Gobert, Rudy (1992- )

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    Need a Restaurant Recommendation? Ask an N.B.A. Player.

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    The best basketball players on the planet travel regularly, embrace local cultures and have deep pockets — making them very credible reviewers of restaurants across the country.Pick a city, any city, on the National Basketball Association’s 30-team circuit, and Kelly Olynyk, a forward for the Utah Jazz, has deep knowledge of the local restaurant scene.If you are searching for top-tier sushi in Boston, where he spent his first four N.B.A. seasons, he recommends Fuji at Ink Block in the South End. In Charlotte, N.C., he will most likely suggest the smoked wings at Rooster’s Wood-Fired Kitchen. Whether you are craving the best Italian in San Francisco or in pursuit of tasty treats in Indianapolis — Mr. Olynyk knows a place. He is a 6-foot-11 human version of Yelp.“You have spots in each city that you love and know you can count on,” said Mr. Olynyk, 32, after eating at thousands of restaurants over the 10 years he has played professionally on five N.B.A. teams. “But part of having an interest in different cultures and cuisines and restaurants is trying new ones.”In a league that consists of 28 cities, roughly 450 players and 1,230 regular season games each year, N.B.A. business travel is frequent and first-class. Teams fly private and stay in five-star hotel chains like the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. But they also eat, a lot, and by embracing local culture and institutions with their deep pockets, they have become very credible restaurant authorities.Karl-Anthony Towns, of the Timberwolves, at Fratelli’s Pizza & Cafe in his hometown, Piscataway, N.J. Mr. Towns grew up eating Fratelli’s pizza. When they started dating, he told his girlfriend: “‘All you need is a cheese slice and I promise you it will change your life.”via Karl-Anthony TownsN.B.A. players are larger-than-normal humans (average height is 6-foot-6) with equally large salaries (average annual pay is $8.32 million), a combination that results in voracious appetites and often in reservations at the country’s most renowned restaurants. Each player also receives a $133 food per diem for days on the road.“Sometimes, if we’re only in a city one night, I’ll go to two dinners,” admitted Mr. Olynyk.The 2023-24 N.B.A. season just tipped off on Oct. 24, and in a typical season, each team plays 41 games on the road, visiting each opposing market (that includes 27 U.S. cities and Toronto) at least once. There are additional preseason and playoff games also to consider. The Golden State Warriors, for example, traveled to Los Angeles — home of the Lakers and Clippers — seven times last season. That means many meals and time to bond.“We travel so much around the country that going out to restaurants has always been the greatest way to bring everyone together,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, a three-time N.B.A. All-Star center with the Minnesota Timberwolves.Regardless of which teammates or coaches they choose to dine with, players take notice of the food, service and settings: Word-of-mouth recommendations between players are a major part of N.B.A. restaurant culture.“We’re a brotherhood, so you’re going to definitely have some honest reviews from your 449 brothers,” said Mr. Towns, 27.Rudy Gobert, a Timberwolves teammate, frequent gives Mr. Towns tips on lesser-known eateries with little fanfare on Yelp, Tripadvisor or other recommendation websites. Mr. Olynyk, of the Jazz, enjoys introducing his younger teammates to top restaurants in different cities (and picking up the bill), much as his former teammate Rajon Rondo did for him, treating Mr. Olynyk to Strega Italiano in Boston when Mr. Olynyk was a rookie with the Celtics.“It’s kind of like a rite of passage,” Mr. Olynyk, a native of Toronto, said.Kevin Love, a veteran forward for the Miami Heat, grew up in Portland, Ore., a city known for its creative dining scene. As his basketball career — one that has included five All-Star selections and a championship ring with the Cleveland Cavaliers — has advanced, his food knowledge has improved and his network of fellow food lovers has expanded (The Times documented his passion for travel in 2019).“Having a love for food, as well as wine, has brought me into a number of circles where I’ve made really good friends with restaurateurs, chefs and people who have similar interests,” said Mr. Love, 35, who is a partner (along with his former teammate Channing Frye) in Chosen Family Wines, a wine brand based out of Willamette Valley, Ore. “That’s a fun world to be in.”He has leveraged connections in the restaurant industry to organize team dinners, key to building team camaraderie. Before the Heat visit New York City, Mr. Love will call area restaurants and design unique dining experiences for his teammates.“I’m going to take these guys out and show them great food and introduce them to maybe a different cuisine,” Mr. Love said.He still considers Portland one of his top food destinations, naming Kann and RingSide Steakhouse (he strongly suggests the onion rings) as his hometown favorites. In New York City, where he lived in the off-season before recently moving to Long Island, Mr. Love lists as favorites Carbone, Sadelle’s, Hometown Bar-B-Que, Fini Pizza and Misi (Sean Feeney, the restaurateur, is a good friend of his), and Eleven Madison Park (Daniel Humm, the chef and owner, is also a friend).Kevin Love, a veteran forward for the Miami Heat, has leveraged his connections in the restaurant industry to organize team dinners.Michael Dwyer/Associated Press“It’s one of the most unbelievably beautiful kitchens I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Love said of Eleven Madison Park.For many N.B.A. players, supporting minority-owned businesses can be as important as finding establishments with Michelin stars. Mr. Towns, of the Timberwolves, will also approach local residents to seek restaurant recommendations.“I’ve always been intrigued by people and cultures,” said Mr. Towns, who has Dominican and African American roots. “And the best way to learn about people and cultures is to sit down and enjoy their food.”In Minneapolis, Mr. Towns recommends Soul Bowl, a soul food and Caribbean-inspired restaurant in the city’s North Loop. But it was Fratelli’s Pizza Cafe, in his hometown, Piscataway, N.J., where he took his girlfriend when they first started dating.“‘I got to take you home to a pizzeria that I grew up on,’” Mr. Towns recalled saying. “I said, ‘All you need is a cheese slice and I promise you it will change your life.’”“She agrees with me,” he said with a laugh.Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023. More

