Rudy Gobert

Now, that's not entirely gonna be the easiest thing in the world if he's doing it from the power forward position.

Rudy Gobert does this for Minnesota, and did it for us.

When you know you have Rudy back there and he's that dominant, you have Victor back there, he's that dominant.

You saw with San Antonio, they can just get up on your body, push up on you, m- impede on your space, and not be protective or scared defensively at all on the perimeter.

And now you get the, you also get the added benefit of, well, when we have them both available, we get to stagger them, so we always have a, a high leverage shot creator on the court at all times between Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball.

And I, I think we underrate just, like, Rudy Gobert is a plug and play, just, like, he sets a screen, he rolls to the basket.

When he catches the ball, he can dunk it.

[laughs]

And then finally, and, uh, this one was tough.

Someone did comment, by the way, in the wing conversation that, "Oh, Minnesota, you just left off Jaden McDaniels." Um, and you know what? The reason I did that is because I wanted to put him in the front court because the Minnesota Timberwolves lost Naz Reid and Julius Randle, which means like they had lineups, obviously their starting lineup was Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle in the front court.

Jaden McDaniels got to play the three.

He's gonna have to play the four.

He's gonna have to scale up this year because of their current situation.

So I'm putting him in the front court conversation.

Jaden McDaniels, Rudy Gobert, Jonathan Kuminga, that's another guy who I, again, the commenter said, "What about Kuminga?" Maybe he is a wing guy for them.

I still think of him sort of at most eff- uh, uh, when he's at his most effective, which whatever that is.

... they've kind of broken it up.

I, like, having, having Rudy Gobert and LaMelo Ball on the same team is just kinda like [laughs] my, is just kinda wild to me.

And then Houston, like, you and I talked about this last season, and I don't know, I made a prediction, and I don't know if it actually happened or not, but Houston was the team that was...

You could just tell that there was, like, a 5,000-word hit piece coming.

... they've, they've kind of broken it up.

I, like, having, having Rudy Gobert and LaMelo Ball on the same team is just kinda like [laughs] is just kinda wild to me.

And then Houston, like, you and I talked about this last season, and I don't...

I, I made a prediction, and I don't know if it actually happened or not, but Houston was the team that was, you could just tell that there was, like, a 5,000-word hit piece coming.

I think there's the idea that...

He was so good in Minnesota, but he was playing with a center who often protected him defensively in Rudy Gobert and next to an all-world creator in Anthony Edwards that Charlotte doesn't have.

And I just wonder if he's going to be doing a lot of spotting up waiting for a ball that is not coming his way.

So you're not buying Kalkbrenner as the next Rudy Gobert? I am not.

Maybe Hans Steinbach.

But yeah, I just think his fit there is a little clunky.

Do you think DeAndre Jordan – I mean, I first go to, like, the bigs who, if they aren't getting fed off the roll or off an offensive rebound, like, they have no offense.

Like a Gobert, but even Gobert's probably a little different.

Those guys average, like, 50 – I'm trying to – my avenue was thinking of the pure point guards who, like, came off the bench.

So I was thinking the Tyus Joneses of the world who came off and then just table set for 20 minutes and didn't really do much.

Let's try Rudy.

That is such a good guess.

Gobert is not here, but wow.

I

So I think people overlook his value, but I think his NBA destiny is to be a high-end backup big.

um because he is a little bit undersized and i think that matters on the glass it matters even though he's underrated as a rim protector it matters in terms of shot blocking come on model watch if he reaches his ceiling he's rudy gobert with a jump shot like that's a terrifying prospect because i literally made

that thumbnail like a week and a half gobert with the three question mark you know how the thumbnail game works gerald yeah

you know Yeah, like that's that I mean he's like Gobert is a you know one of the all-time great defensive bigs in this league defenders in this league and But offensively, he can be a bit inept or useless at times.

I'm picturing Kamon Malawach providing a little bit more value on that end, even though he can't really dribble or pass right now.

He's also only 20 years old.

So I think if he becomes that anchor on the defensive end, if he becomes a little bit quicker laterally, a little bit more mobile in terms of defending on an island and defending in the pick and roll, all that good stuff, if he dominates the rebounds like he did in Summer League, then all you really need is a three-point jump shot and good finishing around the rim, and he's automatically more useful than Rudy Gobert has been on that end for his entire career.

If he's 70% of Rudy Gobert, he's a Hall of Fame-level defender.

And I guess TJ and Dante are the other two.

But Rudy Gobert's player option will be the big story of next offseason.

And I'm just curious.

And maybe it's just like, we'll have to wait and see how the season goes.

So I guess what do you the contract stuff with Rudy next 12 months from now? What is what is your what is your thoughts?

Well, it's nice that we have 12 months, right? Because we're going to see two things in 12 months.

What is 34-year-old Rudy Gobert play basketball like, right? I don't think we've seen much of any dip in his production from 31 years old when he did that player option decline and extension to what he was last season at 33.

you know, I mean, you know, Rudy, like if there's ever somebody I'm going to bet on kind of having their window extend a little bit more than you would, it's him.