On paper, the case is closed. Rudy Gobert apologized and served his one-game suspension in the Timberwolves’ loss to the Lakers in NBA play-in (108-102 after overtime). Kyle Anderson, who was hit by the Frenchman in Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, has publicly forgiven and Wolves boss Tim Connelly also moved on after what he called an “event.” unhappy” in the local daily Star Tribune.
All these little people (so to speak, for basketball players) are now turned towards the same goal: to hit Oklahoma City on the night of Friday to Saturday to win the right to go and rub shoulders with Denver, number 1 in the Western Conference, in the first round of the play-offs.
Nevertheless: for many observers, the reaction of Gobert, treated as a “bitch”, among other joys, by Anderson, illustrates the frustration born of a season for the moment far from the expectations of Wolves. Who dropped heavy last summer in order to attract the 30-year-old pivot, with a salary proportional to his 2.17 meters (38 million dollars per year, or 34.4 million euros): five players (Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt and Leandro Bolmaro) as well as four picks in the first round of the draft… And too bad if the Minneapolis franchise already had a star player in the racket, Karl-Anthony Towns, whose complementarity with the Habs leave something to be desired as expected.
“The fans are irritated because we were disappointed with the quality of Gobert’s game, given the amount of players we let go to hire him, explains Jay de la Rosa, one of these disappointed supporters. We were anxiously hoping that he would raise the level of our defense and help our team improve in order to secure home advantage for the play-offs. »
Since 2004, Wolves have only twice extended their season beyond the regular phase, in 2018 and 2022, without going beyond the first round of the play-offs. Compared to last year, if the team went from 24th to 18th defense in the League, it collects more points (115.8 per game against 113.3) due to “the open door operation this season in the NBA. On the rebound, the domain of “Gobzilla”, the progress is not obvious: 44.7 per game in 2021-2022, 45.9 in 2022-2023 and still a 23rd place in this specific ranking. Personally, Gobert’s stats have seriously dropped from those he posted during his last exercise with the Jazz.
Target of many NBA personalities
In January, the truculent Charles Barkley had mocked on ESPN “the worst exchange in history”, a projection to add to the long list of criticisms wiped since his arrival in the NBA, in 2013, by the former Cholet, yet elected three times best defender in the League (2018, 2019, 2021). Shaquille O’Neal, another glorious veteran with a well-hung tongue, but also Daymond Green, famous defender of the Golden State Warriors who has not taken a vow of silence either, have long held the Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo in their line of sight.
“We must not overinterpret things, even if it is not a question of minimizing anything either, warns Kalem Mauvois, founder of Crescendo Management, the agency which manages Gobert’s public relations. The NBA is a media machine that generates a lot of buzz. It can go in the positive or in the negative, in a fairly short time. Rudy’s great strength is hearing and seeing criticism, but then being able to ignore it to continue on his way. It’s not new. »
When explaining this lack of love, Mauvois invokes a pinch of “French bashing” but also a typically American argument: “Rudy played a lot in ‘small markets’ [les franchises des Jazz et des Timberwolves], which are treated with less interest by the media and from sometimes caricatural angles, in the very positive or the very negative. »
It must be said that Gobert sometimes did his best, as when he had fun touching several microphones at a press conference in March 2020, at the dawn of the coronavirus epidemic. Two days later, he became the first NBA player to test positive for Covid-19. On a purely sporting level, the main criticism is the very nature of his game, as Andrew Neururer thinks, creator of the Let’s Talk Minnesota Sports website which follows all the tribulations of the Twins (baseball), the Vikings (American football) and therefore the Timberwolves.
Not “flashy” enough for American fans?
“The NBA has become a high-paced, high-scoring sport, and it’s the complete opposite of Rudy Gobert’s style,” says Neururer, who comes to the Frenchman’s rescue. “He played with a back injury and I don’t think the story with Anderson would have happened on Sunday without this problem which really affected his mood. “His defense is great and he does a lot of little things that help a team win,” he continued. Unfortunately, fans don’t see it. »
As they do not see “the obsessive attention”, in the physical preparation and the diet, with which this innkeeper of the Blues maintains an exceptional and fragile physique, according to Kalem Mauvois. “It’s obviously not glamorous,” says the boss of Crescendo Management, who also highlights Gobert’s efforts to try to improve his offensive stats. “Basically, that is not one of his qualities. But those are things he’s been working on and where he’s made a lot of progress over the years. »
The reserved personality of the native of Saint-Quentin does not facilitate the conquest of an environment filled with loudmouths either. “He’s not a player who goes out a lot, he takes care of his business”, continues Mauvois, for whom the NBA “is like a big schoolyard”.
“When a kid comes from elsewhere, we treat him with more or less respect. But Rudy was hugely popular with the Utah fan base, where he grew up almost like a country boy. Now it’s a new fan base. He is perceived as a player bought expensive and who must therefore bring results. That said, there are bonds that are forged over time. Mike Conley, who played with him in Utah and joined him in Minnesota [en février dernier] was so glad to find him. »
For now, the marriage between Gobert and the Minneapolis franchise looks like a misalliance. But, in basketball as in football and in almost all areas, the unloved of the day can absolutely become the star of tomorrow (and vice versa).
“This year may be lost for Wolves, due to poor chemistry and injuries, notes Jay de la Rosa. But his contract will last a few more years, so there is a chance that time will heal what is currently fractured. “Same feeling on the side of Andrew Neururer. “I think he can really turn things around,” observes the Let’s Talk Minnesota Sports founder and editor. As of tonight, against the Oklahoma Thunder?