Russell Crowe bellowed, “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” to a silent crowd after quickly defeating four of his opponents as Maximus in the 2000 blockbuster film Gladiator.
As the crowd chants “Spaniard” back at Maximus, the music swells, and the scene ends, marking a turning point for Maximus as he learns the value of the crowd in his ultimate goal of cementing his freedom.
Almost 25 years later, the “Are you not entertained?” line has gotten quite a bit of run in pop culture. People have posted the meme over penguins, anteaters, Stanley Cup rioters, and Barack Obama.
Almost everyone, including Anthony Edwards, has replicated the extended arms pose.
The quote has popped up in almost every TV sitcom, and Wolves fans in attendance at the Target Center will even hear it when a certain player makes a great play.
You can’t hear it in the telecast. However, after a Rudy Gobert block, a big free throw, or occasionally after a dunk, the music swells as the crowd cheers and Are you not entertained? echos through the arena as an homage to Gobert’s alleged favorite movie.
The Wolves are 4-2 six games into the season, and Gobert is succeeding again in Minnesota’s system despite having three new players in the rotation. Gobert’s defense objectively appears to have slipped, but analytically speaking, Gobert is still defensively at the peak of powers.
Last season, Gobert won his record-tying fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. The Frenchman posted a 106.6 defensive rating with 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game. He did so while only fouling 3.1 his 34.1 minutes per game defending the rim.
Gobert showed last year a willingness and ability to guard much smaller players on switches in space, something that the Utah Jazz didn’t allow him to do. Last season, he proved capable of matching up on guards. He guarded a guard on 13.6% of possessions and forced them to shoot just 38.8% from the field and 33.3% from three on 111 attempts.
This season, Gobert seems to have picked up close to where he left off last season. However, his traditional statistics have seemed to fall off. Gobert’s blocks have decreased to only 1.1 per game, his steals to 0.5, and even his rebounds have dropped to 9.9. However, there’s an explanation for his decline in general statistics.
Gobert has been playing 2.0 fewer minutes per game on average. When averaging his traditional statistics, his steals are roughly the same: 0.6 this year compared to 0.7 last year. Gobert’s rebounds have dipped from 13.6 last year to 10.9 this season. His drop isn’t severe; however, it is still difficult to explain.
Opposing teams are shooting 2.3 fewer shots per game than last season and are shooting 1.7% better from the field. That means Gobert’s rebounding dip isn’t likely due to less or better shooting. The Wolves only allow 0.5 more offensive rebounds per game than last year. So it’s likely not due to opposing teams rebounding better.
It could be a combination of all of the above. However, Gobert’s percentage of team rebounds has fallen by 4.5%. That means that of the 40.9 total rebounds the Wolves grab, Gobert is grabbing 1.82 fewer rebounds than he would have last season if his rebound percentage hadn’t fallen.
That suggests it’s more likely that the rebounds are either bouncing differently and still ending up in a Minnesota player’s hands or that the Wolves are doing a better job rebounding as a team and not leaving it all to Gobert. Regardless, the numbers show that the decrease in rebounding hasn’t significantly hurt the team.
Blocks are a little easier to explain. Gobert allows opponents to shoot only 42.4% from the field, which is 0.1% better than last year. However, he allows 55.8% of shots within six feet to fall, compared to 49.4% last season. Gobert is statistically defending against every other shot defense better than last year. However, shots inside six feet are the most likely to be blocked, and the 5.4% better shooting by opponents from that range likely could account for the drop in blocks.
The advanced statistics show that Gobert is as impactful as ever. His defensive rating has slipped slightly to 108.1. However, it is still 8.9 points better than Minnesota’s 117.0 team defensive rating, showing that the team is considerably better with Gobert on the court defensively. He has shown further improvement when matching up on guards 11.8% of the possessions and remarkably forcing them to shoot even worse than last year against him at 33.3% from the field and 28.6% from three.
Is this not why you are here? often gets left out of the quote, and they don’t play it in Target Center. However, the line perfectly describes Gobert’s defense. His defense is why he is here with the Wolves. It’s why they made the blockbuster trade to bring him in, and the Timberwolves made it to the Western Conference finals.
As the Wolves continue to mesh and gel with their new pieces, Gobert’s defense will improve throughout the season, leading to more fans in attendance hearing, “Are you not entertained?” as they cheer on Gobert.
