Rudy Gobert Has His Eyes Set On a Championship

The Minnesota Timberwolves are a young and upcoming team. They showed promise last season after just squeezing into the playoffs by way of play-in and placing in seventh. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies but were going into the off-season optimistic that they can make a push this year. On July 1st, the Timberwolves made a trade for Rudy Gobert in order to make some noise in the Western Conference. The three-time defensive player of the year, is hoping to make an immediate impact and is eyeing a championship.

The Timberwolves gave up essentially ten players in order to get back a defensive stopper that is much needed. The Wolves already had a good defensive team, but adding Gobert would solidify their frontcourt and allow for Karl Anthony-Towns to play more of an offensive role. Gobert finished third in blocks and first in rebounds per game in the 2021-2022 season which says a lot about what he's bringing to the team.

However, that is not enough for Gobert. The three-time all-star mentioned that he was not brought into the team to "lose in the first, second round of the playoffs." He added that he wanted to help the team "get to that championship level."

Gobert: "I didn’t come here to have another good year and lose in the first, second round of the playoffs. Tim didn’t bring me here to do that. He brought me in to have these guys get to that championship level, myself get to that championship level."
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) October 15, 2022

The Timberwolves showed promise in the pre-season by going 4-1, but then again it is the pre-season. With players like D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, Karl Anthony-Towns and Gobert though, the Timberwolves have a solid lineup to compete in the West. The 7'1 Frenchman is trying to set the tone early and make it known that the eye is on the prize and earning a championship.

The Wolves are trying to get back into the playoffs and reach the finals. The closest the team has gotten was in 2004 with Kevin Garnett when they got to the Western Conference Finals. They would lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.