Rudy Gobert has a golden chance to end common stories about his game

Since he is traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Rudy Gobert has helped to transform the team into legitimate contenders. They have reached new heights defensively and back-to-back conference final performances for the first time in franchise history. Gobert is undoubtedly one of the best floor raisers in the NBA because of his elite rim protection.

Some people, however, believe that reaching the final of the conference with Gobert is the ceiling and that he cannot be an important piece of a champion team. The logic behind this argument is that he is not versatile enough on the defense, and his team hurts his team. Nevertheless, if the Wolves are able to run a surprise final with Gobert Manning this season, that would remove that this story does not exist.

Rudy Gobert’s defensive “worries” are laughable

Gobert’s defensive “worries” in the play -offs are largely exaggerated. To begin with, his rim protection elite remains and keeps opponents against 56.3 percent on the edge in the Play -Offs of 2025. In addition, Gobert placed a general defensive field target percentage of 43.5 percent. In particular, he kept perimeter opponents up to 6 for 19 shooting at insulation games in the play -offs. Not bad for a man who is supposedly missing versatility.

Now I am not here to tell you that Gobert is the most versatile defender in the competition, but the idea that you cannot win a championship with him, because your defensive anchor is just incorrect. According to all accounts, the four-time defense player of the year remains an elite defender in Playoff settings.

Gobert must refute concern about his attacking game

The attacking concerns are more reasonable for Gobert in the play -offs. Last season, Gobert’s points per match fell from 12 regular season to 7.9 in the Play -offs, which marked the second consecutive year that his points per match average fell. In particular in the Play-Offs of 2025, Gobert achieved 10-plus points in just three of the 15 games.

Gobert has not been an elite -offensive player in any way and at the age of 33 it is fair to wonder if he will take a step back on the attack. Rudy certainly missed the last play -offs of aggression, and sometimes he made mistakes with the ball in his hand (or could not catch the ball). However, the wolves also used him in pick-and-roll actions and as a lob threat much less often in the play-offs. In particular, his pick-and-roll frequency fell by 9.6 percent of the regular season to the play-offs.

With Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels and a loaded sofa, the wolves do not need an elite offensive production of Gobert to succeed at the highest level. Anyway, they could look to work a little more on the attack. In the end, if the wolves run a final, Gobert is expected to be a large part of it, and this would expel some long -term stories about his game on both ends of the floor.