I love the organization, I love the coach, I like to live in Utah and I like the way the team is building. – Rudy Gobert
SAN ANTONIO — A day after Rudy Gobert signed a reported four-year, $102-million contract, the 7-foot-1 Utah Jazz center and his coach talked about the new deal.
“It’s great,” said Gobert, who knew a few days earlier that the deal was coming. “It was important for me and especially for the team, so we can get a plan and know who we want to be.”
Monday was the deadline for the Jazz to sign Gobert to avoid restricted free agency next summer. Gobert hinted during the fall that he planned to stay in Utah and explained why on Tuesday.
“I love the organization, I love the coach, I like to live in Utah and I like the way the team is building,” he said. “My goal in my career is to get a championship and I think we’re going in the right direction and I want to be part of that.”
Coach Quin Snyder was allowed by general manager Dennis Lindsey to call Gobert about the contract offer, which was a thrill for him
“It was a pretty special moment,” he said. “In ways, I feel he and I have been linked a little bit. He was the guy who began playing significant minutes after the All-Star break in our first year, so it’s fun to see his success.”
Snyder continued, “Rudy’s commitment to the Jazz and to his own personal development as a player and as a person — you feel satisfaction that he’s been rewarded for that and for his family, as much as anything. It’s not an end point, it’s a beginning.”
Gobert said he won't feel any extra pressure being the highest-paid player on the team. "
"People probably look at me as a $100-million player, but for me I always put pressure on myself to be good, so I don’t think it’ going to change anything," he said.
JAZZ NOTES: Boris Diaw, who has started the first three games this year in place of injured Derrick Favors, will sit out Tuesday’s game because of a “right leg contusion” ... Snyder said Favors, who played limited minutes the past two games, will likely start Tuesday night (6:30 p.m. MT), but the Jazz coach hadn’t decided for sure as of the morning shootaround ... The Jazz will play the Spurs again Friday night at Vivint Arena, following a home game against Dallas on Wednesday night.