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      Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert Talks, Criticism, Covid and Donovan Mitchell

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      Gobert had a dominant run in Utah, but now he and the Minnesota Timberwolves are struggling to find their fit together. He hears the chatter — and ignores it.Rudy Gobert, the Minnesota Timberwolves center and French basketball star, rode the same wave of emotions as many of his French compatriots during the men’s World Cup final this month. Angst. Hope. Agony.When it ended, with France losing to Argentina in penalty kicks, he reached out to his friend, the 24-year-old French star Kylian Mbappé, who had scored three goals in the championship match.“I was really proud of him,” Gobert said. “He showed the world who he is. He’s only getting better and better. That’s what I told him.”Gobert thought Mbappé must have felt like he did after he lost to Spain in the EuroBasket final with the French national team three months ago.“Obviously, it’s not as watched as the soccer World Cup, but it’s the same feeling when you lose, when you’re so close to being on top and lose in the final,” Gobert said. “So just got to use that pain to just keep getting better.”Gobert, a three-time N.B.A. defensive player of the year, has been going through a challenging period of his own.This summer, the Utah Jazz traded him to Minnesota, which bet its future on Gobert’s ability to help the franchise win its first championship. The Timberwolves gave the Jazz four draft picks, four players and the right to swap picks in 2026.“The average fan might not understand what I bring to the table,” Gobert said, “but the G.M.s in the league do.”In Minnesota, Gobert joined his fellow big man Karl-Anthony Towns, and the team has struggled to adjust to its new makeup. The Timberwolves went on a five-game winning streak in November, but Towns has been out since he hurt his calf Nov. 28 and Gobert has missed a few games. Minnesota was 16-18 entering Wednesday’s game against New Orleans.Gobert recently sat down with The New York Times to discuss his transition to Minnesota; how he handles criticism; racism in Utah; and his relationship with his former Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell, who was traded to Cleveland in September.This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.Gobert’s scoring is down this season, to 13.9 points per game from 15.6 per game last season in Utah.Chris Szagola/Associated PressWhat has it been like adjusting to playing with another center like Karl-Anthony Towns?I don’t really like to call him a center because I don’t think he’s a center. I think it’s more of a wing in a center’s body. But yeah, it’s been a fun process so far. Obviously, we knew there was going to be some ups and downs, and there is some ups and downs. But KAT has been a great teammate. He’s been a great human.People like to focus on the fact that it’s two big men that play together, but there is always a process of adjustment when a player like me joins another team. Building chemistry takes time.Is it hard when you’re going through that process and there are so many eyes on how it’s going?It’s not hard for me. I want to win, I’m a competitor, so it’s hard to lose. But at the same time, I’m able to understand the bigger picture and to understand that you got to go through pain to grow. I’ve said every time people ask me, it’s going to be some adversity. And when adversity hits, obviously everybody will have something to say. People are always going to have opinions.A lot of people celebrate my failures. It’s kind of like a mark of respect for me just to have people that just wait until I do something wrong or until my teams start losing. Then they become really, really loud. And when my teams do well it’s quiet again. You know, I kind of embrace that it’s part of the external noise that comes with all the success that we’ve had in Utah and over the last few years in my career.When did you first feel that people were celebrating your failures?Once I started to have success, when I started winning defensive player of the year, All-N.B.A., being an All-Star. When my team, when we started winning like 50 games and stuff. The people on social media are always the loudest. When I go outside, it’s usually all the interactions are positive.Social media is a different place, and the people that have a lot of frustration can put it out there. The fans are going to have opinions. I’m more talking about the media.A lot of people talk about Utah as being a difficult place for Black players, for Black people in general. Did you ever have experiences like that as a Black player when you were there?My family and I never had any bad experiences. I’ve always had a lot of love over there. But I can understand, for me being an N.B.A. player and for a young Black man that’s maybe the only Black guy in his school, treatment can be different. People talk about Utah, but it’s similar everywhere when there’s not a lot of diversity. It’s part of every society in the world that people that can be marginalized for being different color of skin, different religion. There’s always going to be kids at school that’s going to bully people for being different.Gobert has won three Defensive Player of the Year Awards.Alika Jenner/Getty ImagesYou went through a very strange experience a couple of years ago in Utah as the first N.B.A. player known to have tested positive for the coronavirus. You were blamed for spreading it within the league, even though no one really knew how it happened. How did that experience affect you?It was a really tough experience for me, dealing with all that, obviously, Covid, but also everything that came with it. Thanks to — yeah, it was a tough experience, but I think it made me grow.Did you say ‘thanks to media’?No, I stopped saying what I was going to say. But I remember a lot of things that happened. I won’t forget, you know. There was a lot of fear. There was a lot of narratives out there. I was a victim of that. But at the same time, a lot of people were going through some really tough moments. I had to get away from what people are saying about me. It was people that don’t even know me. And I know that when you have something like that that’s happening, people are really stressed out and it was tough for everyone.There was a lot of conversation about your relationship with Donovan Mitchell, at that time and afterward. How do you view how that relationship was?I think it was a tough situation for me, just like it was a tough situation for him. After that, we came back to have a lot of success as a team. As of today, Donovan is someone that I want to see him happy. I want to see him succeed. I want him and his family to be great. Things happen, and sometimes people can do things to you that can hurt you. A lot of times it’s out of fear, you know. So you just have to grow through that and see past that.You mentioned people will do things that hurt you. Do you mean Mitchell?I mean generally. That’s life. More

