Good news for Jazz fans. No need to hold our breath at a potential injury or him coming into the season tired.
Gobert Not Participating in Eurobasket This Summer
- Thread starter Saint Cy of JFC
- Start date
Could Rudy take a big leap during this off-season offensively? Will we see a new Gobert?
I remember he had really good pre-season numbers last year and we kind of dismissed it. They came down to earth in the regular season but he upped his scoring by 5 points this year. The end of the season he really picked it up, too, averaging 17.3 ppg in March and 16.3 ppg in April. I think, especially after the mental lift and confidence of last season and the playoffs, he and Gordon will take the next step to superstars. I'd say at least 15 ppg. FT would be nice. One thing that may be nice is being able to hit that 15-20 footer when he's left wide open at the top of the key. I don't want that to be a shot he takes but if he can sink it every now and again so the defense realizes they have to put a body up there.
mellow
Well-Known Member
I hope so, the clippers kind of exposed him. He needs a couple of tools to fight back.
CALJAZZFAN
Well-Known Member
Love it. Rudy has integrity and work ethic. Big contract could have turned into Juwan Howard, instead he works his *** off. If he keeps working on his offensive game, including developing a mid range shot, he will be unstoppable.
mellow
Well-Known Member
He has no move 5-10 feet from the basket and nothing with his back to the basket. The clippers figured it out. They made an adjustment late in game 5 or 6. Rudy gets a lot of his points by sliding down the lane behind the defense, close to the basket he can score. The clippers learned they could rotate a wing ( redick did it twice) he got in front of Rudy after Rudy set his picked but 6-7 feet from the basket. The jazz still passed it to Rudy, because he looked open, but Rudy couldn't step around or jump over redick. The times I recall led to an ugly turnover and an ugly shot.
Rudy needs a shot he believes in that is not a dunk, and he needs to learn some post foot work. I'm sure the jazz noticed too, Jensen will teach him.
fishonjazz
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YES!
Quin's Murderface
Well-Known Member
I think you are kind of overstating the impact those plays had, but I do think your point is valid overall. Teams should never be able to switch some tiny guard, or even a lot of forwards on Gobert. If he has even one post move like a hook shot that he can go to when he has a mismatch it will make him much more difficult to guard and really help the offense.
That, and being able to hit a mid range jumper so that bigs can't play off him so much would be a great start. That's two things that he could have in his repertoire for next season without too much trouble. I'm glad to hear that he understands the importance of working on his game over international non-Olympic games.
Cappy_Smurf
Well-Known Member
My hell, did you happen to notice his Knee putting him out in the first 15 seconds of the first game?
Teams switch guards to bigs even on good post players. Post play just isnt super efficient so teams dont care that much. Harden was guarding Lamarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol to some success in the post (though it did tire him out in the long run). I dont think Rudy can develop enough of a post-game for teams to really fear a Rudy Gobert post-up. His next offensive step should be a shot in the 10-15 foot range.
Rotating a player in help defense to cut off a diving player is not "exposing" Gobert. It's just proper help defense. Gobert can pass to the open man.
mellow
Well-Known Member
But he didn't. He forced an awkward shot and a turnover. So you can call it whatever you want, but a 6-4 and 33 year old shut down your big man.
I'm surprised you didn't notice it in the game, it was very obvious and the Jazz had to stop rolling Rudy because it wasn't working.
If you would rather him roll to the basket and then pass it out every time I guess the jazz could work with him on passing. Personally I'd rather see him work on some basic foot work so he can take advantage of the mismatch.
I cant call a few defensive plays being exposed, especially when he had just returned from a knee sprain.
While I wouldn't put it nearly as dramatically as mellow, he's kind of right. Clippers DID allow Gobert to catch the ball 12 feet out with his back to the basket, and he did struggle to create something from that spot. It is an area that he can work on.