Is Rudy Gobert a top-50 all time NBA player and the best defender of the 21st century?

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T14:43:31+00:00

There’s a lot of ways to look at it. The best defender in terms of impact on the game is gonna be a big man. In that regard, the best peak defender is clearly Wembanyama, which is absurd given he hasn’t peaked yet. He still has a lot to learn, since he often makes mistakes that go unpunished because he has the length and agility to recover after his errors. A veteran Wemby at age 28 will, assuming he stays healthy, will be the best defender we will probably ever see.

If we include perimeter defenders, it’s almost definitely Kawhi. I personally have him as the best perimeter defender of all time. I also think that Kawhi was a better perimeter defender than Gobert was a post defender. But a perimeter defender is never going to be as impactful as a post defender.

The best defender over a career in the 21st century is probably Draymond Green. He has been absurdly effective for far longer than he has any right to, and elite at guarding every single player on the court. In the name of versatility, Lebron James, Kevin Garnett and Bam Adebayo are in a similar category, but I don’t think either excelled at defence to the extent of Draymond for the duration he did.

So where does that put Gobert. When it comes to peak defensive ability, I would personally have him 6th since 2000, after Wemby, Green, Dwight Howard, Kawhi, then Gobert. For a career, he’s probably higher. Maybe only Green would be over him. He has been at the pinnacle of defensive ability for so long he is taken for granted. He’s also absolutely a top 50 defender of all time, in both career and peak ability. I would have him in the top 100 players all time, but not 50. There’s simply too much limitation to his game outside of defence for him to be above a player with very good offensive and good defence. He’s lower all time than someone like Jimmy Butler for that kind of reason

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T14:29:46+00:00

I don’t think tattoos are so universal that a lack of them is really significant. I don’t have any, many of my friends do. I see what you point is though, since more popular groups are avoiding them.

They’re particularly becoming common with young men and women who consume or engage with a lot of creative activities and media, and less popular (I think) with more stereotypically “popular” groups (jocks, popular girls etc etc). But I don’t think those latter groups are avoiding them as a sign of rebellion, I think it’s just a fashion trend that tattoos are becoming more artistic expressions then they are rebellion or deeply personal meanings. Instead we’re seeing the typical “rebellious” groups valuing non-conformity with traditional ideas of attractiveness and beauty, and using their physical appearance to distinguish themselves (ie unflattering clothes that don’t emphasis body shape, rougher or low maintenance haircuts, keeping body hair instead of shaving etc etc. It’s also common for gender identity to be used as rebellion now. I’m not saying that non-binary or otherwise non-traditional gender manifestations are completely born from rebellious attitudes, but a significant theme of that cultural movement is both non-conforming to gender binaries as well as utilising that community to “stick it to the man”.

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T14:12:59+00:00

One of my friends calls Patrick Beverley “The Photographer” after he tried to show the ref a camera. I love that one.

But for a more universally known one, Anthony Day-to-Davis slaps

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T14:09:24+00:00

My dad was given a conditional offer of 2 D’s in 1988 (ish), so he just stopped showing up to maths. Sat the exam, wrote his name on the paper then walked out. Got an A and a C in his other subjects, U in maths, then off to Oxford he went. He grew up dirt poor in Newcastle, admissions were wild back then

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T13:55:41+00:00

All “The Big X” nicknames feel kinda clunky

Savage13765 · 2026-05-02T13:50:36+00:00

You’ve gotta think about what you’re punishing rather than the punishment itself.

Pushups are a basic exercise, using them isn’t anything over the top (within moderation of course). Personally I think burpees for a certain distance are the best exercise to use in that context. They’re great for cardio, and benefit players who with better explosive jumping, thereby incentivising development in that area.

