Big Ru responds to Shaq’s “worst player” comment: “It is sad”

[Klomp]

Yeah whenever a big accumulates accolades or is a threat to his legacy he gets weird and defensive. Look at how he treated Jokic when he won his third MVP.

I would agree with this, but then how does that explain JaVale McGee?

[sjballer03]

Shaq is an insecure moron. What's new.

Shaq's been kind of a professional hater since the end of his playing career and then afterwards as an "analyst". Remember the beef he had with guys like Perkins and Dampier circa 2010, LOL.

He likes clowning on other players, especially bigmen. And let's not forget that clowning players is the entire basis of Shaqtin a Fool, which everyone seems to love.

It's fine to clown on current players as a retired HOF player like Shaq. I love that he goes to Walmart or wherever and buys kids stuff. But he is getting way too aggressive with gobert. I really don't know why he is that annoyed with gobert. At least chuck gives equal opportunity to hate on whoever he wants and tries to at least add comedy to his analysis.

[Liver_Pooty]

Dude talking about fireman needing more pay in literally the same sentence where he said made 120. Lol

[Mr Peanut]

There's probably several reasons why Gobert is hated on, but I think a significant one would have to be that it is generally felt he was not deserving of his contract. Similar example being Tobias Harris who seemed universally hated on for just being an average/slightly above average player but on a fat contract (even as I write this I'm half-expecting some Sixers fan to quote me calling him a bum). Zach LaVine would fall into that category too and I'm sure would be more respected if he was only earning half to two thirds as much per year.

It's weird that players get hated on for their contracts though, especially in players like Gobert's case who still seemingly give a lot of effort on the floor. Clearly as a player/agent you're always going to accept the largest dollar figure you can squeeze out of a team (unless you're Brunson). Fans should focus their criticism on the idiotic GMs who give out some of these deals.

[sjballer03]

Shaq always needs someone to bully. If it's not Dwight he'll find another big to bully, this time it's gobert.

Ppl always hate on Chuck but he's more like the jaded uncle. He doesn't come from a place of hate. Whereas Shaq gets super personal like this. Which is sad because Shaq is cool dude in general. But he gets annoyed when it comes to Dwight Howard, gobert, and few other topics

[Lalouie]

well, let's start with the "big ru" sobriquet

[zimpy27]

Rudy hate is led by jealousy by Green who wants the DPoYs and cash that Gobert got. I'm sure Green has been in Shaq ear

[sjballer03]

Rudy hate is led by jealousy by Green who wants the DPoYs and cash that Gobert got. I'm sure Green has been in Shaq ear

As a warriors fan Draymond Green has gotten way too toxic over time, so this theory definitely checks out.

[oversteerdawg]

Shaq didn't start crapping on Gobert randomly. Spice Williams told Shaq on a podcast that Gobert would hold him to 12 points, Shaq responded, "Yeah, 12 points in 3 mi it's". Gobert took it upon himself to post "I would lock his ass up" on IG

This is where this beef started. If you trash talk Shaq, he will go absolutely scorched earth and won't ver let it go.

[Nate505]

There's probably several reasons why Gobert is hated on, but I think a significant one would have to be that it is generally felt he was not deserving of his contract.

Yeah, while scrubs like Josh Hart make $20 million a year, he gets to be jealous of a player who actually does something on the court.

[dhsilv2]

I don't think he's a bad defender. But unfortunately, there were too many lowlight tapes of Gobert getting crossed by Curry/Harden, Clippers mounting that comeback with him getting blown by numerous times and this past season with Jokic/Doncic having iconic moments with him in the picture. A bulk of it are not his fault, but lowlights stick out so much more than the highlights. There's not a lot of "highlight tapes" of Gobert in general, maybe due to lack of fanbase?

Take my favorite player, Ben Wallace, for example. You search him on YouTube, you would probably see highlights with ferocious blocks to the 3rd row, pinning Shaq's dunk, etc. Most would only remember that. To be honest, I'm getting old, these were some of my favorite moments and I have this nostalgic feeling as I'm typing this. I also remember Yao Ming jammed it on him in the post.....but who cares, he was a post defender to pour his heart out every game.

Also, there is probably a decent amount of people who would say someone like Jamal Crawford is better Derrick White (for example) strictly due to highlights.

Great defense isn't a block where you send the ball back 3 rows. It's that subtle play where you stay on your feet and challenge a shot. Or you stop a drive by and they kick it back out. That's really hard to explain to even some NBA players. Let alone casual fans.

[dhsilv2]

Okay, he's saying "show me $250M", but first of all, Rudy is not lacking in effort is he? Second, Rudy didn't force anyone to give him the contract, the team gave it to him. Third, Shaq maybe is saying part of the show me $250M is that Rudy should have developed more on offense, etc, but at this level does Gobert have the natural skill to be more? His touch is weak, not sure what is going to magically improve that, he's a lot of legs, so he's not strong enough to move people around. He was the 27th pick initially for a reason, but he did a lot to make himself a very valuable player. He's been a consistent around 65% +/-2-3% FT shooter since his 4th season, something Shaq didn't even accomplish.

Then the comment about people with "real jobs", okay, but economies can't sustain them making anything close to that kind of money, but secondly, Shaq himself also made tons of money (salary, sponsorship, etc) through this not real job, and how does he know Rudy won't also be walking funny and having all these issues when it's all said and done?

This just seems like Shaq is mad that he was born into the wrong era and a guy like Rudy will have more career salary earnings than him, but who is making that comparison for him to just be calling the guy out like that? Very rude.

