As Expected, The Timberwolves Have Decided To Suspend Rudy Gobert For Punching His Teammate
Rocky Widner. Getty Images.Well, who could have possibly seen this coming!
Oh, that's right….everyone. The second Tim Connelly came out and said this after all the drama yesterday
it was a wrap for Gobert. Newsflash, teams don't love it when players punch their teammates all because he was told to "shut the fuck up, bitch". Especially at a time when you are fighting for your playoff lives. That's what in the biz we call a distraction. Add in the fact that the on court play wasn't really making all that bit of a difference either, and this is the outcome I think most people expected.
Surprisingly, Gobert's attempt to squash the beef via a text message apology to the team didn't seem to work. Imagine that! I would assume that's because nobody likes Gobert to begin with mostly all due to his own actions. Now on a completely new team with different teammates and we're still seeing the same issues that popped up on the Jazz, I'm not sure why he thought a text message apology was the way to go.
I guess my question is, if the team is OK with Gobert playing after their game against the Lakers, why even suspend him in the first place? Just fine him and move on. I'm not sure shooting yourself in the foot for one game while you're already shorthanded without Naz Reid/Jaden McDaniels makes much sense, and if it wasn't serious enough to kick him out for the rest of the season, how does this solve anything? Now if anything you're almost making your life harder on yourself for what, to prove a point? Everyone already knows what Gobert did was bad, so what does this accomplish?
According to Woj, this was their reasoning
Yikes. So if he would have connected with Anderson's jaw, would that have been a longer suspension? Punching your teammate is cool as long as it's in his chest? That seems odd. And the injury thing, I mean I guess that could be true but it does feel rather convenient. It's also possible to still be acting like a bitch while being injured, those things can both be true.
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Either way, I still feel for Timberwolves fans. Now that the Kings have made the playoffs, the poor people of MIN are rising up the ranks in terms of tortured fanbases in the league. Not only did trading fo Rudy Gobert turn out to be a disaster that ruined their future, but now you're adding all this stuff to the mix at the most important time of the season. That has to be VERY annoying considering Gobert is not good enough to be the root of all this drama.
Who knows, maybe now that the players know Gobert won't be anywhere near this game they'll play well and shock the world by upsetting the Lakers. That might be a pipedream, but there is the whole addition by subtraction angle. We've seen crazier shit happen that's for sure.