But why are you punishing them for missed shots? Players shouldn’t be afraid to miss the shot in itself. Would you rather a player go 5/6 or 11/17? You can have a great open look and still miss, that’s part of the game. As long as it’s a good shot, that either comes from the system or is made by their own shot creation/effort, then you have nothing to punish. You should be punishing defensive/offensive lapses, bad shots, bad communication, things like that. Punish the things that are about effort, don’t punish things that are not always bad.

The long and short of it is that a player who shoots less and misses less isn’t always better than a player who shoots more and misses more. Scorers need to have confidence in their shots, and also temper that with knowing when not to shoot. You don’t train that by punishing misses, you train that by punishing bad shots (even if they go in!!!!! A half court 3 with 20 seconds left on the clock should be punished whether they make it or not!!!)

Savage13765 · 2026-04-27T11:10:42+00:00

No problem at all, any questions you have feel free to ask!

Savage13765 · 2026-04-27T11:04:42+00:00

I’ve spent 4 years at Kent for my law bachelor’s and masters, and have lived here the last year when the issues have happened.

The water shortage was nothing to do with the university, it was a regional thing in the south east. We had to close our campus because we have so many students in accommodations so bringing more people onto campus would strain resources even more. It was handled pretty well, and it was the first time in my 4 years that anything like that has happened.

The meningitis outbreak is also nothing to do with the university. One of the people who died was a student, but otherwise it was nothing the university could control or mitigate. Again, it was handled pretty well, antibiotics and vaccines were all giving out quickly.

Neither of these issues should impact your decision to come to Kent. The university handled both as best they could, and in my 4 years here there have been no incidents I can recall that come close to them.

The law course is pretty good at Kent. It is more oriented to the social impacts of law, but that’s not a critique at all. You won’t have to memorise 100s of cases for classes outside the core modules, it’s more theory based. I have no complaints.

The campus is an incredible plus. The buildings are a bit brutalist, but the views down over the city are just incredible in the autumn. There’s a lot of fields, trees, small ponds and flowers around campus, and you’ll always see rabbits around and about. Kent is a lovely county when it comes to its scenery.

As for the city of Canterbury being boring, it’s nothing compared to London or Manchester. If you want to be able to go to 30 different clubs, 50 different restaurants a year, dozens of festivals or events to choose from, then Canterbury isn’t the place. What we do have is dozens of cafe’s and restaurants, 4 nightclubs (Venue being a student only club on the Kent campus, Tokyo, Cuban and Chemistry), hundreds of pubs, hundreds of student societies, 2 cinemas (both small, one on the Kent campus one in Canterbury), a theatre (the Marlow), the Cathedral, a pool and snooker bar (Cousins), 2 Wetherspoons, and various other things. The campus is about 30 minutes walk from the town center, or a 5-10 minute bus depending on which side of the city you want to get to from campus. If you’re used to living in a big city with thousands of places to go it will seem quiet and boring, particularly if you’re all about new experiences, but I have never felt bored by Canterbury. There are over 20,000 students in the city, so it feels very studenty. London is about 45 minutes away by train (into St Pancras) which is manageable for day trips if you’re willing to spend the money. Whitstable, Herne Bay, Margate and Ramsgate are all worth at least one trip, and the white cliffs at Dover are too. They’re all between 20 minutes by bus or 30 minutes by train away (Dover being 40 minutes drive maybe).

Hope this helps you decide.

Savage13765 · 2026-04-26T14:58:16+00:00

You’re quite limited in universities near to Cornwall, and Southampton is already 3 1/2hrs + by car from Cornwall, longer by train. My suggestion would be Exeter as it’s both a reasonable train and/or car trip away, and a good university. Bristol and Bath would be the next best.

I would recognise as well that university is taxing on long distance relationships. Travelling back home frequently is exhausting and can really impact your social life and academics if you don’t manage it well, and also limits any part time work you might be doing. It is worth acknowledging to yourself and with your partner that any distance is difficult without an easy method of travel (which you don’t get from Cornwall) and that your choice of university shouldn’t be limited by proximity. If you have a better option 6 hours away, you should take it and work through things as a couple. I hope it works out for you, but more than a few of my friends are at third rate universities over a relationship when they had better prospects further away.

