Center Rudy Gobert says he's ready 'to win a championship' with Minnesota Timberwolves

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 I'm excited,» Gobert said.

So is Minnesota, with good reason. The Timberwolves announced the acquisition of Gobert at a news conference in Minneapolis on Wednesday, when the trade that they agreed to make with the Utah Jazz last week could finally become official. It took four players, five first-round picks — including one made last month — and the option of swapping another pick to get the French center to Minnesota, and the Timberwolves still feel like they got the better of the deal.

«We think that he fits perfectly inside of what we already do,» Finch said.

In a league that has become increasingly positionless, where small-ball reigns at times, the Timberwolves now have two of the league's very best big men in the same lineup with a three-time defensive player of the year in Gobert playing alongside All-NBA performer Karl-Anthony Towns.

«He doesn't inhibit anything we have presently,» Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said. «He makes it better. He augments what we have presently. So, when we look at fit, it's not just about talent. It's about kind of developing the team… and he's going to make it better.»

The Utah-Minnesota trade was executed shortly after the NBA's moratorium on most offseason player movement and contract signings was lifted on Wednesday.

The final agreement in the Utah-Minnesota deal was this: Gobert to the Timberwolves for Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Jarred