Wait, Rudy Gobert Can Shoot Threes Now?

Now before you get all bent out of shape, yes I know this was in an empty gym against exactly zero defenders. I fully understand how we see these type of videos from NBA players and the narrative is “well yeah they’re in the NBA what do you expect”. Hell we even see this with other big men like Andre Dummond and Myles Turner, two defensive oriented big men that have learned to stretch their game past the three point line over the last few years

but here’s the thing. Those guys have always had some resemblance of an offensive game. What made that Gobert video so surprising to me was when it comes to his offensive game, this is a man that almost NEVER ventured past 10ft on the offensive end. Last season Gobert took 712 FGA in 81 games. Of that number 352 were dunks and 316 were layups. From 10ft-3P he took a total of 14 attempts during the year. In no way have we seen even glimpses of an outside game in his arsenal, and instead the Jazz use him as a P&R monster where you can just lob it up to him.

But now? Well shit maybe this is why people are starting to take the Jazz as a legit threat next year. Sure it’s mostly the leap by Donovan Mitchell, the addition of Mike Conley, the fact that this team is deep and has one of the best defenses in the entire league, but now Gobert looks like he can stretch the floor? That’s a pretty big development. Of course while this video doesn’t guarantee that Gobert will even attempt this in real games, just the idea that teams may have to show him an ounce of respect outside of 10ft opens up a lot of options for the Jazz offense.

It’s pretty clear that in today’s NBA as a big you have to be able to stretch the floor if you want to get minutes. That’s simply the world we all live in now unless you are an absolute monster on the defensive end like Gobert is. But if we’re seeing a guy who literally never shoots away from the rim is able to look somewhat effective from 26ft, well then nobody can ever have an excuse as to why they can’t make threes.

Now, if you’re a stoolie stuck at work still do yourself a favor and just hit play. It’ll be quittin time before you know it

P.S.

Credit to me for being the bigger man and not making a Ben Simmons joke in this blog. I felt like it was low hanging fruit, plus I wanted to throw Sixers fans a bone as they’ve spent the majority of the day collectively masturbating to this disaster of a jumper.