MN Timberwolves Star Calls for Chris Finch to Start Benching Guys

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Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle - Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves should have played the newest member of their basketball team on Friday. After all, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly traded for Ayo Dosunmu.

The Wolves signature 2026 trade deadline move came on deadline day, after Milwaukee rebuffed multiple attempts at superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Dosunmu is a perfect consolation prize, however. He brings exactly what Minnesota needs on both ends of the floor. He packs a huge punch on offense, especially this season, where he is averaging a career-high 15 points per game and 45% from deep.

Minnesota Timberwolves losing defensive identity

Even more importantly, Ayo brings energy and effort to a Timberwolves defense that again fell flat vs a BAD team last night, this time vs the New Orleans Pelicans — a would-be 2027 lottery team (pick belongs to ATL) that entered Friday’s matchup with THREE TIMES as many losses (40) on the year, as wins (13).

Anthony Edwards scored 35 points, Julius Randle added another 24 and Gobert posted a double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. But this team’s struggles aren’t on offense right now. They are on defense, and most of the time, their lapses stem from a severe lack of effort, energy and focus.

Related: Rudy Gobert on His Way to Historic DPOY Win?

Under Chris Finch, the Minnesota Timberwolves have risen up the Western Conference standings the past few seasons built on defensive principles the rest of the league could not match.

Just two seasons ago (2023-24), the Wolves finished with the best defense in the NBA, allowing just 106.5 points per game — a full two points less than the next most dominant defense that season (Knicks – 108.2 PPG allowed).

MN Timberwolves defense keeps getting worse…

Two years later, the 2025-26 Timberwolves rank 12th in points allowed (114.8 PPG). Given how much talent the Wolves pack on offense, that number isn’t debilitating. But a closer look shows that Minnesota’s defense is progressively getting worse, as the season goes on.

The Wolves are 7-8 in their last 15 games. In those eight losses — four of which came vs teams with losing records — their defense is allowing 124.5 points per game. If that was Minnesota’s mark on the entire season, they’d rank 28 of 30 NBA teams.

And some of those in the locker room are growing just as frustrated with their teammates as fans are, nobody more so than 4x Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert. Unsurprisingly, the 33-year-old Frenchman was one of just two Wolves starters Friday to finish with a positive +/- rating (+3).

Yet, head coach Chris Finch REFUSES to punish players who do not bring the requisite amount of effort, energy and/or compete level to the arena on any given night. In fact, there aren’t a lot of NBA coaches with as rigid of a rotation as Finchy.

Rudy Gobert calls for Chris Finch to start benching guys

But after the loss Friday, Rudy Gobert finally had enough. In the home locker room, with teammates and media all around him, the 8x All-Defensive big man publicly called for MN Timberwolves coaches to start benching guys who need it.

“It starts with ourselves but it seems like we don’t have that. So, I think at some point it comes from the coaches. It’s not any easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. Like, it’s not something you want to do.

But I think if the players don’t show any effort, at some point no matter how talented we are as a team, if we don’t have that, you just can’t be a winning team. It starts with me, if I’m not showing effort, bench me, take me out of the game. And everyone else has to follow.

Our best players, our leaders, if we don’t show any effort, it doesn’t matter if you score 50, we’re just not going to win. At some point, if you’re not veteran enough to do that yourself, that might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when you come back on the court, you will show effort.”

Rudy Gobert after loss vs New Orleans

Related: Kevin Durant Spurned MN Timberwolves Because of Chris Finch

Which teammates could Rudy Gobert possibly be talking about? There isn’t just one. Against the Pelicans, for example, Gobert (112) was the only Wolves starter to post a defensive rating under 125.

Randle and Edwards both finished with a 127 defensive rating (as did Bones Hyland). Donte DiVincenzo posted a 125. Even Jaden McDaniels, one of the best perimeter defenders in the world, posted an impossibly high 132 d-rating last night.

Is Rudy Gobert calling out Julius Randle…?

But you don’t have to watch very many Pels highlights from Friday’s loss to find one Timberwolf who opposing offenses are clearly targeting. Watch Julius Randle last night, during two MASSIVE late possessions, get completely lost (top), then put in a defensive blender (low).

Be careful, both are difficult to watch.

In other words, bad defense is becoming an epidemic for the Minnesota Timberwolves. And as Rudy Gobert so eloquently pointed out afterwards, the only man with a cure is head coach Chris Finch, who’d better mix up a fix ASAP.

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