The Timberwolves are struggling! After losing three straight games, they currently rank tenth in the West standings. Their latest loss came against the Pistons last night. And even though Anthony Edwards played the game of his life, scoring 53 points, he could do nothing to save his team from embarrassment. But how did the Wolves suddenly go from making the Conference Finals to barely staying in the playoff race in less than a year? Well, Rudy Gobert gave an emotional excuse to highlight the issue after yesterday’s tough loss.

Addressing the team’s decline, Rudy said, “I think it’s human nature to think that sometimes to forget what got us here. And think that because we got there, we’re gonna get there naturally. But I think we realize now that we don’t, like I said, we’re not a team that’s good enough to turn the switch on and off.”

Yes, the four-time DPOY confessed that their current roster cannot shift gears on command. Last season, the Wolves were the top defensive team in the league with a 109 rating. And that became their identity, which helped them succeed. Unfortunately, that has not been the case this season as the Wolves have fallen to the sixth rank in defensive rating. A lot of it has been because of the Karl-Anthony Towns – Julius Randle trade, and Gobert addressed it in the interview, “I mean obviously there was a trade, but I don’t think that you know, I don’t think that should affect our identity. Who we are, especially defensively. Offensively, they affect us, but defensively, our identity is still the same.”

Of course, KAT was a solid all-around presence for them and Randle, as good a player as he is, hasn’t been able to fill that void. Moreover, Gobert also revealed that the team was more focused last season, “What got us there last year is because the year prior, we had overcome a lot of challenges and that made us hungrier. That brought us closer together. When we came back last year, we knew what we needed to do and we knew what was holding us back.”

Rudy Gobert is still hopeful about “finding hunger” despite Anthony Edwards’ “Soft” remark

Of course, Rudy was not the only one who pointed out the Wolves’ identity crisis. Back in November, Anthony Edwards highlighted a similar issue, “Our identity right now, as me and Mike (Conley) was talking about, I think is we soft as hell… as a team, internally… We can’t talk to each other. Just a bunch of little kids. Like the whole team. We just can’t talk to each other.”

Sure enough, these issues have only become more glaring since then. Last night, Edwards even refused to talk to the media after the loss, likely because of how disappointed he was. After all, his historic 53-point effort was wasted because his teammates were unable to step up. But despite the ongoing struggles, Gobert is still hopeful about turning things around. The Wolves just need to find the right motivation, “It’s about finding the hunger you know, the chip on our shoulder that we had last year. When we play with that chip, we’re a different team.”

Maybe the constant humiliation because of the losses would be enough motivation for the squad to come together and figure out a way to turn their season around. How do you think the Wolves can bounce back?