The former four-time NBA champion, Hall of Famer, and star of the league, Shaquille O’Neal, has recently shared his thoughts on three-time NBA All-Star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert.
During one of the episodes of “The Big Podcast with Shaq” fifteen-time NBA All-Star, shared why he thinks that Gobert is not a “great defensive player”.
Shaq calls Rudy Gobert an overrated defender
"I never thought he was a great defensive player… See, what it is, there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. Like, he’s not doing that s**t against Joker… He’s 7’6", of course, if you lay it up, he’s going to… pic.twitter.com/prSRdD7Zqw
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 13, 2024
Shaq further mentioned via NBACentral, “I never thought he was a great defensive player… See, what it is, there’s not a lot of centers that are making him play defense. Like, he’s not doing that s**t against Joker… He’s 7’6″, of course, if you lay it up, he’s going to block it. But defense to me is guard that guy and shut him down. You want to impress me? Hold Joker under 15 points. All that weakside shot blocking, that’s cool. But it’s not going to work against guys like me and Joker.”
Shaq stresses the point that if Gobert is able to keep Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic under fifteen points, then that would have an impact on him. He further mentioned that Gobert’s efforts against players like him, Jokic and star of the Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid, would not work. According to StatMuse, Jokic has averaged 20.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.7 assists across thirty-one career games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
