7/30/2023 0 Comments Rudy gobert stats espn![]() If ESPN’s meaning of “lead guard” is the best guard, then that’s a really bad criteria and a complete misunderstanding of his role. ![]() I thought Russell was a strong leader last year, with the uptick to a career-high in assists and a newfound role on defense. Russell is primed for a career year with a new pick-and-roll partner in the form of Rudy Gobert and two elite offensive players next to him. Russell fits in best when he’s the primary playmaker, and the Wolves have surrounded Russell with the best supporting cast of his career. People assume Minnesota’s offense will be too crowded for Russell to score at a high clip.īut I’d argue it’s almost the opposite. “Russell averaged a career high in assists last season but still needs to prove he can be the lead guard in an offense including Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Anthony Edwards,” wrote ESPN. Even though Russell had the better season, LeVert still ends up higher. Levert averaged 17 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds, while Russell averaged 18 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds on slightly better shooting stats. Players like Mike Conley, Aaron Gordon, Anfernee Simons, Christian Wood, and Buddy Hield are not better than Russell, nor are they more valuable to their team.ĮSPN ranked Caris LeVert 80th, and he had a comparable season to Russell. But just accounting for those 15 players, that moves DLo up to 78th overall, which seems fair to me. Looking through the list, I found about 15 players I’d take Russell over and a couple that are a toss-up. You have to go down 11 more players until you find someone more impactful than Russell. I can understand being low on Russell, but low is an understatement. Like any other Wolves fan, I was shocked. But expectations aside, there sat D’Angelo Russell, 93rd overall. Safe to say, I did not expect to see a Timberwolves player in the top 10. After seeing the top 25, I read the whole rankings. Both rankings were fair, but it’s rare to see the media be fair to the Wolves. ![]() I was surprised by Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards‘ rankings. Once I saw three Timberwolves players ranked within the top 25, I hoped I could write on better terms with the list. But you have to be within a reasonable distance from the correct rankings. If you have a player ranked 2 or 3 spots off of what it should be, that’s understandable. At some point, the list has to make some sense. It’s truly a lose-lose situation.īut you can only be fair to an extent. The 200 people responsible for ESPN’s NBArank are courageous souls because I would never sign up for a job like that. To be fair, it’s extremely hard to rank 100 players in an order anyone would agree with. Usually, the national media doesn’t give the Wolves their due, especially on these lists. ESPN released their top 100 players list, and I expected them to continue to overlook the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they have in the past.
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