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      The Utah Jazz Are Defying Everyone Who Said They Would Lose

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      Many fans and pundits expected the Utah Jazz to tank this season for a better draft pick next year. Instead, they’re among the best teams in the N.B.A.SALT LAKE CITY — The crowd roared and bounced so enthusiastically that seats in the upper deck of the arena were shaking.The public address announcer had been crowing since the third quarter that the Jazz were about to win the game, urging the Utah fans to believe it too. With 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter and the Jazz up by 1 point, shooting guard Malik Beasley sank a 3-pointer and began dancing. Then his entire team rushed from the bench to surround him in celebration. When their opponent, Memphis, lost the ball on a last-second play, the fans erupted.It felt like a playoff game instead of what it really was: the seventh game of a season in which Utah is supposed to be — at least according to basketball pundits — tanking its season to gain favorable positioning in the June draft.But the Jazz (12-7) have not been playing that way. They sit near the top of the Western Conference and their players have been defiant in the face of outsiders’ disregard for them. It’s still early in the 82-game season, but the Jazz have been enjoying their success.“On the inside, we always thought we were going to compete,” Jazz forward Kelly Olynyk said. “We kind of let everybody else think and say what they want.”The N.B.A. is driven by stars, so when Utah jettisoned its two perennial All-Stars over the summer, its path seemed clear: Utah was heading into a dramatic rebuild, resting its hopes on getting high picks and making the right choices with them. Right?Kelly Olynyk was one of several players to join the Jazz over the summer through trades. He played for the Detroit Pistons last season, and has started every game for Utah this year.Nick Wass/Associated PressThe bottom-three teams in the standings at the end of the season will each have a 14 percent chance of securing the top draft pick, a selection likely to be used on Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 French prodigy. Even the second pick would net a valuable prize — the G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson, who graduated high school early to begin his professional career. Before the season, any list of teams likely to draft Wembanyama included the Jazz.Just a few years ago it might have seemed unfathomable that the Jazz would be in the hunt for the top pick any time soon. Utah had expected center Rudy Gobert, 30, and guard Donovan Mitchell, 26, to deliver playoff magic together for years to come. Utah had acquired both in draft-day deals with Denver: Gobert in 2013, and Mitchell in 2017.In their five seasons together in Salt Lake City, they were named to a combined six All-Star teams but never got past the conference semifinals. The Jazz had the best record in the N.B.A. during the 2020-21 season, but still made a second-round playoff exit. Last season, Utah lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, and then Coach Quin Snyder resigned after eight years with the team.“I strongly feel they need a new voice to continue to evolve,” Snyder said in a statement released by the team at the time. “That’s it. No philosophical differences, no other reason.”The Jazz hired Will Hardy, a former Boston Celtics assistant, who at 34 is one of the youngest coaches in the league. Then they set to work dismantling their roster.In July they traded Gobert, a three-time defensive player of the year, to Minnesota for four first-round draft picks, a pick swap and five players: Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro and the rookie center Walker Kessler, through his draft rights.Then they traded Beverley to the Lakers for Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson.Donovan Mitchell, left, and Rudy Gobert, right, spent five seasons together in Utah but never made it past the Western Conference semifinals in the playoffs. The Jazz traded both over the summer.Rick Bowmer/Associated PressIn September, they traded Mitchell to Cleveland for three first-round draft picks, the right to swap two more first-round picks and three players: Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji.A few weeks later, Utah traded the talented forward Bojan Bogdanovic to the Pistons for cash, Olynyk and Saben Lee, whom they later released.Olynyk, Vanderbilt and Markkanen slid into the starting lineup. Utah also started the returning guards Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson, who won the 2020-21 Sixth Man of the Year Award.These were established N.B.A. players with starting experience, but few onlookers believed they could actually compete — or that the front office would want them to.ESPN ranked Utah 25th in a preseason ranking of all 30 N.B.A. teams. According to Basketball Reference, the Jazz were tied with the Pistons, Thunder, Magic, Pacers, Kings, Spurs and Rockets — who all missed the playoffs last season — for the worst odds to win a championship this season.Their over/under for wins was set at 23.5. Utah is already more than halfway there just a quarter of the way through the season.The Jazz startled league observers with a 123-102 win in their season opener against the Denver Nuggets, a team led by Nikola Jokic, who has been named the league’s most valuable player the past two seasons.“Every game people are surprised that we win,” Markkanen said. “We got a great coaching staff, we got great players on this team, so we can beat anybody when we play our best basketball. We try and have that underdog mentality going into games.“People really are not expecting a lot from us. Use that to fuel us — not that you really need that; we obviously go out there and compete every night. Just if we ever need some extra motivation, I guess.”The Jazz have gotten important contributions from several players, but Markkanen, 25, has undergone a bit of a personal renaissance with Utah, his third team.He’s averaging 22.4 points, 0.9 blocks, and 2.4 assists per game, all better than his career highs. His 8.5 rebounds per game this season are his most since his second N.B.A. season when he averaged nine per game with Chicago. It had been 15 years since a Jazz player had at least 70 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists through the first three games of the season, until Markkanen did it with 72 points, 29 rebounds and 11 assists through his first three games.Hardy has helped the Jazz, who had 15 new players at training camp, jell quickly.“A young coach coming in demanding that effort from you, but then at the same time he’s like: ‘Go have fun. Be yourself. Let’s play,’” Conley, 35, told reporters this month. He added: “We’ve got a great joy for the game right now, and it’s a lot of fun to be around.”They’ve beaten struggling and surging teams alike. They’ve won games in which they’ve had early leads, and they’ve won with come-from-behind efforts. A recent three-game losing streak hinted at their flaws, but they followed it by beating the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, teams that have been playing well this season.“Winning’s fun,” Olynyk said. “Winning’s a lot of fun.” More

