The hatred towards Rudy Gobert has gotten out of hand.
Shaquille O’Neal is a proud member of the “get off my lawn” generation of older players unhappy with the way the NBA game has evolved, and he’s quick to hate on the game’s current best big men (he’s already started with the stupid “Victor Wembanyama doesn’t play enough inside” BS). Shaq’s favorite target has long been Rudy Gobert, and this week, during a Q&A via Complex (which his son posted), Shaq took it to another level:
When asked who the worst NBA player of all time was, Shaq answered without hesitation, “Rudy Gobert.”
“If you sign a contract for $250 million, show me $250 million. There’s a reason why I walk funny, why I can’t turn my neck and why I can’t do it. Because I played for about $120 million. You got guys like him who are fucking up the system. They make all that money and they can’t f****** play. So I have no respect for guys like him.”
Gobert responded by essentially asking why Shaq is so fixated on someone else’s money?
It’s sad to see someone who has achieved as much as you. @SHAQ both in sports and business, still getting triggered by another man’s finances and achievements. I get the entertainment part, but unlike other people, you don’t need that stuff to stay relevant. https://t.co/KPHs2VmfIb
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) September 5, 2024
The hatred toward Gobert — from Shaq, other players and some fans — is just tired.
Gobert is a deserving Hall of Famer. Minnesota had the best defense in the NBA last season, does anyone think that’s the case with Karl-Anthony Towns anchoring the paint instead of Gobert? He’s the best rim defender in a generation, and he’s more mobile and better on the perimeter than his critics like to admit. Much has been made of this playoff Luka Doncic game-winner over Gobert (and Doncic’s subsequent trash talk), but Gobert forced Doncic into a shot he didn’t want, a step back to his right, and give Doncic credit for making it. Good offense beat good defense.
Doncic’s trash talk is a reminder of how much sorely Gobert is disliked by many of his peers — but part of that hate is because Gobert is a problem for them. There’s a reason Gobert had the best on-off differential (+5) of any player on the Timberwolves last regular season, and that held true through the playoffs, when he was either first or second on the team in differential in every round. Minnesota is simply better with Gobert on the court; the Timberwolves’ problem in the Western Conference Finals was that their defense collapsed when he went to the bench.
Gobert isn’t an elite offensive player, but he has good hands and averages 12.7 points per game on 65.5% shooting for his career, along with 11.8 rebounds per game.
Gobert’s playoff woes are overblown. Can a five-man team get him — and a defense designed around him as a paint anchor — in trouble by drawing him to the perimeter? Yes. The Clippers did it to him when Gobert was in Utah, but Los Angeles’ coaches were quick to point out that the rest of the perimeter defenders there were so weak, the rotations so slow, that they could put Gobert in an impossible situation where he either had to make a layup at the rim or make an open corner 3. There are times when coaches have to match small with small. Maybe that bothers people, but it’s more about not liking the evolution of the game than it is about Gobert.
Shaq and everyone else is entitled to their opinion, they don’t have to like Gobert. But worst player ever? That’s just a lazy “look at me” comment. I think we’re used to that from some quarters.
