Rudy Gobert explored the elephant graveyard and got himself dunked on

MADU: Yes. Bravery in these situations is a flaw. Or at least it’s misplaced. I tweeted about it but it’s the type of bravery that Simba from The Lion King thought he was displaying when he went into the elephant graveyard to prove his worth as a future king. You don’t have to put yourself in danger to prove anything to us. Especially not when it ends like this.

ZILLER: I agree. Dunks like this can ruin careers! Look at Frederic Weis. That man’s life was never the same.

MADU: This is true and I think that’s the problem here. Because he’s made his name from it, he’s become a target for posters. You don’t just want to dunk on an ordinary player, you want to make a name for yourself. It’s why players kept trying to climb on Dwight Howard’s shoulders for so many years. I think Rudy might also be chasing his own fame here. I understand that he has to uphold the nickname and protect the rim, but sometimes you just have to make a business decision. It’s better to live and block another day than to get home and have to clap back at random internet people that are making fun of you for trying to be a hero.

ZILLER: There’s the other part of it: How you react after you have been pulverized. Knight sorta kept his head down and didn’t make a big deal of it. The same with Timofey Mozgov after Blake Griffin made his name a verb. Some guys seem to tough-guy it a little and embrace the pain as if to show how manly they are. “Yeah, I just put a cigarette out on my own arm. Come at me.” I kinda like what Gobert did: He found a punching bag who tried to troll him. Just one. And he iced him with a Dragon Ball Z joke.

If I’m being honest, the thing that bothers me most in this situation and in dunks where the victim escapes is when the announcers don’t offer proper respect. The Jazz dudes are being really disrespectful to DeMar, to the audience and to basketball itself.

MADU: They’re doing what a caring support system should do. They’re letting Gobert heal by pretending that the dunk wasn’t that bad or by not even acknowledging it at all. I feel as if they’re also coping as well.

But delusion is the only option here. I mean, the dunk was great, Gobert even staggers back when he lands and the ball bounces off his face. That’s all sorts of disrespectful from DeMar. What else can you do when you love someone and you see them put on the Summer Jam screen in that fashion? You have to pretend that it’s not real or the tears will sting your eyes.

ZILLER: I disagree. This is part of the announce team’s job: To help the audience understand what just happened. “DeRozan runs by and hammers it” is a totally inaccurate reflection of what’s happening on the screen. This is about ethics in dunk journalism.

There are children watching. Children in SLC and Provo and Ogden and Orem and West Jordan. Kids don’t come out of the womb understanding the importance of the monster dunk. They need to be taught. And I feel like there was an important potential lesson missed here. Another generation will foolishly allow themselves to be sonned by smaller opponents because they didn’t learn from the Jazz announcers that Dunks Matter.

ZILLER: Amen.