Shaq Trashes Rudy Gobert as an Overrated Defender Who Can’t Shutdown Other Bigs

“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--- 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 mofo, shut him down. You want to impress me? Hold Joker under 15 points. Now you’re playing. All that weakside shot blocking, that’s cool. But it’s not going to work against guys like me and Joker and Embiid.”

Shaquille O’Neal on Rudy Gobert

Phew, I did not know Shaq Daddy had this type of animosity toward Rudy Gobert’s game. And is anyone going to inform Mr. O’Neal that he is the same height (7-foot-1) as Rudy? Also, for the record, the Timberwolves have only played one game against the Denver Nuggets so far this season (that’s about to change real quick). Jokic scored 25 points, in a Minnesota win.

But what the 31-year-old big man does have, however, is one of the best defensive resumes in NBA history. As mentioned, he already has three DPOY awards to his name, and he is a heavy favorite to win his fourth. If successful, he’d be just the third player in league history to do so. the others are hall of famers, Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace.

Shaq’s hate comes with ulterior motives

Shaq didn’t use his mic time just to fire shots at Gobert, though. He wanted to throw his 2024 Defensive Player of the Year vote in for Miami’s Bam Adebayo, who currently holds the 4th-best odds (+3000) to win 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, a longshot behind the far and away favorite, Rudy Gobert (+1000).

It’s clear that Shaq Fu, who played 3 1/2 seasons in Miami, has a soft spot in his heart for another Heat center, but his propaganda isn’t going to stop Rudy Gobert from winning defensive player of the year over Bam Adebayo. Either that or he wants Rudy to bang down low with big men that just do not exist anymore. If there were centers in the league trying to post up down low on a nightly basis, it would be Gobert tasked with “shutting them down”.

The Big Aristotle wants to philosophize over how a big man defends Nikola Jokic? Why do you think that is? The Nuggets have matched up with the Heat twice twice this season. Bam held him to 18 and 12 points, respectively… and Miami lost both games.