Rudy Gobert just shut down the haters with one game-changing stat thread

The way Rudy Gobert is discussed among the basketball community is endlessly interesting. It feels hard to think of any one other non-All-Star player where non-Minnesota Timberwolves fans are constantly bent on trying to dunk on him, bring him down, or somehow prove that he's not as good as he's hyped up to be.

Honestly, much of it is probably simply built off of social media hype. People can enjoy beating up on a character on a screen, especially when they feel they're valid for doing so. Because there's this massive narrative that Rudy Gobert is an overrated defender, many casual fans unsurprisingly like the feeling of piling on number 27 for Minnesota.

But Gobert has four Defensive Player of the Year awards, does he not? Indeed. So why does the internet constantly tell us Rudy is washed and useless? For starters, much of the narrative is built upon the cherry-picked clips that get posted online. When we look beyond those short videos of him getting beaten on a singular possession, we can begin to see a more clear full picture.

Does Gobert have his flaws, and can he look bad based on only bringing up his failures? Of course. But that's why we should seek to look deeper. That is, if we truly desire to understand his impact for what it actually is. Thankfully, Synergy Basketball's Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper on X) has us covered in this department.

Gobert was great, not good, for Timberwolves in Game 2

Whitehead created a useful graphic that accurately represents every possession where Rudy Gobert defended in space in the Timberwolves' Game 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Per Whitehead's data, Gobert faced a total of 25 challenges (or opponent shot attempts) and he surrendered just 22 total points on those plays for an average of 0.63 points per attempt.

It should be noted that some of Rudy's weakest moments in Game 2 came when he attempted to show or blitz defensively. In four of those scenarios, he produced three of what Whitehead categorizes as negative plays. Score one for the Gobert haters.

But outside of that, Rudy was very consistently solid in most other defensive scenarios in this game.
Of course, the Lakers did try to get Gobert on a switch several times. But this was actually a situation where he thrived the most.

Four times the Lakers decided to attack Rudy in isolation, three after getting a switch. And incredibly, all four ended in a miss. You can chalk some of that up to just guys missing shots they might normally make, especially when we're talking about Luka Doncic. But if you're going to kick Gobert for his failures, lift him up for his successes too.

This was a masterful job by Whitehead to put this thread together, and I hope it brings to light the true nature of what we typically see from Rudy Gobert on any given night. He's not perfect, but we can definitely categorize him as over-hated by NBA fans more often than not.