It was the three second violation heard round the world. Kidding, but it was strange enough that you looked to confirmation of what you were seeing to those around you, and/or rewatched the replay of it several times.
Posted up under the Raptors basket, Rudy Gobert had Scottie Barnes on his back in a mismatch and was calling to Julius Randle for the ball. Beyond the arc. Randle dribbled the ball, unhurried, as the shot clock ticked down. He’s eyeing the lane, would clearly prefer to drive, and even plants a foot to take off from when the whistle finally comes for Gobert, strolling out of the key nonchalantly, with all the urgency you’d approach a dental appointment.
Still frustrated, Gobert then needlessly hip-checked Barnes at the other end, sending him to the line and sending the Raptors up in the match and in momentum. Toronto won 110-105.
You can take your pick for what’s more worrisome, because the perspective shifts depending on the root of a few problems the Wolves face.
That Gobert opted to showboat his frustration is definitely the most obvious, in terms of visibility. It isn’t the first time he’s let his petulant side out on the floor. That Randle saw Gobert — impossible not to with his long arm up and waving — and chose to ignore him, dribbling the ball into oblivion instead, is another concern. The biggest question around the Randle and Karl-Anthony Towns trade was fit — for playing style and chemistry. A slight detail that nearly gets lost in the sequence is that Jaden McDaniels hustled for a really long rebound, swung it to Randle, and the urgency of that move was immediately sapped by what transpired.
Taken individually, these would be wrinkles for a working team to smooth by the next match. And yes, both Randle and Gobert addressed the sequence, with Randle prompting media to “name a perfect family” and Gobert saying “people think great teams are the teams where the sky is always blue”. Normally, I’d enjoy an athlete beginning with a euphemism, in this case, it feels like aversion.
The disconnect running through Minnesota is myriad, but certainly stems from in-game mis-fits. Last season the Wolves ranked first overall in the league for defensive rating, this season they’re 14th. The Wolves were relentless last year limiting their opponents’ scoring opportunities, 106.5 and first overall compared to 110.8 and 10th thus far this season. These numbers speak foremost to a Towns-sized hole in the team’s defensive efforts.
If there’s one thing Wolves head coach Chris Finch learned in his time with Nick Nurse, or certainly had enforced, was that defensive is generative. We’ve all heard that “defence wins games” but it wins them outside of protecting the basket. Good defence flows into offence through everything from communication, athletes calling to each other, to the effort on display in trying hard. It sounds oversimplified, but it becomes very difficult to give half the effort when everyone around you is going full tilt.
Finch has flagged the Wolves lack consistent this season, that the team needs to regain their “spirit”. Clearly, much of that spirit springs from connectivity on the defensive end. Randle — who tends to have bouts of inattentiveness at that end — stepping up could help. It will at the very least help plug the much-needed energy Minnesota leaks there, from blown box-outs and not slamming the proverbial lock on backdoor cuts.
It’s still early in the season and the Wolves, after significant roster changes, are only just finding their footing. Still, it feels strange to watch a team that was so emphatic, joyful and dominant last season struggle to maintain its sparks.
