Rudy Gobert may be the most decorated player on the Minnesota Timberwolves roster. Over the course of his 11-year career, he has accumulated a a huge trophy case and many awardsincluding a record four Defensive Player of the Year awards.
There are very few detractors left for Rudy at this point, as he has left most of them with a much smaller number of topics to talk about. However, one flaw that still leaves room for skeptics is his sometimes inconsistent performance in the playoffs.
Gobert showed us that he absolutely deserved every accolade he got during the regular season, and no one really questions that. But when Luka Doncic hits the game-winning three-pointer against him in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, it will give the underdogs plenty of reason to question his playoff capabilities.
A former Timberwolves player, perhaps unexpectedly, recently weighed in on Rudy and his playoff failures: Chauncey Billups. The 2004 Finals MVP appeared on Rasheed Wallace’s The Sheed and Tyler and talked about Minnesota’s playoff elimination.
Perhaps the most common opinion about Rudy Gobert these days (outside of Timberwolves fans) is that he’s extremely efficient in the regular season, but his performance fluctuates far too often in the playoffs. For those who dislike the Minnesota great, it leads them to question the legitimacy of his accolades.
One of the podcast’s co-hosts asked Billups how it was possible that Rudy could be a liability in certain situations given his status as the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Billups’ response was thoughtful, but critical.
“I struggle with that too,” he said. “My first year of coaching, I was with the Clippers. We played Utah, [Gobert] He was in Utah. And don’t get me wrong, he’s a great defender, but he’s not as versatile as Ben Wallace. So he can play off the field with some space and shooting.
“We’ve been attacking him all series long. And he’s a great defender, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t just attack great defenders. You don’t even chase them, you get away from them, you take him out of the game. So that’s the difference in today’s game. Yeah, he’s great around the rim, he plays hard, he can block shots and all that, but in space, he’s got issues, and on pick-and-rolls, you can just chase him.”
From a coaching perspective, it certainly makes sense to play a player like Rudy in a way that can keep him away from the basket. Gobert is far from a black hole defender on the perimeter, but that’s not his natural comfort zone. In that way, Chauncey is probably right that Rudy’s lack of versatility makes him less effective in the playoffs. That’s the next hurdle Gobert will have to clear to further shorten his list of detractors.
