Souhan: Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert should take Timberwolves’ lead

It’s easy to blame the new guys.

It’s easy to blame the coach and brain trust.

It’s easy to blame Mike Conley’s mileage and Jaden McDaniels’ misses.

Want to know who the appropriate targets in Target Center are?

Follow the money, and the moves.

The Wolves defeated the Lakers 109-80 on Monday night at Target Center to reach the almost-quarter point of the season with a disappointing 10-10 record.

Wolves President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly has built this team around two players: Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert.

His trade for Conley brought in the player best suited to making Gobert comfortable in the paint and the locker room. He traded for Gobert knowing that Gobert’s salary would eventually mean the departure of an All-Star, Karl-Anthony Towns.

Just about every other move Connelly has made has sought to make Edwards better and more comfortable, because the Wolves view Edwards as a transcendent franchise player.

They have said as much, and their actions support that belief.

However kindly Connelly and coach Chris Finch speak of Towns, they clearly chose Edwards and Gobert over him as potential championship building blocks.

Who’s to blame for the Wolves making basketball look as hard as water polo for the first quarter of the season?

The guys who are making the biggest paychecks, and who have enjoyed having rosters tailor-made for them: Edwards and Gobert. They are the Wolves’ franchise players, and both need to show more maturity to justify that status.

Edwards’ minutes, points per game and three-point shooting are up this season. He continues to develop into one of the best offensive players in the game. He is capable of playing excellent on-ball defense.

He has also lapsed into demonstrative complaining to the officials, sometimes keeping him from getting back on defense — one of the faults that turned many Wolves fans against Towns.

He has been less than exceptional in late-game situations, and his assist-per-game are at their lowest rate since his rookie season. Perhaps, as the franchise player, he should be working harder to get good shots for his new teammates.

If he wants to play like Michael Jordan, Edwards should know that Jordan in his prime often spent the early portions of games getting his teammates involved before taking over as was necessary.

Yes, as every announcer marvels during every nationally televised game, Edwards is “only 23!” That phrase should be retired.

Edwards is playing in his fifth NBA season, has been to the Western Conference Finals and the Olympics, has made enough money to fund a Caribbean island for a year, and has been catered to and kissed up to by a bunch of very smart basketball people. If Suni Lee can win a gold medal at 18 in her first Olympics, Edwards can, or should be able to, handle the rigors or stardom at 23.

He needs to find a way to lead if this team is going to match or exceed the standard it set last season.

As for Gobert, he’s been with the Wolves for 2¼ seasons, and he’s already punched Kyle Anderson and showed up Julius Randle — two important and likable teammates.

Gobert also touched every microphone and recording device at a news conference in 2020 to mock the notion of COVID-19, which killed more than 1.1 million Americans.

And Gobert is not “only 23!”

Connelly traded Towns to create salary cap space so he could continue to build around Edwards and Gobert, and extend their window of championship opportunity.

What has been clear during the first quarter of this season is that Edwards and Gobert could both stand to act and play a little more like Towns.

Randle and Finch are the easy targets for fans angry at the Wolves’ early struggles.

Randle and fellow trade arrival Donte DiVincenzo need to play better than they have, and their track records suggest that they will. Both are understandably acclimating to a trade that happened less than two months ago.

It’s up to Edwards and Gobert to make them comfortable, and to provide the leadership required of franchise players.