Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert openly questioned his team’s effort after a 119-115 home loss to the struggling New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, calling for greater accountability across the roster.
“At some point, if the players don’t have accountability, someone has to have accountability for the players,” Gobert said, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
“I’m on straight effort. I’m just talking straight effort. I’m not even getting to the basketball side of things, like there’s always mistakes are a part of the game, but the effort to me for a team that wants to play for a championship, it’s unacceptable.”
The four-time Defensive Player of the Year avoided singling out teammates by name, but Krawczynski noted that while stars Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle combined for 59 points, their defensive engagement appeared lacking.
Gobert suggested that responsibility may need to shift to the coaching staff if players are not consistently competing at a high level.
“It should start with ourselves, but it seems like we don’t have that, so I think at some point (it has to come) from the coaches,” Gobert said.
“It’s not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It’s not something that 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 you don’t have that, you just can’t be a winning team.”
Minnesota has dropped eight of its last 15 games and ranks 18th in the league defensively over that stretch.
Gobert also held himself accountable after allowing Zion Williamson to score 29 points, many of them at the rim.
“It starts with me. If I’m not showing effort, bench me,” he said. “Take me out of the game. Everybody else will follow. Our best players, leaders, if we don’t show any effort, it doesn’t matter if you score 50, we’re not going to win.”
At 32-21, the Timberwolves currently sit sixth in the Western Conference standings, narrowly above the play-in threshold.
“We want to be a championship team. We want to lift that trophy in June,” Gobert said. “This is a lesson that we need to get right now. It starts at the top.”