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      Here’s What to Know About EuroBasket

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      The championship of Europe for men’s national basketball teams is being played for the first time since 2017. It is down to the last four teams.We answer your questions about the EuroBasket tournament, which concludes this weekend in Berlin.Wait, have Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic actually been playing competitive basketball the past two weeks?Yes, and other big names like Luka Doncic and Rudy Gobert have also been involved in EuroBasket.What exactly is EuroBasket?The championship of Europe for men’s national teams, normally held every two years, although this year’s is the first since 2017 because of the pandemic. This year’s games have been played in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany and Italy.Is it a big deal?Some American fans don’t know much about it, but in European basketball circles, it is a big deal. It is considered one of the three most important international tournaments, along with the Olympics and the World Cup, and regularly attracts most of Europe’s best players.EuroBasket is a big enough deal that Jokic, the reigning winner of the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award, who might have been excused for skipping an off-season tournament, played for his native Serbia. It is a big enough deal that Antetokounmpo of Greece also played — and took it seriously enough that he was ejected from his quarterfinal after committing two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls.Where does the competition stand?Germany, Spain, France and Poland have advanced to the final four in Berlin this weekend. ESPN+ is streaming the games in the U.S.; the semifinals are at 1:05 and 4:20 p.m. Eastern on Friday and the final at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday.Is there a women’s EuroBasket?Yes. The next one is in 2023 in Slovenia and Israel; Serbia is the defending champion. Because it is played in June, it does not generally attract W.N.B.A. players, although top European-based players and some American collegians compete.How have the big names been doing in the men’s event?Gobert had 19 points and 13 rebounds in France’s overtime victory over Italy in the quarterfinals and is averaging 14.7 points, just behind the 15.0 from his teammate Evan Fournier of the Knicks.But while Gobert and France play on, three of the biggest names have been eliminated in what has been an unpredictable event so far.Doncic was huge for Slovenia. In a game against France he scored 47 on 15 of 23 shooting and also had 36- and 35-point games, for three of the top five scoring performances in the tournament. But he was just 5 of 15 as Slovenia was shocked by Poland in the quarterfinals despite rallying from a 23-point deficit.“We didn’t go into the game like we wanted to,” Doncic told reporters. “The energy wasn’t there, but then we came back. But Poland was still fighting, so congrats to Poland.” France will meet Poland in a semifinal.Antetokounmpo averaged a tournament-high 29.3 points per game before Greece was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Germany after his ejection. Jokic, whose Serbian team was eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy, is the fifth leading scorer at 21.7 points a game.Rudy Gobert had 19 points and 13 rebounds in France’s overtime victory over Italy.Filip Singer/EPA, via ShutterstockAny less familiar names?Center Willy Hernangómez, of the New Orleans Pelicans, who has never averaged 10 points a game with three N.B.A. teams, is playing like a dominant big man in this competition, averaging 17.9 points a game for Spain. He was 10-13 from the floor in a quarterfinal win over Finland, which put Spain in an 11th straight Eurobasket semifinal, dating to 1999.In the semifinals, Spain will face host Germany, which has advanced without really having a marquee player. Dennis Schröder, the point guard who is a free agent after most recently playing with the Rockets, has impressed, ranking seventh in points per game and sixth in assists per game.Poland has made it to the semis without a current N.B.A. player on its roster or a leading scorer in the tournament. Forward Mateusz Ponitka, the captain, who plays for Reggio Emilia in Italy, had 26 points as part of a triple-double in the quarterfinal win. “Here we are: We are Cinderella right now,” the 28-year-old Ponitka told reporters, saying it was the first triple-double of his career.The power forward Lauri Markkanen of Finland, which punched above its weight to make the quarterfinals, also opened eyes. He had 43 points in an upset of Croatia, a team with Dario Saric and Bojan Bogdanovic, in the round of 16. That could be good news for the Utah Jazz, who acquired Markkanen from the Cavaliers two weeks ago.Who’s going to win?It’s a tough call among three of the remaining four teams, with Poland the only real long shot. France is an 8½-point favorite to end Poland’s run in the first semi, while Germany is a 3½-point favorite over world champion Spain, mostly because of the home court advantage. More

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      Rudy Gobert Wins Third Defensive Player of the Year Award

