The two-week “Uh-oh” index

Five players and teams I’m worried about

We’re still early in the season, when any narrative can change overnight. Everything below comes with a giant flashing “Small Sample Size!” sign attached to it.

But you’d rather play well than poorly, and unfortunately, a number of players and teams have started on the wrong foot. I’m worried about them. They should be worried, too.

I’m putting this one mostly behind the paywall; you may pay for the privilege of yelling at me for daring to impugn your favorite player.

1) Rudy Gobert

Woof. Let’s start with the positive.

By the numbers, the giant French spider looks essential. Minnesota has a 99th-percentile defensive rating when Gobert is playing; it falls to below-average when he’s not.

But it sure doesn’t feel that way, and those Gobert-centric lineups are benefiting from opponents shooting sub-30% from deep. Pretty much every number suggests that the aging center has blown a transmission.

Gobert led the league in field goal percentage as recently as (*checks notes*) last year. This season? He’s shooting 42.5% on what should be an array of dunks and layups (for some reason, he’s also attempted several three-pointers), and his famously maligned hands have been worse than ever. He can’t catch anything. It’s like his fingers are fused together.

Gobert’s struggles on offense (and the bitter feelings they engender in teammates) are clearly affecting him on the other end, too. His block and steal rates are way down. For the first time in his career, he’s averaging less than one block per game. I’m not sure what this was — a brain fart? A glitch in the arm-systems? — but it sure wasn’t good:

Coach Chris Finch took a timeout after that play and stood in silence for a while, sporting the dazed, thousand-yard stare of someone making eye contact with the abyss.

We’re only a handful of games into the season, and videos are already circulating online of teammates yelling at Gobert for various miscues.

He’s been a slow starter before, but never like this. Minnesota is 5-3 and surviving without Anthony Edwards, but for the first time in years, it’s fair to wonder if the team’s anchor in the middle is just slowing them down.

2) Andrew Wiggins and the Miami Heat