What always confuses me is that Rudy is by no means a good offensive player. But the guy peaked around 16 points a game and is near 13 for his career. There are countless starting centers who couldn't even add that much offense. And he's at worst a top 10% of the league level screen setter (I know not sexy but nba players have to notice it when playing against him).

It's just wild the hate given even if you just look at his stat line...you can't think "bad player".

[dhsilv2]

Dude, what's with the cassette tape? It's like you haven't cleaned that tabletop off since the 90's!

Just digitizing old tapes lately.

You know an MP3 that's free will have better quality lol.

[Rust_Cohle]

I don't think he's a bad defender. But unfortunately, there were too many lowlight tapes of Gobert getting crossed by Curry/Harden, Clippers mounting that comeback with him getting blown by numerous times and this past season with Jokic/Doncic having iconic moments with him in the picture. A bulk of it are not his fault, but lowlights stick out so much more than the highlights. There's not a lot of "highlight tapes" of Gobert in general, maybe due to lack of fanbase?

Take my favorite player, Ben Wallace, for example. You search him on YouTube, you would probably see highlights with ferocious blocks to the 3rd row, pinning Shaq's dunk, etc. Most would only remember that. To be honest, I'm getting old, these were some of my favorite moments and I have this nostalgic feeling as I'm typing this. I also remember Yao Ming jammed it on him in the post.....but who cares, he was a post defender to pour his heart out every game.

Also, there is probably a decent amount of people who would say someone like Jamal Crawford is better Derrick White (for example) strictly due to highlights.

Great defense isn't a block where you send the ball back 3 rows. It's that subtle play where you stay on your feet and challenge a shot. Or you stop a drive by and they kick it back out. That's really hard to explain to even some NBA players. Let alone casual fans.

Wemby rules at that stuff

[PushDaRock]

The Gobert slander is a bit much. He's made the playoffs 8 out of 11 seasons. His on court per 100 and on/off per 100 for his career are +6.8 and +7.2 respectively, so his teams have consistently won the minutes he's been on the court and are significantly better with him on the court than off it. He's not putting up empty numbers and he's impacting winning. He probably needs to win a chip before the narrative changes around him.

[Roscoe Sheed]

The Gobert slander is a bit much. He's made the playoffs 8 out of 11 seasons. His on court per 100 and on/off per 100 for his career are +6.8 and +7.2 respectively, so his teams have consistently won the minutes he's been on the court and are significantly better with him on the court than off it. He's not putting up empty numbers and he's impacting winning. He probably needs to win a chip before the narrative changes around him.

not a fan of Gobert, but you are right that he is more of a positive than a negative despite his limitations.

However, these critics are so set in their beliefs that they probably wouldn't even give him credit if they won a title- they would just give all the credit to Edwards, KAT, or Reid, etc.

[dc]

Shaq didn't start crapping on Gobert randomly. Spice Williams told Shaq on a podcast that Gobert would hold him to 12 points, Shaq responded, "Yeah, 12 points in 3 mi it's". Gobert took it upon himself to post "I would lock his ass up" on IG

This is where this beef started. If you trash talk Shaq, he will go absolutely scorched earth and won't ver let it go.

I believe this is the correct answer (as to when Shaq really started hating on Gobert).

[dhsilv2]

The Gobert slander is a bit much. He's made the playoffs 8 out of 11 seasons. His on court per 100 and on/off per 100 for his career are +6.8 and +7.2 respectively, so his teams have consistently won the minutes he's been on the court and are significantly better with him on the court than off it. He's not putting up empty numbers and he's impacting winning. He probably needs to win a chip before the narrative changes around him.

not a fan of Gobert, but you are right that he is more of a positive than a negative despite his limitations.

However, these critics are so set in their beliefs that they probably wouldn't even give him credit if they won a title- they would just give all the credit to Edwards, KAT, or Reid, etc.

We saw edward's make second team all nba this year, and the metrics so strongly disagree with that one. It goes back to, even if they give him DPOY, they still don't think that was why the team had the record they did. It's crazy.

[Capn'O]

Shaq didn't start crapping on Gobert randomly. Spice Williams told Shaq on a podcast that Gobert would hold him to 12 points, Shaq responded, "Yeah, 12 points in 3 mi it's". Gobert took it upon himself to post "I would lock his ass up" on IG

This is where this beef started. If you trash talk Shaq, he will go absolutely scorched earth and won't ver let it go.

I believe this is the correct answer (as to when Shaq really started hating on Gobert).

A little bit afield, but I have to side with Shaq here. Gobert hasn't really locked up Jokic or Embiid in recent years. Shaq will easily get his the same way he did with Dikembe Mutombo.

Not really a reason to bring Rudy down every chance he can but I do think Shaq would cook him.

[Klomp]

The Gobert slander is a bit much. He's made the playoffs 8 out of 11 seasons. His on court per 100 and on/off per 100 for his career are +6.8 and +7.2 respectively, so his teams have consistently won the minutes he's been on the court and are significantly better with him on the court than off it. He's not putting up empty numbers and he's impacting winning. He probably needs to win a chip before the narrative changes around him.

That's the thing that's funny about the whole "he sucks" argument. He impacts winning.

In his second year, Utah improved from 25-57 to 38-44. It's easy to say it's not all because of Rudy, but you look at the game log, and they went 19-10 once he was inserted into the starting lineup full-time after starting the season 19-34. From that point on, 40-42 was their worst season with Gobert on the team.