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      Gobert, the Utah Jazz center, won the honor for the third time in four years after leading the N.B.A. in total blocks.Rudy Gobert, the Utah Jazz center, won yet another Defensive Player of the Year Award, the N.B.A. announced Wednesday. It was Gobert’s third time winning the award in four years. He is the fourth player in league history to win the honor three times after the four-time winners Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace and the three-time winner Dwight Howard.The award was announced, appropriately enough, a day after the Jazz won the opening game of their semifinal series against the Los Angeles Clippers, in part because of a game-saving block by Gobert at the end of regulation.“I think it takes team effort,” Gobert said in an interview with TNT’s “Inside The N.B.A.,” moments after he was announced as the recipient. “It takes obviously toughness, mental toughness. It’s just hard work, dedication. It’s every single day, you’ve got to come in with that mind-set to try to make your team as good as it can be on that end.”Gobert, 28, anchored the Jazz, who had third-best defense in the league and its best record. He received 84 first-place votes and 464 total points. Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons, the runner-up, had 287 points and 15 first-place votes. A hundred members of the news media vote on the award, but The New York Times does not participate.As a tall center who does not shoot or pass well, Gobert is a bit of an anomaly in today’s N.B.A. His game is centered around protecting the rim and dunking. Even so, Gobert, a two-time All-Star, is one of the most impactful players in the league. He was fourth in the N.B.A. in win shares per 48 minutes — essentially a stat estimating how many wins a player contributes to his team. His 13.5 rebounds per game was second in the league behind Atlanta’s Clint Capela. According to league tracking numbers, Gobert defended the most field goal attempts at the rim (549) and was among the N.B.A.’s best in effectively contesting those shots.When Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz’s star guard, missed much of the second half of the season because of an injury, Gobert’s defense helped keep the Jazz afloat. Last year, there was friction between Mitchell and Gobert after Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, days after appearing to mock it. Gobert’s test set off the season’s postponement, followed by several other leagues doing the same.Gobert’s ascent in the league is a surprising one. He was drafted with the 27th pick of the 2013 draft by the Denver Nuggets out of France, and then was immediately traded to the Jazz, where he has surpassed the expectations of those typically drafted at the end of the first round. More

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      After Bonding Over Basketball and Biking, a Big Loss

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      Mark Eaton and Rudy Gobert, paint protectors past and present for the Utah Jazz, had built a relationship of mutual admiration and respect.Mark Eaton did not connect with Rudy Gobert because they were both big men from a small-market franchise known for their immense shot-blocking presence. Not exclusively, anyway.Eaton and Gobert, paint protectors past and present for the Utah Jazz, bonded over a love of bike-riding, too.In August 2016 in Las Vegas, at a National Basketball Retired Players Association function, Eaton was introduced to a Frenchman named David Folch, who specialized in making custom bicycles for tall riders and had been referred to the association by the Hall of Famer Bill Walton. Eaton was so excited that he hopped right onto Folch’s sample bike and began pedaling through the corridors of the hotel.“He had a big smile on his face as he’s coming back and, with that deep voice, he’s telling me, ‘I feel like a kid — I haven’t felt like this since I was 10,’ ” Folch said in a telephone interview.Within a year, Eaton had arranged for Gobert to meet the 6-foot-6 Folch to get a DirtySixer bike of his own, outfitted with 36-inch wheels for a frame that, as Folch described it, comes with “everything oversized and everything proportionate” for N.B.A.-sized cycling enthusiasts. Gobert was quickly hooked and would soon have his own custom bike to join Eaton for occasional rides. He later ordered 15 bikes from Folch as presents for his Jazz teammates.I recently wrote about Gobert’s trying year in the spotlight after he was the first N.B.A. player known to test positive for the coronavirus. The piece included a passage about how Eaton had become a mentor to Gobert. Eaton shared the story of their first 7-footers-only bike ride and a subsequent tour of Eaton’s Park City, Utah, home, where Gobert spotted Eaton’s Defensive Player of the Year Award trophies from 1984-85 and 1988-89. Gobert vowed that day to win one, too.“Now he has two of his own,” Eaton said in our March conversation.Gobert is widely expected to soon be named the winner of the award for the third time, but Eaton sadly won’t be here to see it. Last Friday, on his second bike ride of the day, Eaton was found lying unconscious on a roadway after a suspected crash near his home in Summit County, Utah. Eaton was taken to a hospital, where he died that night. The state’s medical examiner’s office has yet to announce an official cause of death.Eaton became a mentor to Rudy Gobert, and inspired Gobert to try to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award, a trophy Eaton won twice in his career.Getty ImagesSorrow spread quickly around the league on Saturday because Eaton, just 64, was a beloved figure in N.B.A. circles, as much for the way he campaigned for retired players as for his own unlikely rise from the community college ranks to an 11-year career with the Jazz that peaked with one All-Star selection (1988-89). It was also the latest in a string of devastating bike accidents involving N.B.A. figures, adding to the anguish felt last October, when the longtime Houston Rockets scout BJ Johnson was killed on a ride in Houston. In March, Shawn Bradley, the 12-year veteran center, announced through the Dallas Mavericks that he had been paralyzed in January after a vehicle struck him during a ride in St. George, Utah.Gobert dedicated the Jazz’s Game 3 victory in Memphis on Saturday night to Eaton. The 7-foot-4 Eaton often told the story of his struggles at U.C.L.A., where he barely played in two seasons, until the iconic Wilt Chamberlain watched him in a few practices and told him to focus on dominating around the rim instead of trying to match the mobility of faster opponents. Eaton repeatedly passed the same message on to the 7-foot-1 Gobert, who, like Eaton, was not an instant force in the N.B.A., after Denver selected him with the 27th overall pick in the 2013 draft on Utah’s behalf.