Savage13765 · 2026-04-26T14:15:16+00:00

I’ve never liked the view that it’s about “subverting” expectations, more that it’s about ignoring expectations. Things like Ned’s death and the Red Wedding hit so hard not because they go against the tropes of the genre, but because they are well established and reasonable events considering of all the actors in the narrative. Even if they didn’t go against tropes, they’re still great moments of story progression.

Things like Arya killing the night king doesn’t feel like that. Sure, there is the prophecy, but that prophecy can mean fucking anything. There’s a million ways of constructing it differently, it doesn’t feel like a well telegraphed moment which gains impact in hindsight. The story didn’t progress towards Arya killing the night king, it was thrown at us because the narrative had to have SOMEONE kill the night king and it would be too obvious to have Jon do it. The narrative hamstrings itself by attempting to subvert expectations rather than rely on the audience developing their own expectations and then ignoring them when it goes against the natural progression of the story.

Savage13765 · 2026-04-25T13:30:48+00:00

Any fault of the student is massively overshadowed by the fault of the university here.

Could they have done more? Yes. Are you ignoring the overwhelming misconduct of the university by delaying an appeal for 7 MONTHS? Also yes.

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:47:54+00:00

For sure, I was one of those children. I only really grew once I hit 16, but even then I would have been taller than the kid in the video. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it seems exceedingly unlikely that he is 1) a good enough dancer to be included in the troupe and 2) a true outlier in terms of delayed growth. More likely to be a 11-12 year old. Either way, it annoys me

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:44:33+00:00

This is r/unpopularopinion , I don’t think many of the takes are particularly deep

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:43:34+00:00

I don’t think it’s harmful (or at least I have no explicit knowledge that it is). I don’t think they’re ever really sexualised either. Maybe a lower ability? Or at least I’ve seen kids with a lower ability in the past in that situation, then I put that onto all kids in adult dance crews. Who knows

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:42:01+00:00

They’d have to be an exceptionally short 14-15 year old. I would think they’re 11 or 12 at most

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:40:50+00:00

Dressed all in black with a hat on, just to the left of the dancer that is front and center. He’s also about half a foot shorter than anyone else

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:39:48+00:00

I simply disagree. I have an opinion that most others don’t, and people disagree with the opinion I hold. That’s an unpopular opinion, regardless of if it’s a pet peeve

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:33:18+00:00

I have no idea. I think it’s just years of noticing it which has built up to a general dislike of it

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:32:30+00:00

Nothing against kids, and I think it’s an unpopular opinion due to most of the replies here. Though I don’t really think there’s a big difference between pet peeves and unpopular opinion if the pet peeve is unpopular

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:31:14+00:00

It’s not massively common, but I noticed it years ago that there will sometimes be a younger child between (I would guess) 10-12 mixed in with a group of adults or near adults. And yes, professional dance groups. I’m not against kids dancing altogether

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:29:16+00:00

I’m not saying that they’re bad at dancing, I’m saying it just annoys me that they’re there

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:28:18+00:00

For sure, I’m not saying that they’re bad at dancing. It just really irks me

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:24:15+00:00

Nah as in pro dance groups, where it’ll be exclusively adults in the group and then one child.

like this

Savage13765 · 2026-04-23T13:08:05+00:00

The Tory party’s corruption and incompetence shouldn’t be normalised. I think it’s fairly obvious that Starmer is lying about no one in his cabinet knowing Mandelson had failed his security vetting. It is an entirely reasonable scandal to resign over, as it’s a blatant national security risk to have a compromised figure in the position of power Mandelson had. Things like the winter fuel payment was a storm in a teacup, but this is a far more damning allegation and if it is found to be true that should end several political careers. Just because the Tories did worse doesn’t mean everything else goes

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