What if the Minnesota Timberwolves flipped the narrative and tried to build around Julius Randle instead of trading him away?
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been battling to re-calibrate their roster since making the decision to trade away Karl-Anthony Towns, and landing Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in return.
Most Timberwolves fans would like for the trade to have never occurred, if there was a way to undo it.
Or more practically, the opportunity to trade away Julius Randle for a player who does fit the team better, would be an attractive proposition at this point.
If the T-Wolves do make a move, this is most likely. But there is a more creative, bolder way to change the team up, which involved Rudy Gobert being flipped.
Rudy Gobert is integral to the Timberwolves current way of playing. He grabbed 18 rebounds in the win over the LA Clippers, and was lauded as a ‘monster’ by teammate Donte DiVincenzo.
But is the Timberwolves way of playing actually good enough with their current roster? Their current record suggests not, with the team ranked at 18-17.
All the changes to the team line-up have failed to yield a consistent return, so is there a case to find a new way of playing?
This was a question asked on Run It Back by former NBA pro Lou Williams, following on from a debate about Julius Randle.
Williams asked: “Just playing devil’s advocate, where it’s Rudy Gobert who has a chance to be traded somewhere. Now you have Julius Randle, you have Donte DiVincenzo, you have Ant Man. Now you can go get hybrid guys.
“You can go with smaller lineups, where they can play faster, where they can play a more free flowing offense, where Julius Randle and these guys can thrive. That’s also an option.
“So if you’re the organization, you give yourself an opportunity to kind of… see it through.”
Williams’ co-host Chandler Parsons offered his view, doubling down on how Rudy Gobert being traded might benefit the Timberwolves.
He also picked out two possible targets, the Chicago Bulls Nikola Vucevic or the Washington Wizards Jonas Valanciunas.
Parsons said: “Maybe look what you can get for Gobert. Maybe you can get a stretch big man to pair with Julius Randle and go get Vucevic, who makes more sense than Rudy Gobert with Randle. Go get Valanciunas.
“There’s other guys that can stretch the floor a little bit better than Gobert that would fit with Julius more.
“I don’t think this fits just basketball-wise, spacing-wise.
“Anthony Edwards eats space, and he needs open floors, open lanes.
“With Gobert and Randle on the floor together, he’ll never get it.”
Related Posts
