Dallas Mavericks sophomore center Dereck Lively II gave his unfiltered thoughts on Rudy Gobert’s performances during the 2024 Western Conference Finals, where Lively’s Mavs won 4-1 over Gobert’s Timberwolves. While speaking at a Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) Camp with former NBA player Theo Pinson, Lively said there was 0 reason for Gobert to have played as much as he did in that matchup.
Dereck Lively II: “Who’s on the posters? Who’s on the TV screens? Who’s on the commercials? That player is definitely going to be on the court.”
Theo Pinson: Perfect example. They played the Minnesota Timberwolves, there is zero reason why Rudy Gobert should be on the court.
Dereck Lively II: “Zero.”
Theo Pinson: “But you’re paying him $40-50 million, you better go out there and figure it the f**k out.”
Dereck Lively II: “And he didn’t. He did not.”
Can't stop laughing after D-Live said "zero" & "and he didn't" 💀
(Via Nike EYBL on YouTube) pic.twitter.com/sltNUa4OMU
— Panda Hank (@pandahank41) September 3, 2024
Lively averaged 9.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in the Conference Finals, with the only game the Mavericks lost in the series coming when Lively was out injured for Game 4. His impact on the series was tremendous, with the Defensive Player of the Year having an unconvincing performance.
Gobert averaged 11.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in that matchup. While people are hating on Gobert for the Wolves’ failure last season, he was arguably their second-best big man in the Conference Finals behind sixth man Naz Reid. Gobert’s defensive deterrence was creating problems for Dallas all series long, with Karl-Anthony Towns being terrible defensively and inconsistent offensively.
Lively had a phenomenal series, proving himself to be one of the most impactful role-playing rookies the NBA has seen in a long time.
Let’s be honest now, it wasn’t even close. pic.twitter.com/S8IG1zo06E https://t.co/qOsQq2zUa2
— icarus (@IcarusGant) September 3, 2024
The Mavericks center is sharing the truth from his perspective, but he should be careful about insulting opponents too much in such public interviews. There haven’t been any negative consequences yet, but NBA media can be unforgiving to young players like Lively, especially if they have a penchant for shooting their mouths off.
NBA Coach Chauncey Billups Openly Criticized Gobert
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups gave his thoughts on Gobert’s game recently, saying he understands why Gobert wins DPOYs in the regular season but he can’t be respected as an elite defender in the Playoffs because teams look to attack him.
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great defender but he’s not as versatile as like the Ben Wallace’s, so he can be played off the floor with some of this spacing, right? With Rudy, we attacked him the whole series and he’s a great defensive player, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t just attack great defensive players… You going away from them… He is a good defensive player, don’t get me wrong. Regular season, I can understand why he’d be Defensive Player of the Year. Get deeper in them playoffs, it’s tricky.”
Gobert wasn’t as bad in the Playoffs as many make him out to be, leading the Wolves in plus-minus for qualifying players in the same Western Conference Finals that Lively is criticizing him for. But we saw moments like Luka Doncic intentionally hunting Gobert down the stretch before hitting a game-winner in his face, so maybe the players know more than
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