“I feel his presence,” Gobert said after the Game 3 win, adding that he could imagine receiving his customary postgame text message from Eaton that read, “Way to protect the paint, big guy.”My personal memories of Eaton are equally fond. As a basketball-loving resident of Orange County, Calif., it was impossible for me not to be schooled on the Eaton fairy tale — how he had been spotted by a coach from Cypress (Calif.) Community College while working as a mechanic and had been talked into joining the team, at age 20, after he had given up the sport. Eaton was earning an annual salary of $20,000 at Mark C. Bloome Tires, but he showed enough promise at Cypress to be drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 107th overall pick in the fifth round of the 1979 draft, before deciding it would be wiser to transfer to U.C.L.A. rather than trying to go directly to the pros.The Jazz selected Eaton in the fourth round of the 1982 draft at No. 72 overall after his virtually nonexistent Bruins career. In his third N.B.A. season, he blocked 5.6 shots per game to set a single-season league record that still stands. His last season as an active player with the Jazz (1992-93) narrowly preceded my first season as an N.B.A. beat writer (1993-94), but Eaton also holds a distinction found in only one record book — mine. He was the first N.B.A. player I ever interviewed.Rudy Gobert, left, David Folch, center, and Mark Eaton, right, in November 2017.Courtesy of DirtySixer BikesDuring the summer of 1989, as a part-time correspondent for The Orange County Register while attending Cal State Fullerton, I was dispatched to cover the N.B.A.’s annual summer league at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. I had spent months pestering an assigning editor, Robin Romano, who graciously put up with my badgering. Summer league in those days was nothing at all like the monster enterprise we see now, with big crowds in Las Vegas and cameras everywhere. Established N.B.A. writers rarely covered it — especially those based in Southern California accustomed to long playoff runs reporting on the Showtime Lakers.Romano fought for me to get the assignment, partly because I had besieged her with reminders that, thanks to my overseas ties and full-fledged N.B.A. nerdity, I was already well acquainted with the Lakers’ little-known first-round draft pick from Europe: Vlade Divac. Yet it was Eaton I encountered first in the L.M.U. hallway as I entered the gym, and I approached him, terrified, for an interview — and without any good questions or even a story angle.Eaton had just made his lone All-Star appearance five months earlier and, if I remember right, was not even playing that day as one of the veterans known, in that anything-goes era, to drop in unannounced to get some run. As a 20-year-old neophyte, I just figured I better interview an N.B.A. All-Star because I saw one. To my relief, Eaton couldn’t have been nicer about my lack of preparation or know-how as I held my tape recorder as high as my meager, trembling wingspan could manage.He got me through it. I recounted the tale for him more than once in recent years and, when we last spoke nearly three months ago for the Gobert piece, Eaton made sure to remind me: “I love your story about Loyola.”Video of that interaction, had it existed, wouldn’t be nearly as compelling as the footage of Eaton pedaling in the halls of a Vegas hotel, or the great clip that has been circulating of Eaton smothering a drive to the basket by the former N.B.A. player Rex Chapman with his right palm without jumping. Yet Eaton’s compliment, coming from the gentle giant who had one of the best back stories in N.B.A. history, is one I plan to hang on to.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeLarry Nance Jr. had a little support from his father, the three-time N.B.A. All-Star Larry Nance Sr., during the 2018 slam dunk contest.Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports, via ReutersYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. (Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.)Questions may be condensed and lightly edited for clarity.Q: The 1996-97 Charlotte Hornets had Glen Rice and Dell Curry on the roster. Their kids, Glen Rice Jr., and Stephen and Seth Curry, all reached the N.B.A. so those Hornets had two dads of future N.B.A. players. Has an N.B.A. roster ever had more than two? — Steven Friedlander (Knoxville, Tenn.)Stein: A comprehensive breakdown of N.B.A. rosters with the most N.B.A. dads was not readily available, but some consultation with the Elias Sports Bureau found multiple teams in the 1990s that had at least three players whose sons made it to the N.B.A., too.Golden State in 1991-92: Tim Hardaway (Tim Hardaway Jr.), Rod Higgins (Cory Higgins) and Jaren Jackson (Jaren Jackson Jr.)Cleveland in 1993-94: Higgins, Larry Nance (Larry Nance Jr.) and Gerald Wilkins (Damien Wilkins)Golden State in 1994-95: Manute Bol (Bol Bol), Hardaway and HigginsPortland in 1995-96: Harvey Grant (Jerami and Jerian Grant), Arvydas Sabonis (Domantas Sabonis) and Gary Trent (Gary Trent Jr.)Portland in 1997-98: Rick Brunson (Jalen Brunson), Sabonis and Trent.Another memorable example: As my pal Mike Lynch from Stathead noted, Henry Bibby (Mike Bibby), Joe Bryant (Kobe Bryant), Mike Dunleavy (Mike Dunleavy Jr.) and Harvey Catchings (whose daughter Tamika Catchings starred in the W.N.B.A. and was just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2020 class alongside Kobe Bryant) all played for Philadelphia in 1976-77.Q: Have my Hornets finally turned a corner? Can LaMelo Ball’s exciting style help us attract free agents? Will Michael Jordan be willing to break the bank again on a proven player after the signing of Gordon Hayward? — Glenn Gibson (Mount Holly, N.C.)Stein: Ball’s presence could help some, but it’s a stretch to describe Charlotte as any sort of emerging free-agent destination or to suggest that the Hornets’ standing in the league has changed after one season that ended with a blowout defeat in the play-in tournament.Mitch Kupchak, Charlotte’s president of basketball operations, said in an interview with me last week — and when he did a season-ending news conference with local reporters — that the Hornets were pleasantly surprised to win the Hayward sweepstakes in November. Kupchak was initially skeptical that Hayward would decline a player option with Boston for the 2020-21 season worth nearly $35 million to come to small-market Charlotte.Given that the Hornets committed to a four-year deal to Hayward worth $120 million, this isn’t the time to question Jordan’s willingness to spend. That deal was widely regarded as an overpayment given Hayward’s age (31) and injury history. Yet I hold firm on what was covered in last week’s newsletter about Jordan’s limited presence around the team.Understandable as it was for Jordan to be distant throughout a season played through the pandemic, I remain convinced that he needs to be more visible and involved to boost the Hornets, because his star power is such a difference maker.Q: Another collapse? From a franchise perspective, sure, but Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis weren’t even teenagers