There’s a strange and persistent negative vibe among some NBA players — and other people, too — surrounding Rudy Gobert. More so than there is around any other top-tier NBA player.
You may have noticed.
Sacre bleu! Zut alors!
We all have.
There’s irony, too, in the need, in the call to defend the best defender on the planet.
Gobert’s detractors hate it when that description is used, written or spoken, about him. Either way, the cause celebre is getting tired and getting old, but, apparently, not getting heard among those people.
Maybe it never will be.
But the Jazz’s three-time defensive player of the year continues to take criticism from certain NBA corners. Nobody’s ignorant enough to say he sucks, but what they are saying, in so many words, is that he’s not all that good. He’s barely worth picking in an All-Star game draft. (Weak guffaws, all around.)
And considering the very legitimate positive impact Gobert has on the court for the Jazz in real games, the unmistakable difference he makes for them, that’s amazing.
Just like you’ve heard the carping, from players such as Draymond Green and Patrick Beverly, among others, you’ve heard the shouts of support, from those with eyes to see.
On the one hand: He’s not a versatile, athletic, on-ball defender outside the paint. He’s a liability when opponents play small ball. He’s got bad hands. He’s got few offensive skills, either facing or with his back to the basket. All he does is dunk.
On the other: He is the Jazz’s defense. He guards not just one player, but every opposing player. He’s the Jazz’s last-line of defense and they depend on him to bail out his teammates’ poor perimeter resistance. It’s not just the shots he blocks, but the shots he either alters or discourages altogether. Teams have to game plan around him, first and foremost, when they prepare to play the Jazz. Look at the man’s screen assists and his field-goal percentage, among a thousand other stats.
Let’s confess it all clear: Gobert is not a perfect player.
He has his faults, his limitations. But he has a whole lot of important strengths. And any coach, any team that has attempted to compile wins without a defensive anchor, without the chance to stop or slow opponents at the rim, knows how significant Gobert, or a player like him, is.
With him, the Jazz have a legitimate chance at winning. Without him, not nearly so much.
Why, then, does the spigot of criticism from some of his peers remain so wide open? For Gobert, it must seem like an ongoing series of spritzes to the face straight out of a never-emptying seltzer bottle.
There have been numerous essays written on that subject, including in this column space. The most recent one from this corner was just a few months ago. And here we are in a defensive stance, ball-you-man, defending the defender, again.
Is it because he makes so much money? Is it because his enormous defensive attributes will never wholly make up for his perceived shortcomings? Is it because others are jealous that he’s already gotten and will continue to get enough NBA DPOY trophies to use them as lawn decor, in front and out back and on his side yards, too? Is it because he plays for that weird little team out west somewhere? Is it because he’s French? Is it because he doesn’t carry his deep personal pride in the same movement and manner and swagger as those other tough guys?Is it because Gobert likes playing in Utah, and makes no bones about it?
If it is any of those things, or entirely something else, Gobert doesn’t seem to give a rip. And that bit of dismissiveness may be the ultimate cool, the epitome of cool.
Yeah, he wants to improve, that’s one thing he’s substantiated by way of his ascending path from the time he was drafted as a dimensional anomaly in 2013, back when he was assigned to go play temporarily for the Bakersfield Jam, until now, as an NBA All-Star. He still has only a small measure of back-to-the-basket moves and no real jump shot, but, again, the things he does well, he does better than anyone else in the world.
There’s nothing wrong with players around the league liking one another or disliking one another, hugging one another after games or walking past one another without so much as a bump of the bones.
Respect, though, is a different matter. If it is earned, it’s deserved. And Rudy Gobert has earned it, should have earned it, by way of the effect he has on basketball played at the highest level.
He knows he’s properly earned it, and he’s looking to reap more of it, not so much from players like Draymond Green, players who refuse to see, but rather from people who have studied and who really know the game. And most importantly, from his teammates and himself.
As he said it not so long ago:
“I come in every single night to help my team win, and be the best Rudy I can be. I never take shots at anyone. I just focus on myself. I think it’s just … when you’re the best in the world at something, people become insecure and try to discredit what you do in some kind of way. People are going to try to discredit what I do, what we do as a team. It’s been the same my whole career. I’m going to just keep winning awards, winning trophies, and hopefully help my team win something bigger than that.”
That’s cool. The epitome of cool.
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