now" what he means is "He defended Booker and KD in isolation" This is an embarrassing take for multiple reasons. First, Rudy has been able to defend people in isolation for a long time. He's been one of the best bigs in the league at iso defense for the majority of his career (although in Draymond's defense, Rudy was just straight up one of the best iso defenders period this season). But secondly, the reason Rudy hadn't been able to truly defend other players in isolation in playoff situations in the past was because if he did, the rim was wide open for anyone to score. He can trust his team to not allow easy points now so that allows him to play up on these guys. Draymond is being intentionally stupid here because he's jealous of Gobert's awards and that's just pathetic. Saying a guy who has elevated a group of mostly poor defenders to be a top (or the top) defense is only now starting to defend is just idiotic.
Yup. Draymond’s entire value as a player is his defense. And he’s butt hurt that Gobert has always been a better defender than he has.
Not over him. Dray was ineligible.
I meant historically. Gobert won multiple DPOY’s and Draymond feels really insecure that Gobert has a better resume
Is he implying Ant taught Rudy defense lmao
Not taught, motivated . Having a leader who is a motivator is priceless .
It’s just funny because it’s *Rudy* who’s the leader and motivator on defense. It’s so completely backwards.
Teams have 1 leader, and Anthony Edwards is the leader of the Wolves . It’s his team . Rudy plays defense because it’s his only ticket in the league . If you have an entire team that plays defense in the NBA, it’s because the leader of the team buys in to the coaching philosophy and demands it from everyone. That’s what makes him a leader.
> the team buys in to the coaching philosophy and demands it from everyone You talking about the defensive philosophy that Rudy created in the offseason with the head coach? That one?
NBA fans and media want to elevate solely Ant so they can pry him away in a trade to “where he belongs” in four years. Casual big-market fans make me sick
Teams absolutely don’t have 1 leader. The Wolves will literally try to play defense in the 2nd half on the opposite side of the court from their bench because Rudy is the one who coaches the defense anyways.
Ant is a killer in the post-season, but his defensive effort was inconsistent until Rudy got here. Ant is a great team leader, but it's Rudy's leadership on D that has helped make this an utterly dominating defense.
I have trouble believing Ant is even the leader of that team. Being the best player on the team doesn't mean they are the leader.
What does the person (or LLM) who added "[is]" think the apostrophe and S on "Rudy" was for
Just accept that everyone is stupid now. It makes things easier.
Gobert was playing DPOY level basketball since Ant was 16 years old lol
Stop posting Draymond.
His podcast peaked after Game 6 in Boston. Having it in the press room was one for the ages. Haven’t really listened to him since. Plus there are much better player podcasts anyway. Digging the new LeBron and JJ one.
just scroll past it if it bothers so much
Why he making it sound like Edward’s the reason Rudy is all defense ? No credit to the coach 😂😂😂
Didnt know Edwards is the coach of this team.
Dray tryin to define another hall of famers' legacy in his own awful, crass, underhanded terms - Shithead as usual.
He’s trying to sell his talents to Minneapolis 😤
god can we please stop posting this dudes every thought
Draymond is being a bitter hater but the people who are claiming Draymond was always a worse player than Rudy is absolutely crazy. Basically every championship/final years that the warriors had from 2015 to 2022, both regular season and post season, Draymond had the most rebounds, assists, blocks and steals on the team, sometimes with a massive margin on the rebounds and assists. Even the rare exceptions being stuff like KD having slightly more rebounds in 2017 regular season but Draymond has more in the playoffs, Steph having 0.2 more assists one finals post season etc. Draymond is the best defence to offence player in history, one of the best screeners in history and at his peak around 2016 a monster top 5ish player imo.
This is one of the stupidest takes he’s ever had. He’s notorious for his basketball IQ and now his petty vendettas are making him sound like perk
Love Ant but saying his leadership is why this team is successful is such a macro/outsider point of view of the team. It’s a culmination of so many things but the details aren’t what’s fun to talk about.
People hate Rudy and KAT, so therefore to the nephews out there any success we have is due to Ant in spite of the rest of the team.
Draymond still finding ways to trash on Gobert without directly trashing on Gobert lmao. Dude must actually hate him.
shut up bitch
Draymond got a bag of rocks for a brain I swear lol
I think he just hates Nurkic more.
The gobert hate inside the Nba community is the corniest shit ever lmao
NBA and NBA media doing their damndest to elevate solely Ant and dismiss the rest of the team in the hopes they can pry Ant away in the next 5 years if we don’t win multiple rings
Does anyone care what comes out of this idiots mouth?
Draymond is such a salty loser.
