All-Defensive Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was fined to the tune of $100K, the maximum amount possible, by the NBA, the league has announced (Twitter link).
After being whistled for his sixth (and thus final) personal foul on Friday during the fourth quarter of an eventual 113-104 overtime road loss to the Cavaliers, Gobert made a mocking “money” gesture indicating that attendant referee Scott Foster was being influenced by gambling.
The 7’1″ big man was hit with a technical foul, and the ensuing foul shot enabled Cleveland to send the contest into a bonus period.
“Mistakes happen. Referees make mistakes, too,” Gobert said after the game. “But sometimes I think it’s more than mistakes. I think everyone that’s in this league knows. I think it’s got to get better. … I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t feel that way.”
Gobert stated that he expected to be fined for his comments but wanted to speak his mind because, “I think it’s hurting our game.”
“The fine takes into account Gobert’s past instances of conduct detrimental to the NBA with regard to publicly criticizing the officiation,” the NBA said in its statement announcing the $100K fine.
Gobert, 31, has looked like his Jazz-era self on the court for the West’s No. 2 seed. Across 62 contests, he’s averaging 13.8 points per game while shooting 64.9% shooting from the floor. He’s also putting up 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 1.2 assists per night.
I mean, he’s probably not wrong. When the league gets in bed with the gambling sites, it’s not far fetched to think they might have incentive to tip the scales.
Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s happening and to accuse, without evidence, is wildly inappropriate. Plus with Gobert, he is always complaining about Refs- so I think only makes it look even more pathetic on his part.
Right. Cause a NBA referee would never ever ever do something so wildly inappropriate as to use their inside knowledge for nefarious purposes. I mean I don’t think that’s ever happened in the NBA before.
I’m sure there has never been a NBA referee that was caught doing this on games that they officiated before.
Sometimes Rudy’s a truther but you’ll be hard pressed to catch him lying.
Honesty is his game.
Put it on the Heat tonight Silver.
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Wemby … Qui d’autre ?
Thats a lot of money wow
I hope this was meant to be sarcastic. Gobert is getting paid $41 million this season.
Sarcastic or no 100k is a pretty big fine.
A drop in the parley bucket.
The league has financial interests in the outcomes of games and seasons, but it has nothing to do with gambling. If the Refs, or some of them, are crooked, then they are, but the league isn’t encouraging it. They direct the Refs per their interests, not those of gamblers.
Say what? “The league has financial interests in the outcomes of games but it has nothing to do with gambling.” Isn’t that an oxymoron? And how about the fact that the NBA loves Las Vegas, the gambling epicenter?
The problem is it was a foul so why is he mad because of the call when it was clearly a foul on him.
That call was correct but the Twolves were frustrated with Scott Foster for most of the second half and that was the culmination of Goberts anger. And as Foster is known for, his pride and being spiteful matters more than anything else. Jarrett Allen set a career high with 14 made FTs in the second half alone as anytime there was marginal contact he was at the line while the opposite wasn’t the case. I’m not sure Gobert is accurate with his big picture accusations but that game (especially the second half) clearly went against the Twolves because they argued and disrespected the almighty Scott Foster which is something the league should not accept from any of their officials.
Scott Foster is known for holding grudges see what he did to CP3. The officiating this year is the worse it has ever been.
He’s not wrong. The NBA skated away from the Tim Donoghy thing and people don’t even talk about it anymore. Donoghy’s best friend? Scott Foster.
Between Scott Foster and Tony Brothers, it’s a toss up.
Old mafioso
Coupled with the fine was a whispered threat “Speak another word of this and you’ll be sleeping with the fishes at the bottom of Lake Minnetonka!”
I think the NBA should institute a rule for the players: No complaining by the players allowed, no waving of the hands, nothing. Once that was put in force, maybe we’ll not have so many refs giving so many technicals, just because they get mad.
That would just lead to more techs, as the Refs would feel more justified in handing them out for the slightest behavior that was less than totally emotionless. Just look at ejections in baseball, where that stuff isn’t codified.
Well, you’re saying that the players would break the rule. That the rule of no complaining couldn’t be put in place, that players wouldn’t follow it. Maybe, probably, likely you’re right. But it’s pretty distressing to see our star Jayson Tatum and other stars bitching after each drive that wasn’t called a foul.
