Rudy Gobert Is the ‘Defensive Anchor’ of the Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently two wins away from progressing past the reigning NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets, and into the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004, and a large part of that success has been down to the defensive dominance of center, Rudy Gobert.

Earning his fourth Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in seven years, the Frenchman is considered by league insider Mark Medina as the ‘defensive anchor’ of the team, where his on-court impact this season has hushed down the wealth of criticism he faced during his first season in Minnesota.

In Elite Company

Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace are the only other players to win the DPOY award four times

It’s official. Rudy Gobert is the recipient of the 2023-24 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and has arguably put to bed any doubts over being one of the best defensive players in the modern era.

But, his fourth DPOY selection saw him join illustrious company, with Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace – both Hall of Famers – the only other players to achieve such a feat.

The Frenchman obliterated the competition, receiving 72 first-place votes, and 433 in total, with second-placed rookie Victor Wembanyama notching 19 first-place votes, and 245 in total, becoming the only other player to receive three-figure votes.

Gobert’s defensive prowess helped the Timberwolves record their best finish in the Western Conference standings in two decades, finishing third after tallying 56 wins, and cementing the regular season’s number one overall defense, as measured by their 108.4 defensive efficiency.

The last time the franchise were in the top-three of the standings was when they finished as the number one seed in 2003-04, a year in which they would go all the way to the conference Finals, before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

As it stands, Minnesota are 2-0 up in their conference semi-final match-up against the Nuggets, with their team chemistry and roster depth on full display.

Now, they have the hope of going one step further than the Kevin Garnett-led 2003-04 Timberwolves could before, currently outscoring their opponents by 15.3 points per 100 possessions in the 2024 post-season.

‘Teams make same kind of scouting reports on Gobert than they do on Steph Curry’

Medina recalls a conversation he had with Timberwolves veteran guard, Mike Conley, who suggested that opposition teams’ defensive scouting reports yield similar preparation to what most teams would do for Stephen Curry on the offensive side of the ball.

Furthermore, the journalist argues that Gobert is Minnesota’s defensive cornerstone, and has hushed the narrative from his first season with the team where he didn’t appear to fit well into head coach, Chris Finch’s system.

Defensive Dominance This Season

Notched 162 total blocks – fifth most in NBA

Medina further argues that this season has proved that sometimes the integration process into a new team doesn’t always happen overnight, and that the Timberwolves have reaped the rewards of allowing the big to become fully accustomed to his role with the team.

On the offensive side of the ball, Gobert was the third-scoring option behind All-Stars Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, averaging 14.0 points per contest, shooting 66.1 percent from the field from his 8.1 attempts.

But with the plethora of scoring options available to them on the roster, arguably seven-eight men deep, Gobert didn’t need to put up huge scoring numbers to be effective in the Timberwolves’ system.

He just had to focus on reinvigorating his defensive prowess that he had shown when with the Utah Jazz, which he struggled to do in his first season with Minnesota, and that he did.

With rim protection his biggest weapon, it comes as little surprise that he was most effective when guarding his opponents from within six feet away from the basket during the 2023-24 campaign, where his opponents would convert at only 49.2 percent, down from 62.9 percent, for a differential of 13.7 percent.

When defending two-pointers, the 7-foot-1 center restricted his opponents to a mere 46.1 percent shooting efficiency from their 15.2 attempts per contest, 9.2 percent lower than their 55.2 percent field goal percentage.

While he still held his opponents to a lower shooting efficiency from behind the three-point line, 32.9 percent, he wasn’t as effective when defending the three-ball, with his percentage differential only minus-2.6 percent.

Overall, though, Gobert held his opponents to only 43.4 percent shooting off of 18.9 attempts per game, down 6.1 percent from their season field goal percentage of 49.5 percent, showcasing his dominance in defending the rim.

Furthermore, he would finish the season averaging 2.1 blocks per game, the sixth-most in the league, and notching 162 in total.

While second-placed Wembanyama had 254 total blocks, with Gobert on a legitimate championship-contending team, there can be little debate over whether he was deserving of the elusive individual award, though, having won it four times now, it doesn’t appear to be too elusive to him.

All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.

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