Shaquille O’Neal: Rudy Gobert is the worst NBA player of all time and Ben Simmons is another bum

Some players and analysts have criticized the fact that Rudy Gobert has earned four Defensive Player of the Year awards. Gobert certainly makes an impact on the defensive end, but some do not believe it warrants some of the hype he receives. Derek Lively II’s conversation with Theo Pinson highlighted that Gobert has struggled in defensive matchups despite being highly acclaimed. Here’s how the exchange went, via a video from Nike EYBL: Theo Pinson: “They played the Timberwolves there’s 0 reason Rudy Gobert should’ve been on that court.” Dereck Lively: “Zero.” TP: “But you’re paying him $40M, you better get your a** out there & figure it the f*** out.” DL: “And he didn’t.” -via Clutch Points / September 4, 2024

After the first poster, Lively is returning for seconds this offseason. In an appearance at Nike EYBL, Lively was interviewed by former Mavericks guard Theo Pinson, who discussed the topic of players like Gobert only getting playing time due to their big contracts. “Perfect example, [the Mavericks] played the Minnesota Timberwolves. There is zero reason Rudy Gobert should’ve been on that court,” Pinson said. “Zero,” Lively echoed. “But you are paying him about 40-50 million dollars… you better get your a** out there and figure it the f*** out,” Pinson said. “And he didn’t,” Lively said. -via Clutch Points / September 3, 2024

Moving on to the 2024 Olympic Games, Gobert earned a silver medal with France. Besides struggling to fit in the rotation of head coach Vincent Collet alongside Victor Wembanyama, he was dealing with an injury during the tournament between Lille and Paris. He ended up with 3.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest over five appearances. “I think Rudy is good. He had a finger injury but I think he is good to go,” added Connelly referring to the 2024 NBA Preseason. -via EuroHoops.net / September 3, 2024

Interestingly, Ben Simmons is among the six most popular players on one of the big social media outlets, Douyin, which is akin to TikTok. The only players in front of him are James Harden, Keldon Johnson of the Spurs, Luka Doncic of the Mavericks and Klay Thompson of the Warriors, one of the most popular players in China. Why Simmons? It was his support of an NBA Cares initiative to bring basketball courts to rural China. Working with the Nets, Simmons donated a basketball court in rural China, which is an NBA priority. It was a big hit, noted Mailman, leading to 4.2 million video views and 4.2 million reads on social media. Two companies Tsai is a big part of — Alibaba and Alipay — also teamed with NBA China to set up a fantasy league (Alibaba) and Chinese New Year celebrations (Alipay) where NBA stars offer their New Year’s wishes. -via NetsDaily / August 14, 2024

The day the Nets traded Johnson’s longtime friend Mikal Bridges and signaled their intent to tank, that put veterans such as Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dennis Schroder, Ben Simmons and Bojan Bogdanovic on the trade block.  But the latter trio are all playing on expiring deals, so they could be kept to preserve 2025 cap space. Moving Johnson and Finney-Smith seems logical, with the Johnson projected to fetch more in return.  “We’ve had some conversations with all the vets on the team because it does weigh on people,” Marks said last week. “And I don’t try to sort of breeze over that because it’s a family, and you want to say, ‘Hey, this is a close-knit group.’ It’s a close locker room in there, and when one of their own leaves, it hits home.  -via New York Post / July 23, 2024

You mentioned Ben Simmons. Cam Johnson said there’s potential if he’s healthy, but it’s always been a big if. Can you count on that at this point? Cam Thomas: I count on it every year he’s on the team. I’m expecting him to be healthy and be ready to play. I’m not going into every year saying he’s not going to play. Never. He’s on the team, and I think he’s going to be healthy to play to start the year off. Whatever happens during the year happens. To start the year off, I feel like he’s going to be ready to play. -via HoopsHype / July 18, 2024