when the 2006 finals happened, so I doubt they give it much thought. — @BrettChisum from TwitterStein: Fair point. Tuesday’s piece wasn’t intended to suggest that Doncic and Porzingis have been weighed down in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers by memories of what happened to the Dirk Nowitzki-led Mavericks in the 2006 N.B.A. finals against Miami.But I still think “another” applies, as I used in a tweet to promote the story, because (as you also noted) this is a franchise — and a fan base — that will never forget what happened in 2006. Dallas’s inability to win a single playoff series since the 2011 finals triumph over Miami that avenged the 2006 loss factors into that.Like it or not, if the Mavericks lose this series to the Clippers after taking a 2-0 lead on the road, it will dredge up talk of the worst collapses in league and, yes, franchise history.Numbers GameGiannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks got their playoff revenge on the Miami Heat this year.Sam Navarro/USA Today Sports, via Reuters37.3It’s hard to believe now, given the depths of his struggles against the Hawks, but Julius Randle averaged 37.3 points, 12.3 rebounds and 6.7 assists in three regular-season games against Atlanta. Although Randle had his best game of the series in the Knicks’ Game 4 defeat (23 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists), his 7-for-19 shooting performance inspired derisive chants of “Play-off Randle” and “over-rated” from Atlanta’s fans. Randle, who last week won the N.B.A.’s Most Improved Player Award, has missed 53 of 73 shots from the field in the series. The Hawks had the league’s 18th-ranked defense during the regular season.16.1Milwaukee’s overtime victory against Miami in Game 1 of their first-round series did not exactly suggest that the Bucks were poised to sweep the Heat. The Bucks pulled out a victory in the series opener despite shooting a dreadful 5 for 31 on 3-pointers (16.1 percent). The Heat shot 20 for 50 from long range in the 109-107 defeat and were never again close in the series, absorbing three further defeats by an average of 26.7 points per game in a stunning reversal from the teams’ second-round matchup in last season’s bubble playoffs at Walt Disney World.49Jayson Tatum’s 50 points last Friday in Boston’s Game 3 win over the Nets marked the fourth time in 49 days that Tatum had scored at least 50 points. He also scored 53 points in an overtime victory against Minnesota on April 9; 60 points in an overtime victory against San Antonio on April 30; and 50 points on May 18 in a victory over Washington in an Eastern Conference play-in game. Only five other players in Celtics history have scored 50 points or more in a playoff game, and none of them were named Larry Bird or Bill Russell, according to Stathead: John Havlicek (54 in 1973), Isaiah Thomas (53 in 2017), Ray Allen (51 in 2009), Sam Jones (51 in 1967) and Bob Cousy (50 in 1953).37Portland’s Carmelo Anthony, who ranks 10th on the N.B.A.’s career scoring list with 27,370 regular-season points, turned 37 on Saturday. The only player older than Anthony to see game action in these playoffs was Miami’s Andre Iguodala, according to Stathead, who turned 37 in January.14Despite losing Denver’s Jamal Murray and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to injury, Canada Basketball named 14 N.B.A. players to its 21-player roster for its Olympic qualifying bid. That means Canada Coach Nick Nurse, of the Toronto Raptors, has more N.B.A. players than roster spots (12) at his disposal, which is a first for any nation apart from the United States since professionals were granted permission to participate in Olympic basketball in Barcelona in 1992. Canada must win a six-nation Olympic qualifying tournament in Victoria, British Columbia, from June 29 to July 4 to join the United States in the 12-team men’s basketball Olympic field in Tokyo.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      One Year Later, Rudy Gobert Is at Peace. And Thriving.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOne Year Later, Rudy Gobert Is at Peace. And Thriving.The Utah Jazz center’s positive test for the coronavirus began a cascading shutdown of American sports. But with a huge new contract and a dominant team, he has moved on.Rudy Gobert is averaging 14.2 points, 13.1 rebounds and a career-high 2.7 blocks a game. Credit…Kent Smith/NBAE, via Getty ImagesMarch 10, 2021Updated 9:24 p.m. ETIt was not a time in his life, understandably, that Rudy Gobert is eager to revisit. No one wants to be connected so closely to the day that the N.B.A., suddenly infiltrated by the coronavirus, suspended its season.Gobert, though, is realistic. He constantly sizes up situations in his rim-protecting role for the Utah Jazz. He understands better than most that there are some things even a supreme shot-blocker can’t swat away.So he has known for some time what was coming this month. Copious coverage of the unhappy anniversary was inevitable, ready or not, one year removed from Gobert’s positive test for the coronavirus on March 11, 2020. It was the thunderbolt that led to the postponement of Utah’s game in Oklahoma City that night and, some 90 minutes later, an abrupt announcement that the 2019-20 season was being placed on hiatus “until further notice.” The novel coronavirus had been thrust to the forefront of major team sports in North America.It was the sort of unforgettably seismic event that forced Gobert, during a virtual interview session just hours before he played in Sunday’s 70th N.B.A. All-Star Game, to field multiple questions asking him to look back.“Those few weeks, those few months, were really tough,” Gobert said softly. “I’m just blessed to be able to be here today to enjoy this All-Star Game — and to be healthy.”The focus should be back on basketball soon enough and Gobert, this March, is clearly in a good place. Despite his modest 14.2 points per game, and winding up as the last of 24 players selected when LeBron James and Kevin Durant chose the All-Star squads, Gobert can stride into Utah’s one-year-later practice session on Thursday knowing he has never been a more effective two-way player.There is a case to be made that Gobert, because of his impact at both ends, is the foremost catalyst for Utah’s league-best record (27-9) halfway through the regular season. Gobert, 28, ranks No. 239 out of nearly 500 players in usage rate; only 17.3 percent of Utah’s plays on offense involve him when he’s on the floor. But his tireless screen-setting, with the constant threat he poses to dive to the rim for dunks, opens things for Utah’s increased emphasis on the 3-point shot.The Jazz are on pace to become the first team in league history to make 17 3-pointers per game. Ryan Smith, Utah’s rookie owner and a lifelong Jazz fan, called Gobert “one of the most selfless players in the league” for the space he creates.