Is Rudy Gobert overrated? Here's what the numbers say about the Utah Jazz star
The Utah Jazz, the top seed in the West, were knocked out by the Kawhi Leonard-less LA Clippers and fans and analysts were quick to blame Rudy Gobert. His contributions in the Conference Semifinals were not up to the mark and he was labeled "overrated" for the majority of the series.
A majority of fans and analysts would agree on the fact that Rudy Gobert is overrated. He signed a $200M+ deal last offseason and NBA Twitter erupted with rage over the absurdity of the contract. Famous former NBA players like Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Paul Pierce and many more commented on the extremely high number in his deal.
Rudy Gobert was a liability in major chunks of games in the LA Clippers series and was one of the many people blamed for their early exit in the NBA playoffs. Let's take a look at the numbers of 7-foot-1 big man.
Is Rudy Gobert all that he is hyped up to be?
In the current era of basketball, exposing Rudy Gobert or any other defensive-minded big man is rather easy. Ever since Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors ushered in a revolutionary three-point shooting, the league has doubled-down on the offense and now the stars rarely play defense. Small-ball lineups took over and centers struggled to find their place in legitimate offenses.
What the LA Clippers' coach Tyronn Lue did in Game 6 was genius. He eliminated the rim attack and rendered Rudy Gobert practically useless on the floor. The LA Clippers used five perimeter players at all times on the floor in the second half. They moved the ball so well that they would always find the player guarded by Gobert beyond the arc. It made the big man uncomfortable and Jazz head coach Quin Snyder did not make any adjustments.
Famous ESPN analyst Tim Legler spoke about Game 6 and how Rudy Gobert was a liability on the floor. He said,
"They used their natural instincts of Rudy Gobert as a rim-protector against him....when it gets to a point when you're giving up this many uncontested threes to a team that is clearly now feeling it...And now you have to really make a strong consideration to get Rudy Gobert off the floor"
Legler further went on to speak specifically about Gobert and the issue of keeping him on the floor, saying,
"He's not hurting you at all on the other end, he's not getting you production offensively to justify how difficult it was for him to do his job on the other end of the floor....Rudy Gobert has never looked more lost or confused on the defensive end of the floor than he was for an entire half"
The Utah Jazz is paying Gobert upwards of $200 million. They have to face the reality that their highest-paid player can often be a liability on the floor and has to be benched. That is undoubtedly a problem for the franchise.
In an era of positionless basketball and high-paced volume-shooting offense, Rudy Gobert fulfills very little. His job is to be a rim protector but when the opposition goes small-ball, he ends up being a liability. Gobert absolutely does not contribute offensively and isn't even a stretch big who can shoot three, like many big men are now.
Although he is a defensive-minded big man and does not have offensive responsibilities, paying a center $200M+ just for rim protection does seem excessive. He averaged a whopping 2.7 blocks per game in the regular season but just 1.2 blocks per game in the LA Clippers series, which is also significantly lower than his career average of 2.2 blocks per game.
On the offensive end, Rudy Gobert averaged 14.3 points per game in the regular season and that reduced to 12.5 points in the LA Clippers series. If you take a closer look at his numbers, he averages less than 15 points per game when most of his buckets are spoon-fed to him.
It is staggering how the Frenchman does not dominate the post as most big men do. This isn't a case where you can just give him the ball in the paint and watch him get to work. He doesn't make any defenders pay with his size and most of his attempts are hand-offs. Rudy Gobert shoots 67% from the field but 49% of his attempts are dunks. He certainly cannot create his own shot as 79% of his shots are assisted on. There are lobs or handoffs in the paint and if he is asked to get a bucket by himself, he certainly cannot do that.
Rudy Gobert lives in the paint which is also a major issue for the era of basketball the NBA plays in. 80% of his shot attempts are within 0-3 feet from the rim and the rest 20% are from 3-10 feet from the rim. As one can see, Gobert is rendered ineffective if he steps outside the paint.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Gobert's shortcomings far outweigh his advantages.
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