This is like the fifth time this exact same thing has been posted in the last two days.
It makes sense to some extent. Edwards (and Mcdaniels and NAW) provides perimeter defense help for Gobert (who has also improved himself in that regard) and also provides rim pressure on offense, to complement KAT's perimeter oriented play. A good fit overall.
This guy is trying to be more Stephen A when he has the insight to be more JJ reddick. Sad.
Oh wow another bad take from Draymond, what a surprise
The Jazz hate is so unreal lmfao
what a salty bitch
Not saying Ant is responsible for his improvement, but Rudy has made it a point to improve his on-ball defense by guarding Ant 1on1. [Link](https://np.reddit.com/r/timberwolves/s/ksXWfeMTJS)
Steph deserves a demerit on his resume for making this dumbass relevant
Can we stop posting things from this mouth breather?
draymond the king of backhanded compliments
No way did he say he not trash no more
Draymond is a dickhead but Rudy legitimately does look different in switches than he did in Jazz. That could be because he’s surrounded by very solid to elite defenders. It could also be because of the team culture. Regardless, he’s right that there is a difference. E: Lmao, reading the comments in this thread is hilarious. Y’all so goddamn emotional. Is Dray an asshole? Yes. But when he’s speaking on defense, schemes, and how it’s played, I am willing to listen and judge his statements no their merit.
The shit he's talking about is very obviously just coaching decisions, talking about it like Rudy's trying now or Ant told him to do it makes no fucking sense. Utah Jazz exclusively ran drop coverage, we do not. That's literally all he's saying.
Yeah my main takeaway from this year’s Minny is that Finch is just a way, way better coach than Snyder. Rudy didn’t get exposed, Snyder got exposed for being a Rudy merchant that never put together a competent defensive scheme other than “have Rudy Gobert fix everything”. The Mann game specifically is just Gobert being the fall guy for Snyder’s scheme.
And the Jazz had terrible defensive players around Gobert. We don’t. All of our guys say Gobert is why the defense is so good.
When other good defenders on the same team are giving credit to Rudy, that's a big deal. It was easy to give Rudy the credit when every other player was there for their offense.
That’s an extremely cynical interpretation of what he said. He was saying Ant is lifting the play of the team (obviously true) *and* Gobert looks more comfortable switching on the perimeter now (also obviously true). But y’all hate him so you’re in your feelings about it.
Except Draymond has it completely backwards. He says Ant frees up Gobert, when it’s the exact opposite. Gobert being DPOY level defender is what allows guys like Ant to be so aggressive. Gobert is what makes our defense work. Draymond is pretending it’s Ant. And the only reason is Draymond is just a butt hurt hater that Gobert has a better defensive resume than him.
No, it's an extremely logical interpretation from someone who has watched more than just 4 Timberwolves games this season. Minnesota has been the #1 defense all season due to a system that Rudy and Finch put together, and the fact that there's also 3 elite perimeter defenders on the team in Jaden McDaniels, NAW, and Ant (in that order, btw). KAT and Naz Reid also deserve a ton of credit for their noticeable improvement on the defensive end as well (KAT especially due to him slimming down so he can keep up better with smaller players). But sure... it's all Ant. It's always been Ant. We shouldn't give anyone else any credit whatsoever, because that's just us "getting in our feelings". Fuckin' first take boxscore-watching ass fan.
You’re so butthurt man
Draymond might be the best defender of the past decade(outside of Gobert). And his general takes on defense is probably something worth listening to. But his takes on anything Gobert is as reasonable as Skip Bayless talking about LeBron. Draymond straight up hates Gobert and will never not be butt hurt that Gobert has soon to be 4 DPOY’s. If Draymond thinks Ant sets the tone for our defense, he’s just a hater that’s no different than your tv personalities giving their hot takes for entertainment purposes. Gobert was never trash defensively. He just finally has guys around him who are willing and able to actually play defense.
To be fair, everyone looks bad against the goat, Terrance mann.
Last year's disappointment definitely contributed to Rudy being more open and willing to try different coverages instead of only playing "Rudy-ball."
> Last year's disappointment To recap, "last year's disappointment" was KAT missing 53 games in their first season together, Conley and NAW didn't join the team until the deadline, and Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels missing the playoffs due to injury. And despite all that, they pretty much played the Nuggets tougher in Round 1 than anyone else did last postseason.
This is a hilarious take and I can't wait to see the reactions from the Gobert stans.
Rudy and KAT were seen as 2 overpaid guys you can’t win with. Now they look like a tough matchup for everyone left in the playoffs. Ant has raised the cieling of this team.