Is Gobert really the most overrated player this year?

[shrink]

I recall ANT openly being frustrated with him at first. Gobert, requires teammates to understand what he is and what he does. Once they get it...the wins pile up.

Wasn’t Slomo who even got a swing at him on the bench? We forgot now, but that trade seemed like a disaster last year, team hated the guy, or at least it seemed that way.

Story I think was that when they got Conley he opened their eyes with how to play with him. Also they had injuries last year elsewhere so...the team just wasn't setup for success out the gate either.

When vet Mike Conley was traded from the Grizzlies to the Jazz, he said that it took him a full year to figure out how to play with Rudy. This coming from a very smart vet that played with Marc Gasol. He said Rudy’s size changes the angles, and that he didn’t realize not to make bounce passes that end at his knees, and he didn’t know how valuable Rudy’s screening was.

Flash forward to Rudy being traded to MIN. Ant had little experience before the NBA, and what he had learned was with Karl-Anthony Towns as a center - who is the antithesis of Gobert. Ant couldn’t figure out how to feed Gobert, and unlike KAT, he clogged up driving lanes, especially when Ant didn’t use Rudy’s screens. Now, Ant loves Rudy and is constantly hyping him, but he still struggles getting him the ball when teams double him. When Gobert first arrived, Ant couldn’t feed him correctly, and DLo couldn’t (wouldn’t?) alter his game for the benefit of the team.

Finally, the story behind the SloMo-Gobert exchange makes me feel like this was a flashy nothingburger. Before the game, Gobert had severe back spasms, and wasn’t going to play. Kyle Anderson rode him until he agreed to try. Gobert tried, but got frustrated because he couldn’t get his body to do things to his standards. Worse, SloMo called him a “p*ssy” and Gobert was probably especially angry because Anderson knew how debilitating back spasms can be, since he missed ten games with back spasms that season. I’m not defending Rudy taking a swing, but Slo-Mo thought the whole thing was no big deal, and said, “yeah, he’s not the first teammate to take a swing at me.” We haven’t seen any animosity between the two players over the last year - in fact, Anderson is one of few guys that knows how to get Rudy the ball.

[KembaWalker]

On realgm it’s gotta be Haliburton

[EmpireFalls]

On realgm it’s gotta be Haliburton

They were calling him a better version of Steve Nash on here in December lol. A lot of so called experts were. We didn’t forget.

The only part of him that belongs in the same sentence with Nash is the defense.

[Sofia]

Not even the most over rated in his starting front court

[brutalitops]

Arrogant European who's a vastly unique player with very limited offensive skills set which is mocked but hugely under rated defensive skills etc which people over rate. Can understand why he isn't rated

[shrink]

Respected Wolves broadcaster Jim Peterson brought up something that I didn’t know.

He said that most players that voted didn’t cast a vote for “most over-rated,” so small samples magnify the results.

[ForeverTFC]

Respected Wolves broadcaster Jim Peterson brought up something that I didn’t know.

He said that most players that voted didn’t cast a vote for “most over-rated,” so small samples magnify the results.

84 votes, ~60% of the sample and 20% of the league voted. There is no small sample size here. Gobert is not liked by the players, it's a well known phenomenon. It's weird to see Wolves fans and media try to explain this for something other than what it is when their own star said "Gobert puts no fear in my heart".

[Peregrine01]

He’s the most underrated player.

[whatisacenter]

On realgm it’s gotta be Haliburton

They were calling him a better version of Steve Nash on here in December lol. A lot of so called experts were. We didn’t forget.

The only part of him that belongs in the same sentence with Nash is the defense.

You two are just jelly Hornets' fans who wish Ball was as good as Haliburton.

[UcanUwill]

He has tons of skill on the defensive end. If he didn't anyone who is his height could be as good as he is. They aren't.

Sure, but also lots of players his height are way slower. Also, his wingspan and length is among absolute best. Make him as lateraly slow as some other guys, who is Rudy then?

A guy who still has elite timing, defensive awareness and positioning.

I am not saying he is mindless zombie, he is NBA star, but I do think a lot of it is physical capabilies. No doubt he knows how to use it, but we have seen many times, players lose speed and their positioning and even reads look way different, worse.

It is the same with Soccer. Like world class goal scorer looks like he has best timing and positioning, very important thing in Soccer. And you think, well, at least that will never go away. But then guy loses stamina and speed advantage, and he founds himself out of position all the time.

So yes, Rudy has great skill of using his current physical capabilities to be dominant player, but I am not sure he would have enough skill if he didnt have his physical tools. Maybe he will be great defender 8 years after I wrote this, but I am not sure, we will see.

Everything, even shooting is tied with physical gifts, but some skills are more dependant on it, some less. Some skills had to be developed for many years of grind and repetition, and some of it is just talent. Rudy is talent guy, and I at least understand, if there are guards in the NBA, who practiced dribbling and shooting for 15 years and still barely get playing time, and then they see Rudy make all star teams, I get that would be frustrating and they would write him down as overrated bum. Not saying it is right, but I understand the reasoning.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

143 or so players polled showing they are cliquey knuckleheads. Who don't value defense, feel type of way about some foreign players and just go like jealous kids "he is just big, nothing else".



