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

[Mogspan]

Read on Twitter

What’s the deal with the incessant and ubiquitous Gobert hate? It comes from fans and players alike. Is it the nature of his impact being fundamentally “annoying” (he’s good because he’s tall and he makes it harder to score)? His lack of a “bag”? His being French? The COVID gaffe?

Obviously an imperfect player, but I’ve never seen a fella with his impact receive such disrespect. By all accounts, he’s a good-hearted guy, and he’s clearly sharp. Where do players like Derek Lively and Josh Hart get off saying he sucks? Or Shaq saying he’s the biggest bum in the league?

It’s like a meme that’s taken on a life of its own. It ain’t right!

[Wallace_Wallace]

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.

[Domejandro]

Zero interest in starting a dialogue, but I kind of think a lot of it stems from Rudy Gobert being European.

Beyond that though, he is kind of a weird dude and has a target on his back from winning DPOY as many times as he has (deservedly, but narratives stick).

[Nate505]

Shaq is an insecure moron. What's new.

[Nate505]

Read on Twitter

What’s the deal with the incessant and ubiquitous Gobert hate? It comes from fans and players alike. Is it the nature of his impact being fundamentally “annoying” (he’s good because he’s tall and he makes it harder to score)? His lack of a “bag”? His being French? The COVID gaffe?

Obviously an imperfect player, but I’ve never seen a fella with his impact receive such disrespect. By all accounts, he’s a good-hearted guy, and he’s clearly sharp. Where do players like Derek Lively and Josh Hart get off saying he sucks?

Josh Hart shouldn't be talking about anyone. Dude is a bum and a half.

[NyKnicks1714]

I don't get it either. The guy is insufferable no doubt, but that doesn't fully explain the hate he gets. It's not like he's lazy or doesn't play hard, and he's a very good player.

[ItsDanger]

I had flashbacks to Shaq's Ru Paul comment on Chris Bosh.

[levon]

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2024/8/8/24216175/olympics-basketball-rudy-gobert-france-benched-stats-gold-medal-game

It's not just a xenophobia and jealousy thing, though that plays into it. I also suspect that people just don't like Rudy's personality in the same way that DAngelo Russell rubs people the wrong way. He comes across as super fake on camera.

That said, Shaq is a **** dick.

[og15]

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.

[TheGeneral99]

As flawed as Rudy is as a player (especially offensively) he's one of the best rim protectors and help defenders in the league.

He has anchored elite defenses in Utah and Minny, leading them to multiple 50+ win seasons and perennial playoff appearances.

[dc]

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.

[Woodsanity]

Even if you think Gobert is a bit overrated (I think he is so hated he is actually underrated now), it is utterly absurd to call him worst player....

[madskillz8]

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.

The reason is people who make these highlight video and the audience who watch them does not care about his defensive gravity (e.g., altering myriad of shots every game or help defense) as much as they care about big dunks and blocks that throws the ball to the 3rd row, as you said. Because the motivation to spend hours to make these highlights videos are to generate clicks (thus $$$).

Also while he's not good at the perimeter and anything close to Ben Wallace on one-on-one but his defensive IQ is off the charts and he's also not a big liability unlike Ben Wallace (66FG% >>> 47%, 64%FT>>>41%).

He might not be among the best in blocked shots or even opponent FG (I'm just guessing here), but that's a prevalent problem of using advanced stats lazily without getting help from the eye-test to add some context - these stats never captures the number of times an opposing player changes his mind about attacking to the rim or passing the ball after altered shot attempts, and in the last decade, I think he's regularly one of the best in these categories, if not best.

[binjumper]

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.

The reason is people who make these highlight video and the audience who watch them does not care about his defensive gravity (e.g., altering myriad of shots every game or help defense) as much as they care about big dunks and blocks that throws the ball to the 3rd row, as you said. Because the motivation to spend hours to make these highlights videos are to generate clicks (thus $$$).

Also while he's not good at the perimeter and anything close to Ben Wallace on one-on-one but his defensive IQ is off the charts and he's also not a big liability unlike Ben Wallace (66FG% >>> 47%, 64%FT>>>41%).

He might not be among the best in blocked shots or even opponent FG (I'm just guessing here), but that's a prevalent problem of using advanced stats lazily without getting help from the eye-test to add some context - these stats never captures the number of times an opposing player changes his mind about attacking to the rim or passing the ball after altered shot attempts, and in the last decade, I think he's regularly one of the best in these categories, if not best.

i'd take the liability of Ben wallace over Gobert any day.

[tsherkin]

Shaq, unsurprisingly, has said something stupid.

In other news, water is wet.

[moderndarwin]

Yeah very strange to me the Gobert hate. The man plays with passion. He plays extremely hard. He gives it his all out there. He is a good teammate. It’d be like hating on Dikemebe.

[JayMKE]

Shaq always hates on bigs he feels we was better than, when they are better he'll say something along the lines of he could have done that too if he was allowed to play that way.

however for whatever reason Rudy does seem to rub a lot of NBA guys the wrong way it seems tho

[John Murdoch]

Shaq ruined his offcourt value alot over the yrs 4me

[bkkrh]

FIrst off, it's Shaq. The guy honestly talks about earning his 120 Million and having neck issues while also being Mr. "I got hurt on company time, so I’ll rehab on company time."

Shaq has a tendency to have problems with certain players. Reminding people that Steve Nash stole "his" MVP. Kinda beefing with Bill Walton because he felt he wasn't an alltime great like him. Disrespecting Dwight pretty much his whole career every chance he got. That Javale McGee Shaqtin a Fool thing that went a bit over the top with time.

My guess is that he is generally a bit bitter about never winning DPOY and feels that Dwight and Gobert have too many and only have them because they played in a "softer" era.

About the Gobert hate in general, it probably has to do partially with the size of this contract, otherwise a mixture of maybe some biases towards "soft" Euros. Personally I don't get it at all, the guy was a late first and played less than 10 minutes his rookie year, he is a complete overachiever.

[Clay Davis]

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.

no shame in getting crossed up by those guys. blame the Jazz defensive scheme for putting him on that island. It's not an indictment of rizz to get crossed up with the rules favouring guards as strongly as they do.