European Prospects

The French 1992 born Center prospect, who currently plays for Cholet Basket has come up recently with an excellent game in the Espoirs championship. He scored 35pts and grabbed 13rebs and our friends at Catch & Shoot came up with a quick interview that we translated into English for a global audience. In fact, Gobert can be considered as the next NBA potential out of the Cholet prospect factory.

Hello Rudy, when did you start playing Basketball?

I started in the Benjamin Category (11-12 years) at JSC St. Quentin, a small club, then I did some regional selections and started to practice in the Amiens Espoirs pool. During my Minimes (13-14) years, I continued to be at St. Quentin and then did the Inter-League and Inter-Zone Tournaments for finally being recruited by Cholet Basket at the National Camp. That was 4 years ago but I only play seriously for 2 years as I had suffered from injuries related to my growth.

How do you feel today with your team from Cholet? What are your objectives?

I feel very well, we have a good team spirit. We are looking at the top of the table, we try to beat the main teams like Paris and Nancy and win the Trophée du Futur. Personally, I want to become a major player of the Espoirs Championship and earn a roster spot with the pro team.

You are considered to be one of the most promising players of your generation. Is the NBA something you think about?

Of course, like a lot of young players. It is now my job to work hard enough to reach that goal.

Who is the player from which you learn the most in the professional team?

I would say Luc-Arthur Vébobe. He always gives me a lot of little tips and has always a great attitude.

Who is your Basketball Idol?

Amare Stoudemire. Currently, there are some other players that impress me, especially one, I do not need to mention his name (Blake Griffin) and some other players that impress with their stats like Kevin Love. LeBron James is also continuing to impress me.

What are your forces?

My first force is my size (2m13), that gives me the opportunity to grab a lot of rebounds. It helps me when posting up and finally I am rather mobile and have a good leaping ability. Additionally, I have quite a good shooting touch when being close to the basket. At the moment, I try to muscle up my game, I work hard physically on every practice because it is good to be tall, but I need to resist against physically stronger Centers like Claude Marquis.

You have a bit a similar profile to Kevin Garnett, a very athletic inside player, hard defender, being able to play from outside with ease…

I would not go that far. But let’s say I am closer to Garnett than to Kevin Love.

Read the full Interview in French here: http://www.catch-and-shoot.com/2011/01/10/news/itw-rudy-gobert-je-m%E2%80%99endurcis-entrainement-apres-entrainement/

Stats in the Espoirs Championship so far: 15.4ppg at 53%, 9.2rpg, 2.2bpg, 3.3 topg in 31 minutes on the floor.