Something that doesn’t get talked about much is the importance of basketball skills. It’s one of the reasons people look down on Gobert … his dribbling and jump shooting are worse than a bunch of players at the local pickup … the fact that his game knowledge and defensive presence are one of the most valueable assets for winning games is hard to accept if you only casually watch the players on the court.
Shaq and most bigs suffer from the same thing. In addition to winning and intangibles and resumes and longevity and all that, shooting and dribbling and maybe movement and maybe on the ball defense just matter to the idea of the best basketball player, shaped from all those common experiences of learning on playground and recognizing the best players there. People don’t enjoy the idea that the best player can’t hit his free throws or dribble the ball up the court or lock someone down on D.
Something that doesn’t get talked about much is the importance of basketball skills. It’s one of the reasons people look down on Gobert … his dribbling and jump shooting are worse than a bunch of players at the local pickup … the fact that his game knowledge and defensive presence are one of the most valueable assets for winning games is hard to accept if you only casually watch the players on the court.
Shaq and most bigs suffer from the same thing. In addition to winning and intangibles and resumes and longevity and all that, shooting and dribbling and maybe movement and maybe on the ball defense just matter to the idea of the best basketball player, shaped from all those common experiences of learning on playground and recognizing the best players there. People don’t enjoy the idea that the best player can’t hit his free throws or dribble the ball up the court or lock someone down on D.