“Rudy Gobert guarded me and I had 42 .. and I’m not a scorer”: 6-foot-11 Ben Simmons made a mockery out of a 7’1 Wolves star who makes over $40 million a year to play defense

Rudy Gobert is great in the paint but when it comes to guarding guards who thrive around the rim he comes short. Ben Simmons proved that before the Frenchman won the 2021 DPOY.

A 6’11, 240 pounds point guard is not somebody defenders want to face in a game of basketball. That is the reason why the basketball community had such high expectations from Ben Simmons since he came into the league.

The last time NBA had a big point guard was the 90s and it was 6’9 Magic Johnson who we all know is one of the greatest players of all time. If not that kind of career trajectory, nobody expected Simmons to be what he has become now.

But maybe, just maybe, we are letting a couple of bad Playoffs run by the Aussie star to blur our perspective on him. The 25-year-old still can prove himself to be one of the best in the games if surrounded by proper talent.

At least his game, in the same year we saw him last time in action, against the 7’1, 258-pound former Jazz big man was the proof that he could ball out if he wanted to even against the supposed best defender in the league.

Also read: “These last two years, I’ve been dealing with some hamstring issues”: James Harden’s candid confession on recent struggles

 

When Ben Simmons exposed Rudy Gobert’s defensive shortcomings

Simmons could’ve taken much more positives from a 15 February 2021 regular season game against the Utah Jazz which was a clash of teams who would finish that season as the #1 teams in their respective conferences.

He could have used this game as a base to not limit himself offensively but instead, 3x All-Star said his career-high game coming against Rudy questions later’s defensive skills as he himself is not a specialist scorer.

The former Philly guard, being arguably the best 1 through 5 defender, was in the 2021 DPOY race at the time and used his season-high (scoring-wise) game to make a point that if he could score 42 points on the French international then how can he be the best defender in the league.

Simmons’ major point being he put up such a game when scoring is not his forte. But, an even bigger point was that the Australian guard did that without the one-punches punches with his partner Joel Embiid which was even more impressive.

Although it should have been a solid knock on Gobert winning the DPOY title year, he was still able to win it for the 3rd time. Other than that, nothing turned great for him or the Jazz that year and neither did Simmons or the 76ers do any good in the playoffs.

Also read: “Unlike Stephen Curry and Luka Doncic, LeBron James can be on the trading block”: Robert Horry shockingly claims that Rob Pelinka would agree to trade away The King for Kevin Durant