SALT LAKE CITY — Playing in the NBA and being honored as an All-Star isn’t just a dream come true for Rudy Gobert. He’s also living out his father’s dream.
That’s how the Utah Jazz center described his scenario to The Undefeated’s Marc Spears for a story about Gobert and his relationship with his dad, Rudy Bourgarel, a former French basketball player whose NBA aspirations never materialized.
“It means everything to him,” Gobert told The Undefeated. “I can see how proud he is to watch me on television. When I talk about it with him, I feel like I am living his dream. I’m carrying his dream that he wasn’t able to fulfill. It was not just my dream. It was both of ours.”
The insightful article delves into why Bourgarel didn’t pursue a path to the NBA after playing and being considered “a force of nature” at Marist College in New York and why that might have been destiny for The Stifle Tower. It also explains why his father moved to Guadalupe and why he’s never actually seen Gobert play in person.
No doubt, the elder Rudy will be watching the younger Rudy play in Sunday’s All-Star Game from afar, though.
OTHER LINKS
• An NBA expert wonders — and discusses with a former official — if the league’s referees are helping the Jazz.
• Seven years after his dad’s suicide, Utah State quarterback Jordan Love is on the verge of fulfilling his father’s vision.
• You’re certainly not sick of watching The Shot Circa 2020 that Bojan Bogdanovic made Sunday night in Houston, right? This video from a former NBA scout breaks down in detail everything that happened in the game-winning play.
AND FINALLY
Bogey didn’t hit a game-winner in Monday’s win at Dallas, but along with scoring 23 points, he also had this peculiar between-the-legs highlight.