Voting for Rudy Gobert is suddenly Kendrick Perkins' 'biggest regret'

What do you think? Is Gobert a problem or is he being scapegoated?

May 26, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts against the Dallas Mavericks during game three of the western conference finals for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Rudy Gobert has been named to the All-Defensive First Time seven of the last eight seasons and he was recently named the Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth time in his career. Still, he's overrated, according to his peers.

Kendricks Perkins, who played 16 seasons in the NBA and now gets paid for big opinions on ESPN, said Tuesday on "First Take" that he is retiring from awards voting because he regrets voting for Gobert as the best defensive player in the league.

"Let me say this, I have the biggest regret in my media career and I'm retiring from voting for individual awards, regular season awards, because I have done a disservice using my voting rights. Me voting this season for Rudy Gobert is an embarrassment for me, for Defensive Player of the Year," Perkins shouted.

"He's the first player that we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability. Don't come giving me analytics, don't come giving me these plus-minus stats because that's the most overrated stat in the NBA. When I look at Rudy, he has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year award. He has. He's not respected by his peers. We saw what happened to him in the Denver series, he couldn't even guard the person at his position. Karl-Anthony Towns did a better job at that. What is he doing right now? When you look at this series right now, do we realize that Rudy has three blocks in three games? He's averaging one block per game, at 7'3''. Unacceptable."

.@KendrickPerkins goes OFF on Rudy Gobert 👀

"He's the first player that we see every single time in the postseason that becomes a defensive liability. ... He has tarnished the Defensive Player of the Year award." pic.twitter.com/XqOLCtPIqB

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 28, 2024

Recency bias? It sure seems to be the case considering Perkins was on ESPN raving about how Gobert defended Nikola Jokic early in the conference semifinals between the Wolves and Nuggets.

And, sorry, Mr. Perkins, but we're going to come at you with the analytics because Gobert's net rating in the playoffs is among the best. At plus-13.1, only Boston's Al Horford (plus-14.7) has a better net rating among players averaging 30-plus minutes in the playoffs.

Furthermore, the only players from teams that reached the conference semifinals and played at least 20 minutes per game, and whose teams have a better defensive rating when they're on the court, than the Timberwolves do with Gobert (106.9 in 34.4 minutes) are four players from the Thunder along with Dallas rookie Dereck Lively (103.4 in 21.5 minutes), Cleveland's Isaac Okoru (105.9 in 21.9 minutes) and Donovan Mitchell (106.7 in 38.2 minutes), and Boston's Jrue Holiday (106.7 in 37.9 minutes).

Gobert definitely got cooked by Luka Doncic on the game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds left in Game 2, and the moment that he clapped at Jaden Hardy only to bite on a pump fake and foul Hardy went viral on Twitter, but Gobert has been a huge reason why Minnesota is in the conference finals in the first place.

What do you think? Is Gobert a problem or is he being scapegoated?