In the seven games he has played this season, Rudy Gobert is shooting just 42.5 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from the free-throw line. Even for a player not known for offensive prowess, it’s been wholly uncharacteristic.
“We knew that’s part of the NBA,” Gobert said recently. “You have a couple new guys coming in and have very high goals this year. We know there’s going to be tough games, there’s going to be adversity, there’s going to be growing pains. Keep trusting one another, keep talking to one another. Keep putting in the work every day.”
The numbers are startling, because Gobert has been an efficiency monster his entire career. He has a career shooting percentage of 65.7 percent, second only to DeAndre Jordan (67.4) in league history. The 7-foot-1 center has lived around the rim over the last 14 years, only shooting under 60 percent twice, including 48.6 percent as a seldom-used rookie in 2013-14.
He has led the league in field goal percentage four times, including last season when he converted 68.2 percent of his shots, the second-best mark of his career. But coming into the game against the Bucks, he was 1 of 10 on shots between 3 and 10 feet and 12 of 21 (57 percent) at the rim, per Basketball Reference. Gobert has converted 75 percent of his shots at the rim over his career, now in Year 14.
In losses to the Cavaliers and the Warriors last week, Gobert combined to go 0 of 13 from the field. He is 7 of 13 in the two games since.
“It’s a rough couple days, man. Rough couple days,” Gobert said last week. “A lot of things that I gotta finish that I didn’t finish. Just gotta keep putting in the work.”