An anonymous player who used to play on the Utah Jazz says “some people get frustrated” with center Rudy Gobert.
Both the anonymous player and an NBA scout who spoke to Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report believe Gobert rubs his Jazz teammates the wrong way because he's always trying to do too much on offense.
“Some people get frustrated with Rudy, but he's just French,” the former Jazz player said. “He's a good guy. But he's focused on being as great as he can be, and he wants to show he can do more than just defense. … All of us get frustrated when we're missed. [But] there are much worse … NBA personalities than Rudy. I hate to even comment because I think it's only going to get bad if it's overspeculated in the media. If it's not, they will figure it out and be professional.”
“Rudy wasn't doing what they wanted him to do at a certain point this season,” a rival scout says. “He became enamored with his offense. He's a hard dude to play with. He can only do so much on offense. He's not a particularly skilled player.”
Gobert has established himself as the best defensive center in the game. He's won the Defensive Player of the Year Award two years in a row, anchoring the fort for the Jazz, and could win it again in 2020.
However, the Jazz big man is limited in what he can do on offense and relies on guys like Donovan Mitchell to pass him the ball.
Gobert has not been shy about letting his Jazz guards know when he was open and they missed him. When Mitchell tried to distract Gobert while he gave a postgame TV interview in mid-January, Gobert shouted at him, “Hey, pass the ball, goddamn it!”
The Jazz will look for Mitchell and Gobert to lead the team on a deep playoff run at Walt Disney World. It will be interesting to see, though, if the two All-Stars are teammates in 2020-21.
Follow Us
Subscribe