Don't underrate the impact of the voice and opinions the biggiest names in NBA have on rest of players. Peeps like Shaq, Draymond and few other talking heads or stars openly dislike Gobert, so average American nba player will parrot that.

they do value defense but they are mostly interested at on ball 1v1 while underrating help defense.
so if they see Rudy being "cooked" by a small guard it' for (many of) them a sign of him being "exposed".

[Roy T]

If any player on the Wolves is overrated it’s Towns.

I hated the Gobert trade when it happened, but damn does the team look different now.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

It's almost as all of us who were saying that Utah's perimeter defense sucked were correct a few years ago, and when you surround Gobert with guys who are decent at it that his impact is far greater.

The issue is that he's such a negative offensively, you have to put good offensive players around him to be a true contender. There's only so many 2-way stars in the league. He's finally getting to play with one.

That's waaaay too strong of a take.
He's a slight negative at most, he still can finish, he's active, he goes for the offensive rebound.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

if NBA players are clueless and idiots then Realgm users are definitely idiots. The users here have been hating on Gobert for a long time because of how badly the Jazz did it in the playoffs and how Gobert could not guard the perimeter. Then he got a ton of hate during the trade because of too many picks. Then when it did not work out he got hate. Now after one solid season with a very solid team, he considered this god-like player.

people are idiots, in general. NBA players ae not different from the general population.

Watch on YouTube

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Arrogant European who's a vastly unique player with very limited offensive skills set which is mocked but hugely under rated defensive skills etc which people over rate. Can understand why he isn't rated

how do you know he's arrogant?

[UcanUwill]

It's almost as all of us who were saying that Utah's perimeter defense sucked were correct a few years ago, and when you surround Gobert with guys who are decent at it that his impact is far greater.

The issue is that he's such a negative offensively, you have to put good offensive players around him to be a true contender. There's only so many 2-way stars in the league. He's finally getting to play with one.

That's waaaay too strong of a take.
He's a slight negative at most, he still can finish, he's active, he goes for the offensive rebound.

He is supet efficient and his scoring rate is pretty high. I get that does not mean much, because he is not a player who warrants real defensive attention, but he is still center who is great finisher, requires boxing out and his hands arent that bad.

Guy like Roy Hibbert was talked up as star by fools once, that guy was way worse offensively. Just compare Roy Hibbers touch around the rim to Goberts. I have said this when Hibbert was in his prime, we are so accustomed to great touch around the rim from centers at NBA level, its a gimmie, so we not only dont apreaciate guys who actually have good touch, but in Hibberts case, we didn't even notice when guy doesnt have that, we couldn't even perceive starting center couldn't have it...

God I hated Hibbert hype, dude is Edy Tavares who just got luckiest draw in the league. Honestly, Edy Tavares might actually be better.

[Pelly24]

I actually think Rudy is pretty underrated. You could argue he's just as indispensable as Anthony Edwards. Their defense is the reason their floor is so high, and Rudy is their most impactful defender. The awful perimeter defenders on the Jazz made it seem like his defense was overrated, but that isn't the case. People just think he's a b***h, but every team in the league would be drastically improved with him on their roster. If he were on the Mavs they would be serious, serious contenders. He'd help other teams with a good playmaker and great scoring, too.

[CodeBreaker]

Towns is more overrated than Gobert

[Domejandro]

The issue is that he's such a negative offensively, you have to put good offensive players around him to be a true contender. There's only so many 2-way stars in the league. He's finally getting to play with one.

That's waaaay too strong of a take.
He's a slight negative at most, he still can finish, he's active, he goes for the offensive rebound.

He is supet efficient and his scoring rate is pretty high. I get that does not mean much, because he is not a player who warrants real defensive attention, but he is still center who is great finisher, requires boxing out and his hands arent that bad.

Guy like Roy Hibbert was talked up as star by fools once, that guy was way worse offensively. Just compare Roy Hibbers touch around the rim to Goberts. I have said this when Hibbert was in his prime, we are so accustomed to great touch around the rim from centers at NBA level, its a gimmie, so we not only dont apreaciate guys who actually have good touch, but in Hibberts case, we didn't even notice when guy doesnt have that, we couldn't even perceive starting center couldn't have it...

God I hated Hibbert hype, dude is Edy Tavares who just got luckiest draw in the league. Honestly, Edy Tavares might actually be better.

Big thing is that Rudy Gobert is also arguably the best screener in the NBA (I would argue healthy Steven Adams is #1), which has an exceptional impact on the offense. I encourage people to watch Rudy Gobert when other players have successful drives, he is very consistently using his size to fully seal off potential help from coming.

[SlimShady83]

I just can't wait for a Wolves/Denver series and y'all think Jokic Is the best ... LOL ... Come back and book mark this why don't ya