Dirk Nowitzki is a lock to be in the Hall of Fame, and will arguably go down as the greatest shooting seven-footer in NBA history.
He’s retained a personal shooting coach for the entirety of his career, which has undoubtedly helped him reach those heights.
And now at least one fellow big man is planning to follow in those footsteps by working with the man responsible for Nowitzki’s sweet stroke.
From Aaron Falk of the Salt Lake Tribune:“There are a lot of players that we talk about having potential and upside,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said at the end of last season. “I think the most unique think about Rudy is his desire to get better.”
To get there, the young center wants to spend his summer getting stronger, particularly in his lower body, to help handle a heavier workload next season.
And, already one of the league’s most feared rim protectors, Gobert hopes to put a little more fear into opposing defenses next year. The center intends to improve his post game and add some mid-range shooting to his repertoire. He says he’s hitting consistently from about 15-feet right now, and he plans to spend 10 days in Germany with Dirk Nowitzki’s shooting coach later this summer to help fine-tune his form.
Rudy Gobert is already a monster defensively, and while he shot 60.4 percent from the field last season, 78.5 percent of his attempts came from three feet away or less, and 97.7 percent of his looks were inside of 10 feet.
The Jazz were especially strong in the second half of the season once they inserted Gobert into the starting lineup. If he can even mildly improve his shooting ability to where he’ll become a reliable threat to begin knocking down shots from midrange, his value to his team will skyrocket.