Strange autumn-winter break obliges, TrashTalk looks this year at… 74 individual profiles. Why 74? Oh, nothing to do with Haute-Savoie eh, despite the adoration of some for Sainte-Raclette, but rather because these analyzes will take us quietly towards the recovery. Because yes, we can confirm it to you, this sordid year 2020 will soon come to an end, it is time. Focus today on Rudy Gobert, double-DPOY and once All-Star, who is now missing a collective record in order to enter the history books for good.
Rudy Gobert is undoubtedly building a hell of a career. Member of the All-NBA Defensive First Team for four seasons, Defensive Player Of the Year in 2018 and 2019, All-NBA Team twice and All-Star last season, Rudy is now officially the biggest stars in the League. Eligible for a big contract with Jazz, the Frenchman is at a crossroads and must now protect the collective record as he began to fill in the individual balance sheet. To go down in history, simply turn.
If you’ve only watched one basketball game in your life and that game is the 2020 All-Star Game, you are probably thinking that this Rudy Gobert must be one of the mega-stars of the League. At the time, we saw an uninhibited Rudy for his first selection for the all-star game, and fully integrated into the NBA star system. Obviously, finally, in view of the pretty little quarry that the Saint-Quentin lighthouse is building. 12 points and 11 rebounds on average since his arrival in the League in 2013, about 15/13 for two seasons in an ambitious team, in short Rudy is part of the landscape. Oh there are Jean-Didier Relou and Gustave Seum who only like to fulminate in their sofa when they see that Rudy is not actually a risk insurance with bullet in hand, but if you meet these complainers ask them what they thought at the time of the game at the post of Dikembe Mutombo or Ben Wallace. In short.
Today ? Rudy will very soon hit the jackpot he deserves, and the next stage of his career takes place in the spring, tomorrow, the day after, whenever he wants. With Jazz? Why not. Utah very recently extended his colleague Donovan Mitchell to the max and may choose to continue building around the duo who have been making rain and shine in Salt Lake City for three years now. Elsewhere ? Why not like either, and we know a bunch of franchises that would get wet to recover such a solid defender, guarantor of the strength of a team by its mere presence on the ground. The Celtics had, for example, appeared as a credible candidate but have set their sights – for now – on the big buttocks of Tristan Thompson. In eight months Rudy will in any case be a free agent, one of the most coveted of a Free Agency which promises to be historic, and undoubtedly a big 2020-21 season will raise his rating even more.
- Hype gauge upon arrival in the League: 5%
- Current Hype Gauge: 75%
- Hall of Fame entry gauge: on track according to ESPN
- The one he would like to become: Ben Wallace because ringed
- The One He Hopes Not To Become: Tyson Chandler
16 points, 14 rebounds, 2 blocks, a Conference semi-final and… the supermax? Everything seems written for Rudy Gobert, in spite of the criticisms emanating most often… from France, like what no one is prophet in his country. See you in a few months for official proof of its value, something in the order of … 170 million?
