There's a laundry list of pundits that have gone scorched earth at the Minnesota Timberwolves for mortgaging their future back in 2022 just so they could trade for Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz. While trading for Gobert in a vacuum isn't a bad move due to how transformative the Stifle Tower can be defensively, his fit in Minnesota was an iffy one from the get-go, as the team's arguable best player to that point (Karl-Anthony Towns) played the same position.

While there's no denying that the price the Timberwolves paid for Gobert is an exorbitant one, the 31-year old French center isn't too bothered by all the criticism he's been on the receiving end of for the past year or so. After all, the price the Timberwolves paid to acquire his services wasn't in his control; in fact, Gobert even derives confidence from the fact that Minnesota gave up an awful lot to the Jazz just so they could pair him up with Towns.

“People being mad at me a year later. ‘That's your fault.' I didn't make the decision. Seeing how much the Jazz got in exchange of me, it makes you feel you’re doing something right, pretty good impact on the court,” Gobert told Shams Charania of The Athletic, via Stadium.

(Skip to the 2:10 mark for the relevant part.)

Giving up on the twin-tower experiment was definitely an enticing proposition to throw out for the Timberwolves; after all, they finished with a worse record than they did in their impressive 2021-22 campaign, and now, perhaps the best course of action for them is to recoup whatever assets they could to at least replenish their empty draft coffers.

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But now, it seems as though the Rudy Gobert addition is working as well as the Timberwolves front office intended when they swung for the fences. The Timberwolves, coming off an impressive overtime win over the then-undefeated Boston Celtics, are currently owners of the best defensive rating in the NBA, with Gobert playing a central role in their elite defense.

And with Karl-Anthony Towns due for some positive regression and Anthony Edwards continuing his ascent as one of the best superstars in the league, perhaps the Timberwolves can finally make the leap many expected out of them following the 2021-22 season.