{"id":23179,"date":"2022-07-23T10:09:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T10:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kat-its-championship-or-bust-after-gobert-trade\/"},"modified":"2022-07-23T10:09:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T10:09:54","slug":"kat-its-championship-or-bust-after-gobert-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kat-its-championship-or-bust-after-gobert-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"KAT: It’s “Championship Or Bust” After Gobert Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At a press conference to announce his super-max extension on Friday, Timberwolves<\/strong> star Karl-Anthony Towns<\/strong><\/strong> said he is fully aware of the expectations the team has going forward after trading an enormous amount of assets for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert<\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cChampionship or bust<\/em>,\u201d Towns said.<\/p>\n

He elaborated further once the press conference was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you make the trade that we made, that’s the reality. I’m not trying to sugarcoat<\/em>,\u201d Towns told Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. \u201cYou’ve got to think that. That’s really what’s on the table. I don’t think the fans would be accepting of [a goal of] a third-round elimination. \u2026 Let’s be real. The standards are high. The pressure is high. And that’s when we should all love to play basketball even more<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

As Rand writes, the idea that Minnesota would have such lofty goals even last summer, after a disappointing season saw the team finish 23-49, 13th in the West, might have seemed preposterous.<\/p>\n

But things change quickly in the NBA, Rand notes. The Wolves won 46 games last season and made the playoffs for just the second time in the past 18 years, and now after acquiring a four-time All-NBA center, the bar for success has risen dramatically.<\/p>\n

New president of basketball Tim Connelly<\/strong> said he was grateful that Towns was so eager to re-commit to the only franchise he’s ever known.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Karl, he’s seen a lot of tough days<\/em>,\u201d Connelly said, per Rand. \u201cIt was so exciting to hear how excited he was about Finchy (head coach Chris Finch<\/strong>) and his teammates and how quickly he was willing to get this done<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a press conference to announce his super-max extension on Friday, Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns said he is fully aware of the expectations the team has going forward after trading an enormous amount of assets for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. \u201cChampionship or bust,\u201d Towns said. He elaborated further once the press …<\/p>\n

KAT: It’s “Championship Or Bust” After Gobert Trade<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[972],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6678,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/center-rudy-gobert-says-hes-ready-to-win-a-championship-with-minnesota-timberwolves\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":0},"title":"Center Rudy Gobert says he’s ready ‘to win a championship’ with Minnesota Timberwolves","date":"July 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Rudy Gobert reads Twitter comments, so he's aware that Minnesota fans didn't like him very much during his first nine NBA seasons. And he also heard Timberwolves coach Chris Finch complain regularly about the way he sets screens.Those perspectives are probably going to change.\"Now we're on the same side, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23309,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/karl-anthony-towns-says-its-championship-or-bust-for-revamped-timberwolves-after-rudy-gobert-trade\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":1},"title":"Karl-Anthony Towns says it’s ‘championship or bust’ for revamped Timberwolves after Rudy Gobert trade","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not often that the Minnesota Timberwolves stun the NBA world, but days into free agency that's exactly what happened when the organization completed a blockbuster trade for Rudy Gobert. In exchange for the all-star center, the Utah Jazz got back Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Walker Kessler, Leandro Bolmaro, Jarred\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7114,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/gobert-calls-joining-timberwolves-most-exciting-situation-for-career\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":2},"title":"Gobert calls joining Timberwolves ‘most exciting situation’ for career","date":"July 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days before the Timberwolves and Jazz agreed to send Rudy Gobert to Minnesota for a cache of players and draft picks, Gobert told his agent, Bouna Ndiaye, that he wanted a little time to think over the move. \"I told him I needed one or two days to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2506,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/winners-losers-from-the-rudy-gobert-trade-to-the-timberwolves\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":3},"title":"Winners, losers from the Rudy Gobert trade to the Timberwolves","date":"July 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This blockbuster trade does not fit neatly into the \u201cwinners and losers\u201d paradigm we use to measure trades on this site.It is possible for the Timberwolves to have gotten better by landing three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and still to have overpaid for his services. It's also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1460,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/utah-jazz-trade-rudy-gobert-to-minnesota-timberwolves\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":4},"title":"Utah Jazz trade Rudy Gobert to Minnesota Timberwolves","date":"July 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Utah Jazz are reportedly trading three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.The Timberwolves will send Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro and a package of first-round picks to the Jazz, according to Wojnarowski.The move signals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3161,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wolves-notes-gobert-towns-durant-murray\/","url_meta":{"origin":23179,"position":5},"title":"Wolves Notes: Gobert, Towns, Durant, Murray","date":"July 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Although the Timberwolves were encouraged by the last season's success, there was an \u201coverwhelming feeling internally\u201d that the team would hit a wall before becoming a legitimate title contender if it didn't make at least one more major upgrade, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. 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