“He does so much,” Smith said, “that no one sees.”It’s a scouting report no one could have filed 12 months ago, when Gobert lost any semblance of anonymity. Two days before he tested positive, Gobert made a show of touching several microphones on a press-room table. It was an ill-fated attempt to lighten the mood on the first day that reporters, limited by a new N.B.A. rule to promote social distancing, could not hold their microphones near Gobert’s face as they asked him questions. When the video was replayed, over and over, after Gobert’s positive test, his actions were widely interpreted as cavalier behavior that mocked the severity of the coronavirus.In an Instagram post, Gobert apologized for what he termed “careless” actions and said he “had no idea I was even infected.” The N.B.A. was largely praised for reacting so swiftly to Gobert’s positive test — in what many billed as the moment, along with the subsequent suspension of the season, that the coronavirus threat became real for many Americans — but the fallout made Gobert a villain on top of his status as the N.B.A.’s Patient Zero.The Jazz have the N.B.A.’s best record and Gobert’s intimidating defense and efficient offense have played a huge role in that. Credit…Steph Chambers/Getty ImagesWhat followed were those tough “weeks” and “months” that Gobert referenced before making his second consecutive All-Star appearance. Yet by year’s end, Gobert had rebounded so emphatically that he signed a five-year, $205 million contract in December, just days after Smith was approved as Utah’s new owner. It is the richest deal in league history for a center and ensured that Gobert’s 2020 produced a dizzying swirl of emotions.“It was definitely a tough year, not just for me, but for everyone,” Gobert said. “A lot of things happened. A lot of unexpected things happened. But I believe that every tough moment is a learning experience. I think the most important thing is to try to make positive out of the negative, and hopefully that’s what I’ve been able to do.”Said Smith: “It was hard for him to be the first, but if you ever dive deep into that day in Oklahoma, no one knew what to do. People were calling me when I was still a sponsor, saying: ‘How do we get the team out of here, how can we get a plane?’ The organization was literally in the most uncharted situation that we have been through.”Gobert’s lows and challenges consumed several months. His bout with the coronavirus included a temporary loss of taste and smell. The microphones episode and a positive test for Donovan Mitchell, Utah’s All-Star guard, exacerbated long-simmering tensions between the two, which lingered until the season restarted at Walt Disney World in July.Gobert, Mitchell and the franchise faced another setback when the Jazz were stunned by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs after taking a three-games-to-one series lead. Some around the league wondered if Utah would break the duo up via trade. Yet Gobert insisted that just being in the N.B.A. bubble — and, for him, scoring the historic first basket of the restart — instilled him with “the feeling that the world was still spinning.” He and Mitchell have since rebuilt their relationship to the point it has become a running joke among Jazz players that various media reports described the union as “unsalvageable” last April.“You watch those two guys play now and that’s a long time ago, literally and figuratively,” Utah Coach Quin Snyder said of past tensions.To gain further distance from the crushing Denver series, Mitchell signed his own lucrative contract extension in November. The pair’s deals are worth a combined $400 million and Gobert, the No. 27 overall pick in 2013 who spent time in the N.B.A.’s developmental league as a rookie, has lived up to it with perhaps his best all-around play (13.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game).“Signing the contract doesn’t put more pressure on me,” Gobert said in a telephone interview on a recent drive home from practice. “In people’s minds, maybe it changed their perception about me, but no amount of money is going to add pressure to what I put on myself.“I’ve had a target on my back for many, many years now — for multiple reasons. When you win multiple defensive player of the years, people just try to come at you. So I’ve had that mind-set already.”Gobert, who stands 7 feet 1 inch and has a 7-foot-9 wingspan, also has a kindred spirit nearby when he needs counsel. Mark Eaton, the 7-4 center who played for the Jazz for his entire 11-season career, remains a fixture in the community and has become a sounding board for Utah’s modern-day defensive anchor.Their relationship was once described as “unsalvageable,” but Donovan Mitchell and Gobert have worked through any issues. They have committed to stay in Utah long term.Credit…Rick Bowmer/Associated PressThey bonded a few years back when Eaton introduced Gobert to a fellow Frenchman, David Folch, who designs bicycles with 36-inch wheels for tall riders. Gobert purchased his own bike and soon visited Eaton’s Park City home for a 7-footers-only ride — and, later, a visit to what Eaton called “the shrine my wife put up in our house” of mementos from his Jazz career. Gobert spotted Eaton’s two Defensive Player of the Year trophies from 1984-85 and 1988-89 and announced that he intended to continue the tradition.“Now he has two of his own,” Eaton said.Praise was slow to come during Utah’s hot start, even when the Jazz ripped off a 20-1 stretch that featured 18 double-digit victories, but Gobert has learned to live with that, too. His succinct answer for skeptics who say that the Jazz have to prove themselves in the playoffs to validate their many regular-season feats: “They’re right.”When given the chance, he also refused to fire back at the Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal, who has been repeatedly dismissive of Mitchell and Gobert on TNT — especially regarding Gobert’s contract.“I have a lot of respect for his career,” Gobert said of O’Neal. “He’s one of the guys that, growing up watching basketball, we all looked up to. But now he’s an entertainer in a way, so he’s doing things, saying things. If I start taking personal everything that’s been said about me, it’s going to be a long year.”Gobert said he would take a similar approach to cope with the likelihood that his connection to March 11 is something that he’ll always be asked about.“People only know what they’ve seen and what they’ve been told about me,” he said. “I’m not really worried about what people that don’t know me think about me.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More