Utah’s Rudy Gobert and I had a brief chance to chat about this issue — again — after he and his teammates clinched the bronze medal for France in a victory over Australia in FIBA’s third-place game on Sunday. “I wish all the best players would come, but it’s never going to happen,” Gobert said of the modern N.B.A. player’s approach in the Load Management Era. “They think about themselves more than anything — and it’s understandable. It’s a business. We all have families to take care of.”
Rudy Gobert Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: C
Born: 06/26/92
Height: 7-1 / 2.16
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $24,258,427
Born: 06/26/92
Height: 7-1 / 2.16
Weight:235 lbs. / 106.6 kg.
Salary: $24,258,427
Tim Reynolds: Jazz center @Rudy Gobert on the bronze: “It means everything. Obviously it’s not the one we wanted. We all know that. But being able to come back _ we’re the only team that was on the podium five years ago and on the podium now. So it shows our heart.”
Turner had a brilliant game Monday against Brazil, and he may have let it get to his head. He compared himself to Gobert and said, “He’s the defensive player of the year, according to some.” Well, the French players saw the quote and showed it to Gobert. “Yeah we saw it and we showed it to him,” said Nicolas Batum, of the Hornets. “We know he’s great on defense, so we’re going to use it to motivate him tonight.”
“To hear Donovan be so passionate about wanting to play (was great),” Ingles said. “I was like, ‘Oh, are you going to pull out because everyone else is?’, and (Mitchell said), ‘No, I’m going to play for my country.’ He’s obviously like really proud to do that. Obviously Rudy is (too). I know in the past with (former Jazz guard) Ricky (Rubio of Spain, who’s now with Phoenix), and playing against Ricky for so long, there’s genuine love (for playing on the national team). “You’ve got to respect, to a certain extent, guys’ decisions (not to play) because there is career (impact). Some guys are in contract years this offseason, and there’s a lot that goes into it. I think for us, for me, it’s – I’m all Australia right now, and as soon as we’re done with that I’ll switch right off and go to Jazz mode.”
The exciting thing, however, is that they beat the USA by being among other things taller. Coach Gregg Popovich had to play small against Rudy Gobert, but the small ball didn’t affect at all the French game plan. “We knew, and we didn’t want to adjust to that,” explained Batum after the game. “We wanted to keep him on the court. Because… he is our best player. He is the back-to-back defensive player of the year. We know what he can bring in defense and offense as well. That’s why the coach kept him on the court. We knew that his defense would help us. And he also help us on offense. He got better, and that will be the next step for him. He has shown some improvement, he moves better, he knows how to get inside, and if he gets to be like we want him to be, it will be the next step.”
Rudy Gobert: Encore 2. 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/WhDGGoIuAG
Rudy Gobert has now got some “bragging rights” over his Utah Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell following the historic win of France over Team USA in the World Cup quarterfinals. However, the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year will leave trash talk aside for now since he can imagine how much this defeat hurt his teammate. “I don’t think that’s the way I am,” Gobert said. “I like to talk a little trash. But this kind of competition….I just lost to Australia. I love Joe but I wanted to stop him. It hurts. I think this experience is going to make Donovan better. We have to go hard when we go for the national team, but we also have to go that way with Utah. I’m excited for both.”
