Utah Jazz: Rudy Gobert’s Twitter savagery knows no bounds

After Enes Kanter praised the fans from his recently joined New York Knicks team, his former Utah Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert was quick to unleash a hilarious rebuttal on Twitter.

The NBA career of Enes Kanter has been an interesting one for Utah Jazz fans to follow, even if his overall impact on the Jazz was minimal at best. His entire situation with the team that drafted him was such an interesting case that he has remained on the radar of the Jazz faithful even long after being traded.

That’s exactly what happens when a promising player like Kanter pretty much checks all the necessary boxes to enrage an entire fanbase. Play uninspiring defense and give limited effort because of unjustified frustrations with the team? Check. Demand a trade that put the team in a bad spot and allowed them to bring in little in return? Check. Go on to insult pretty much everything the team, fanbase and organization stands for? Double check.

After being selected third overall in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, Kanter was given ample opportunity to succeed in Utah, but clearly was never particularly thrilled with his situation. That unsurprisingly led to a less than clean divorce between the two parties as Utah would eventually ship Enes out to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Grant Jerrett, Tibor Pleiss, Kendrick Perkins and a pair of draft picks.

Perkins was immediately waived and neither of the other players acquired had any impact for the Jazz. However, the OKC first-round pick was just recently traded for Ricky Rubio, and time will dictate how that move pans out. The most important part of the Kanter trade, though, was that it allowed Rudy Gobert a chance to blossom into the dominant player he has become.

What Jazz fans likely remember best about the trade, though, is what Kanter had to say about the Jazz shortly after joining the ranks of the Oklahoma City Thunder. In an interview following his first game back to Salt Lake City (one which his team lost, no less) he let loose on his former team with a lengthy string of passive aggressive insults the likes of which I’ve included below in case you needed a reminder of just how he expressed that he felt about the Jazz:

"“I love it. It’s a team I’ve never experienced before and I actually like playing basketball there. I’m just so comfortable and everything is in the right place. I’m just really happy to be there.”“I didn’t really care. I like pressure, the boos didn’t mean nothing to me. It was just a regular game. I never felt like I was a part of this thing, so it was just a regular game. We came and we leave and that is it. I am not taking nothing back.”“I think the difference is, I like playing basketball there. I think that’s the most important thing. I never liked playing basketball before in my NBA career, and this is the first time I felt like playing basketball there, for my team, for the fans, for my teammates for my coaches, for everybody. So, that’s the first time.”“It wasn’t just a one-game or two-game frustration. “It was a 3½-year frustration. I’m happy for both sides. I think it worked out well for both sides. I’m definitely happy that I’m part of the Oklahoma City team, a winner team, so I think it’s going to go really well in the future.”“It’s everything. The fans, the coaches, the team, the atmosphere is amazing. Everything is falling into place and I’ve never felt anything like that before. It’s so different.”“It wasn’t just basketball stuff. It was professionalism of the team. After I see in OKC, I see this is how NBA teams are. You know how you’re like in a dream and you have a superpower and just don’t want to open your eyes and end the dream? Oklahoma City’s been like that to me.”I still respect them. I still like my coaches here, I still have friends here, some friends here, not a lot. But still, I’m just saying I don’t want to make no comments on them, but I think when after I went to OKC I was like, ‘Oh man, this is how an NBA team is.'”“I know I didn’t bring it every night, but I think almost everything was a frustration.”“First of all, we have a leader like Russell. And I love my teammates. The fans are amazing. I love the city, it’s a clean city. Everything there is just professional. Everything they do is just for the players, you only focus on the basketball and just go out there and do your job. But like I said again, I really don’t want to talk about it here again, because I have a lot of things to say, but I just don’t want to say right now.”"

Last of all, when asked if he missed anything about Utah, Kanter simply replied by saying “Mountains” and absolutely nothing else. In short, Kanter insulted the very fiber of Utah Jazz basketball including his teammates, coaches, his fans and the entire city and community as a whole.

That’s a long list of slights and hearty bulletin board material, and there was absolutely no questioning how Kanter’s comments made Jazz fans and his former teammates feel about him. He’s showered with boos every time he sets foot within Vivint Smart Home Arena and several of his former Jazz teammates have made comments indicating displeasure and disagreement with what he stated.

Unfortunately for Kanter, though, as the old saying goes, payback is a… Well, you know the saying.

After Kevin Durant foolishly slammed his former OKC teammates and head coach in an apparent Twitter snafu (with comments and a tone that weren’t all that different from Kanter’s in some ways), Enes took to Twitter to voice his thoughts by showing his love and respect for the OKC team that Durant had just slighted.

The text in his tweet simply said “Okla-Home” then the image in the tweet read, “I don’t care what anyone says. Oklahoma City Thunder is the best and most professional organization in the NBA and got the craziest fans. We win – we lose but the most important thing we stick together because we are one. And those cats, I call them FAMILY.”

https://twitter.com/Enes_Kanter/status/910262663334301698

Unfortunately for Kanter, apparently the feeling wasn’t exactly mutual as mere days later, the Thunder turned around and dealt him to the New York Knicks in a trade to bring in Carmelo Anthony. Kanter went from playing with an organization he had proclaimed as the best and most professional in the league and that was a sure-fire Western Conference contender, to one of the NBA’s most upside-down franchises.

Nevertheless, Kanter thus far has appeared to take the whole situation in stride as, to his credit, he posted a very classy farewell video upon being traded thanking OKC for everything. From there, after playing in his first NBA game with the New York Knicks last night, he gave a nice shout-out to his new fanbase in the tweet below:

https://twitter.com/Enes_Kanter/status/915411568564883456

The tweet wasn’t up long, though, before one of his former Jazz teammates struck. Enter Rudy Gobert, online destroyer of souls.

In one fell swoop, Rudy unleashed his Twitter savagery in a way that only he has fully mastered. It seems sometimes that the Stifle Tower’s only purpose for using the social media site is to fire back at any and all that oppose him, and he hit the nail on the head with his timely response to Kanter last night. Here’s what he had to say:

Rudy’s simple and sarcastic jab said it all. After Kanter’s complete disrespect of the Utah Jazz followed by his untimely exit from Oklahoma City, Gobert’s response to Kanter’s declaration about his new fans couldn’t have been better. If you want some entertainment, feel free to peruse the replies to Gobert’s tweet as several folks have reacted hilariously, including Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell who quickly awarded Gobert with the W.

Even Kanter himself was a good sport as he chimed in on Gobert’s tweet by saying the following:

In Kanter’s defense, I certainly believe he has grown up since his time in Salt Lake and even feels remorse for how he handled the situation. Perhaps now that justice has been served and Rudy Gobert’s boundless Twitter savagery has been doled out to roast Kanter’s first comment after his Knicks debut, Jazz fans will lay off of him a little bit. But I don’t know that I would count on it.

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One thing is for sure, though. If you take on the Jazz in any way, shape or form, on or off the court, you’d better be on the lookout for Rudy Gobert. If he doesn’t reject you at the rim with a mighty swat, he’ll find a way to get back at you with a well-timed and unrestrained tweet.

That lesson was formerly learned by Gordon Hayward, Isaiah Thomas and now Enes Kanter. As the year goes on and the Stifle Tower continues to assert his dominance, both on the court and on social media, I can hardly wait to see who else is added to the list.