Draymond Green is Still Talking About Rudy Gobert

Draymond: “We sitting here breaking down KAT having to stop Joker, who’s a center, and the defensive player of the year is on your team. Very interesting how the cookie crumbles. It’s like, if Marcus Smart won defensive player of the year back then, which he did, and then they’re like, ‘But Jaylen [Brown], you gotta go guard Steph [Curry].’ But Marcus Smart’s a point guard. Marcus Smart, you won defensive player of the year, you gotta guard Steph, right?”

Co-Host: “You can’t help yourself, can you?”

Draymond: “I love the game within the game, more than anything. When I’m watching these games, I’m watching the game within the game. And I can’t help but notice, like, there is a center that won defensive player of the year and we asking KAT to go guard the center.”

The Draymond Green Show

To a certain extent, Green wasn’t wrong. Rudy Gobert got beat like a drum by the Denver Nuggets all night long in game 5. But any real analysis can only shed so much blame onto the “Stifle Tower”. Minnesota has been at their best defensively, this series, when Gobert is playing a rover position, off Nikola Jokic.

Minnesota Timberwolves play team defense, not Rudy Gobert defense

That way, Rudy can help around the rim, like he always does, while Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid play a more aggressive 1v1 defensive style on Jokic that takes away his first move. Gobert and others then choose their outlets to take away from the Nuggets when Jokic has to pass.

Aaron Gordon for three? Go for it. Jamal Murray, that outlet needs to be covered. Make their depth players beat you. But in Game 5, Karl Anthony Towns ran into foul trouble early, which forced Rudy to guard Jokic. And, as we have learned, that is a recipe for disaster.

But not because of Rudy’s defensive acumen. More so because it makes the Nuggets a lot more difficult to guard, in general. Suggesting this defensive game plan is a knock against Gobert is a gross misunderstanding of the Wolves’ defensive scheme. Draymond Green, another former DPOY, should know that.

Ultimately, a huge key to Minnesota beating Denver on Sunday night is for Karl Anthony Towns to stay on the floor and out of foul trouble so he can guard Nikola Jokic. Not because KAT can necessarily stop Jokic more effectively than Rudy, but because it’s best for the team if their DPOY committed to making the defense better elsewhere.

The best players are willing to do whatever it takes to make their teams better. Rudy isn’t worried about stopping the reigning MVP. He’s worried about winning. And that’s why the Timberwolves play the defense they play

Rudy’s best game of the series may have been Game 6 when he contributed just 10 points. The way that opened Rudy Gobert to operate defensively was something that Jokic couldn’t contend with, and it permeated throughout the unit as Anthony Edwards shut down Jamal Murray as well.

But Green isn’t worried about the Wolves defense playing well. He just wants to see Gobert get beat by Joker as much as possible so he can go on his podcast and on TNT to make fun of him. He serves his personal agenda, and he’s jealous of Rudy Gobert’s four DPOY awards.

So it’s nice of Green to constantly chime in whenever there’s an opportunity to come at Gobert, but ultimately his offseason started quite a while ago, and he may want to watch more game film if he’s trying to set up a respectable post-playing career. The hate will only take him so far.