Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert seemingly struggled on the court as the French national team faltered in the Olympic basketball tournament.
Although the NBA season is still two months away, Utah Jazz fans have had a lot to watch in recent weeks with four Jazzmen participating in the Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro. However, a series of disappointing performances left Raul Neto (Brazil), Joe Ingles (Australia), Boris Diaw and Rudy Gobert (France) short of capturing medals.
For Diaw and Gobert, the Olympic experience was especially disheartening given the way that France finished in the tournament, losing to Spain in an embarrassingly lopsided quarterfinal game.
It was a result that epitomized France’s up-and-down summer. Les Bleus lost games they shouldn’t have in Olympic prep, got smoked by Ingles and the Aussies in their Rio debut and then looked to have corrected course with a big win over Venezuela and a near-miss against Team USA, before falling off a cliff in the Spain loss.
More disheartening for Jazz fans, however, was Gobert’s uneven performance throughout the process. The Stifle Tower was more like a stifled tower at times during the Olympics, looking disjointed and inept offensively, registering just one blocked shot over his last three games and struggling with early foul trouble at times.
But is Gobert’s Olympic performance cause for concern? To me, the answer to the question probably varies depending on how you evaluated the big man’s prospects heading into the games at Rio.
If you’re of the opinion that the stagnation that seemed to occur in his development as a player last season is more red flag and less the bi-product of injury, there’s definitely fuel here for your fires.
For the tournament, Gobert averaged 5.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 45 percent from the floor and 56 percent from the line. All things considered, it’s a stat line that looks fairly pedestrian for a player widely considered one of the NBA’s elite defensive big men and top international players.
The stats are especially disenchanting when compared to his line from France’s bronze medal run at EuroBasket 2015. Gobert’s Olympic numbers were down in every category across the board in comparison.
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Numbers aside, you could also point to the fact that, despite his purported defensive presence, France somehow struggled to keep people out of the paint in several of their games. Gobert’s screen-roll defense was also up and down.
However, if you’re a Gobert guy (like me), you’re probably still feeling pretty good about what he’ll bring to the Jazz next season.
For us, the most important thing with Gobert is his health. Especially after his injuries last season prevented him from playing his best basketball and kept the Jazz from reaching the postseason. To that end, everything went off without a hitch for the Stifle Tower.
“I feel great, physically.” he said before France’s bout with Team USA. And after the team had played their last Olympic game, Gobert was able to get back to his summer without having incurred any major setbacks.
As for the statistical drop, a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that Gobert wasn’t with the French team for Olympic qualification. He was playing catch-up in a new offensive system from day one after rejoining the team, which undoubtedly affected his performance on the court.
Some of it can also be attributed to France’s perceived lack of chemistry on the floor.
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In any event, the numbers may not actually be as underwhelming as they seem. If you look at Gobert’s performance per 36 minutes, the stats are actually better than they appear at first glance. By that measure, the Jazz center averaged 10 points, nearly 13 rebounds and 3.3 blocks this summer.
It’s a line that compares pretty favorably to his Per 36 numbers from the NBA.
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Ultimately, whether you think Gobert has superstar potential or you feel his stock has dropped a hair after a ho-hum season and a so-so Olympics, you probably didn’t see much to change your opinion in Rio.
For his part, Gobert is looking at his first Olympics as an experience that will help him grow as a player. “ a good experience to learn from,” he said. “My first Olympics, it was great, but it’s always when you win. … Collectively, individually, you learn when you lose a game like that.”
I, for one, tend to agree with Gobert’s assessment. For my money, his Olympic experience, coupled with better health and increased strength from his summer training is going to pay major dividends for the up-and-coming Jazz next season.
Les Bleus didn’t win in Rio, but the Jazz should be a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference and Gobert will be a key cog in that success.