Adrenaline, testosterone, and anger. That’s really all that needs to be said. A rule like that would get broken every single second of every single game.
It’s also more like the unwritten rules BS that made MLB so inaccessible for casual fans for years. Endless complaining isn’t good for business, but neither is robotic conformity. That’s going too far the other way.
I would say fine players for complaining past a certain threshold post-games. If you complain too many times, you pay a fine. That fine increases the more times you do it. Do it often enough and you get a 1-game suspension. That kind of ascending scale would discourage repeat offenders while still allowing emotions into the game. You just save them for when they’re needed, or pay the fine if you feel justified.
Utterly ridiculous. It’s an highly competitive sport played in loud environments where emotions can and will run high…and you want players to be robots? As a fan, I would hate that, not to mention the PA would never go for it. Not that I don’t understand the sentiment.
Techs are the least of the concern with officiating right now, and the NBA doesn’t seem intent on addressing it as a whole.
No complaining would class up the league & I for one would like that. It would be fun to watch a game again. Players would learn to just play and not whine although I admit at first it would be hard for the players to follow the new rule but they’d adjust. And technicals by refs are indeed a huge problem. Refs are like little Napoleons. That have total discretion right now about techs and are abusing it very badly.
The refs were a massive problem for the integrity of the game before gambling…
Now they are even worse…
Bring in technology, have people reviewing every call made on the floor and that will get rid of 98% of the complaints, gestures and fan posts…
Yeah that should be fine. Maybe we can look forward to 5 hour basketball games with unlimited challenges. No team would ever get tired. Hey a break after every sequence of plays. They might get tired of standing around waiting. They could do away with substitutions. No starter would ever get tired. Injured but never tired. A better solution would be 3 challenges a half per team. That would add about 15 minutes to game time and be payed for by commercials.
That’s a bridge too far, but plenty of bad calls could be fixed with 30s challenges where the refs get 1-2 looks at a call and have to make a decision. Give each team 2-3 of those and you may have something. And if it’s a huge call where you need the best chance of it being overturned, you could still go with the one full challenge.
With the league now employing challenges (a good thing) there is no need for interaction between referees and players. Beach Guy is right. There hasn’t been a single call reversed from a player waving his arms and whining. Channel up some Richie Powers and T-up the weepers. Weep twice? See ya. You’re getting paid plenty to play the game, so play. I can vividly recall mild mannered Jack Marin making a comment to Powers with his eyes bugging out and a slight arm wiggle. One T. Richie turned to walk away and although I couldn’t see it, Jack must have said something else. Second tech. Jack GONE. Play the game and stop the grousing.
Both things are true. Rudy is a classless clown and Scott Foster is a vindictive cheater
First when a player makes 41 million dollars a year a 1 hundred thousand dollar fine is peanuts. 2nd this is the same Rudy Gobert who walked around a press conference slobbering and touching all his teammates saying look at me I’ve got Covid the week before the country was shut down in 2020. Turns out he did and infected Donovan Mitchell with it. Mitchell was so angry he had to be talked out of demanding a trade. Gobert is clearly a classless individual which might be why he suspected the referees of cheating. They showed the play in question 3 times. Gobert committed the foul. Now I don’t know if some of his other 5 fouls was a ticky tack fouls. His little stunt cost his team a badly needed win. The technical tied the game at 97 to 97. Incidentally the score at the end of regulation. Then without Gobert and Towns the Cavaliers owned the paint in overtime. Rudy has all the talent in the world but he is an anchor on the hopes of any team he plays for.
Sacre blew the call.$$$$$
No!!! Gobert committed the foul. It is obvious to anyone who isn’t a Timberwolves fan or a conspiracy theorist. The league may be in bed with gambling interests but that doesn’t mean every single call is influenced by it. Or for that matter that any calls are influenced by it. It would be too easy to get caught if the referees were intentionally trying to alter the course of games. It would have to be done only once while trusting that anyone else who was in on it could be trusted to be silent. The same would apply to referees betting on games they worked. It would get out. There is both a paper trail and traces on the internet that can’t be erased. Heck even a late betting surge would draw attention to it. It is not 1952 anymore. There are records on everything now.