{"id":74776,"date":"2024-04-25T00:03:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T04:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=74776"},"modified":"2024-04-25T00:03:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T04:03:31","slug":"timberwolves-chris-finch-explains-rudy-goberts-ultimate-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/25\/timberwolves-chris-finch-explains-rudy-goberts-ultimate-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Timberwolves Head Coach Explains Rudy Gobert\u2019s Ultimate Value"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert<\/a> is the only active multi-time NBA Award winner that\u2019s become a pariah in the very same league that he\u2019s dominated in.<\/p>\n

Just this week, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was voted as the most overrated player<\/a> in the NBA in a poll that only his peers participated in. It\u2019s not the type of superlative one would expect. At least not for a player that\u2019s been successful as him.<\/p>\n

On the court, this could be attributed to his limitations guarding out in space up to this season. For all of his prowess as a defensive anchor \u2014utilizing his attentiveness, anticipation, and athleticism to lock down the paint \u2014teams could play him off the court utilizing various floor-spacing techniques. However, his lack of popularity extends off the court. When with the Utah Jazz, his relationship with Donovan Mitchell faced heavy scrutiny. The Frenchman then earned the ire of NBA fans with his cavalier attitude about the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Chris Finch Explains Rudy Gobert\u2019s Ultimate Value<\/h2>\n

In spite of all that, Gobert has enhanced his lateral movement exponentially. As a result, he\u2019s evolved into the type of player that can be relied upon in any situation. Subsequently, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch has come to see Gobert as \u201cthe reason [they] don\u2019t lose<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don\u2019t lose,\u201d Finch says, per The Athletic\u2019s Jon Krawczynski.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Rudy is the reason we don\u2019t lose. He doesn\u2019t let us lose these games. He\u2019s been this way all season. He\u2019s an incredible floor raiser and he just brings it and he knows when the team needs him to do this the most. That\u2019s one of the many reasons he\u2019s so valuable for us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cRudy is a really good defender at all levels,\u201d Finch continues. \u201cHe gets down. He\u2019s big. He can move well and cares. When you get to this moment, there\u2019s nothing to rest him or keep him fresh for. Play him more minutes. You can employ him in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Gobert, the reason that he\u2019s unappreciated is because it\u2019s difficult for the average fan to respect the \u201cvery unique way<\/a>\u201d he impacts games, per ESPN\u2019s Tim MacMahon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn their eyes, I\u2019m more like the odd guy from France that\u2019s winning a lot of awards, and it can bother people,\u201d Gobert says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI impact the games in a very unique way,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s maybe not as cool or not as flashy as some other guys, so it\u2019s sometimes harder for them to respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a player drafted 27th overall from across the pond, Gobert deserves more adulation.<\/p>\n

Ben Wallace Vibes<\/h3>\n

In many ways, his career resembles that of Hall of Fame center Ben Wallace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After going undrafted in 1996, the Alabama native went on to earn four Defensive Player of the Year awards. At 6-foot-9, he didn\u2019t have the physical profile that teams preferred. Nonetheless, his toughness and technique made him one of the most feared interior defenders.<\/p>\n

Like Wallace, Gobert can become a four-time Defensive Player of the Year as early as this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s expected to stand sentinel in the paint at 7-foot-1. To that end, he averaged 2.1 blocks per game in 2023-24, the sixth-highest mark in the league. But, to reiterate, his improved lateral agility and footwork is a major reason why the Timberwolves had the top-ranked defense in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old may never be seen the way that he wants to be by the general public. However, he\u2019s clearly earned the respect of his locker room. That internal belief and him growing comfortable with himself are the most important factors in his career at this point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is the only active multi-time NBA Award winner that\u2019s become a pariah in the very same league that he\u2019s dominated in. Just this week, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year was voted as the most overrated player in the NBA in a poll that only his peers participated in. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":74828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1608,62,3],"tags":[4181,394],"class_list":["post-74776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timberwolves","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-chris-finch","tag-rudy-gobert"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}