New York (AFP)

Selected for his first All-Star Game on Sunday, Utah Jazz Frenchman Rudy Gobert swims against the tide in the NBA with his defensive pivot profile in a championship more than ever turned towards attack, but his influence on the game could not no longer be ignored.

If he had had to rely on the fans or even on the other NBA players, Rudy Gobert would probably not have been summoned to Chicago this weekend.

During the ballot, the center of Picardy origin came 11th in its category (wingers and interiors) to the vote of the public, and 9th that of the players, two positions which gave it little chance of reaching the stars.

But like journalists, who had placed him much higher (5th), the coaches of the North American professional league took a new look at the one who had been snubbed in 2017 and especially in 2019.

For the double best defenseman in the NBA, it was perhaps the attacking numbers that made the difference this time.

In January, when everything was decided, Rudy Gobert thus had a series of 12 games with almost 20 points average (19.4), which is more with an address (69.6%) even above its average (68.9%), already the best in the NBA.

"For a while now, he's been on a hell of a streak," said one of his agents, Jérémy Medjana. "At one point, you can't help but face the facts."

- "From the margin offensively" -

For 20 years, the NBA has gradually changed its rules and directives given to its referees to release the attacks.

This quiet revolution and the massive arrival of foreign players, with more versatile large basketball players, has totally opened the game.

The average points per game recorded in the NBA this season and the previous one is the highest in almost 50 years.

In this context, specific pivots, which do not shoot from afar, as is the case with Rudy Gobert (2.15 m), have become rare.

Defensive and collective work is, by nature, ungrateful and obscure, but it is frankly concealed in the era of social networks and virality.

Wednesday, Gobert totally dominated his subject against Miami, a leading team, but what Twitter retained from this match is a dunk of the pivot Bam Adebayo on the French, absolutely not representative of the match as a whole.

"The strong point is to exist in a context like this," notes Jérémy Medjana, co-founder of the Comsport agency with Bouna N'Diaye.

"When you are twice the best defender of the year and you do not necessarily have the recognition that you could claim, in a winning team, sometimes it is a little difficult to digest," notes Ian Mahinmi, French hub of the Washington Wizards. "But he persevered."

The sport has long been invaded by statistics, but for a little over a decade, a host of new parameters have better taken into account some obscure but essential aspects of basketball.

In many of these categories, Rudy Gobert appears in the top five players in the league, witnessing his influence in defense, but also in attack, where his screens and his placement open the game.

"The analysis is very advanced today in the NBA and that gives him deserved consideration," observes Jérémy Medjana.

"For the five who are a little more conventional, this is not the end of an era," assures Ian Mahinmi. "We will always need defenders, guys who protect the arch, who have this big brother role on the team. You just have to be able to adjust and have all your teammates around who understand what you can bring."

If he has built his legitimacy on defense, Rudy Gobert has confirmed in recent weeks that he is capable of becoming a regular or even major offensive option.

In recent weeks, the number 27 has even started to work with a particular coach specializing in attack, Tim Martin, who collaborated, among others, with Trae Young, the scorer of the Atlanta Hawks.

"He still has room on the offensive," says Jérémy Medjana.

© 2020 AFP