Rudy Gobert is having an underrated season

[Primetime]

And by underrated, I mean all-time level
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Defensive Metrics Don’t Ever Agree … Except On Rudy Gobert’s Great Season

While his competitors may disagree, the data suggest that not only is Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert running away with this year’s award, he’s having one of the best defensive seasons in modern NBA history.

The broad indicators bear this out. Gobert’s play is the primary driver behind Utah’s top-ranked per-possession defense outside garbage time. This season, the Jazz are 11.9 points per 100 possessions better defensively when the Frenchman plays compared with when he sits, per Cleaning the Glass. That’s the largest such gap in the NBA among players with at least 1,000 minutes. In fact, Gobert’s defensive on-off split is one of the largest of any high-volume player over the past 15 years:

Fellow Jazzman Mike Conley, for instance, holds the NBA’s second-highest defensive on/off differential this year among those high-volume players — but that’s partially because Conley has played over 90 percent of his minutes alongside Gobert.

Gobert’s consistency across metrics stands out. Each of them is calculated with different variables and weights; a quirk in one could, theoretically, inflate a given player’s value somehow. Gobert’s current campaign rating at or near the top of every single one is hard to ignore, especially with so many of the game’s defensive greats sitting alongside him.

The picture is the same when looking at situational data. The pick and roll is much of the league’s bread and butter, easily its most common offensive play type, and no one shuts it down like the Stifle Tower. Per Second Spectrum tracking data, when Gobert defends a pick-and-roll screener, the offensive team scores just 0.851 points per chance — the lowest number among the 65 centers who have defended at least 300 such plays this season. Gobert has the length and mobility to effectively guard two players at once:

For the 2020-21 season, opponent possessions featuring an isolation with Gobert as the primary defender have yielded 0.779 points per chance. That’s fourth-lowest in the NBA among 66 players who have defended at least 125 isolations, per Second Spectrum data, trailing only Draymond Green, Richaun Holmes and Julius Randle — and a big improvement from earlier in Gobert’s career.

A half-decade-old viral clip of Steph Curry turning a younger Gobert around off the dribble has shown remarkable staying power; once or twice a game, some unsuspecting young guard gets Gobert on a switch and assumes it’s easy pickings, only to be rudely awakened to the reality:

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It’s not flashy of course (14ppg, 13.5rpg, 2.7bpg, 67%fg), so he only gets brought up for the lowlights or when pocket watchers pocket watch... but he’s having a GOAT-tier defensive year.

More so, he has the Jazz still winning (7 of their last 10) even without Conley and Mitchell.

 

[Anerdyblackguy]

He’s going to run away with the DPOY award (sorry Simmons) and really has established himself as this generation Dikembe Mutumbo

 

[inndaskKy]

Gobert gonna talk shyt to Draymond about his claim pretty soon

 

[OfTheCross]

I used to be a hater but dude is undeniable.

He's great

 

[Damnshow]

They need to start looking like a real title contenders for him not to look underrated. Their market is so small nobody cares about Utah Jazz. Let's see if their #1 in the west is a fluke or not this year.

 

[Juggalo Fred]

He's no Draymond

 

[Primetime]

They need to start looking like a real title contenders for him not to look underrated. Their market is so small nobody cares about Utah Jazz. Let's see if their #1 in the west is a fluke or not this year.

He’s gonna need a top 5-10’ish level co-superstar for that, just like all the other real title contenders... i.e. BK/LAL/LAC* (when PG13 isn’t a bum).

Everyone else is essentially a fake title contender relying on injury or mental midget-try to pull the upset vs the aforementioned..

That said, if LAC/PHO/LAL all end up on the other bracket, no excuse for a healthy UTA not to make the WCFs.

 

[phillycavsfan]

He's no Draymond

Yup, and he's still going to be a liability in the playoffs.

 

[Primetime]

He’s going to run away with the DPOY award (sorry Simmons) and really has established himself as this generation Dikembe Mutumbo

I used to be a hater but dude is undeniable.

He's great

Facts. He’s basically prime Mutombo/Ben Wallace/Tyson Chandler (put backs and alley oops) rolled into one.

 

[Rekkapryde]

He’s going to run away with the DPOY award (sorry Simmons) and really has established himself as this generation Dikembe Mutumbo

Agreed

 

[daboywonder2002]

You're right. That's why I never complainined about the 200 million extension.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

I saw on Sportscenter this morning that 34 of their wins this season have come by double digits

Sooner or later, we need to start having that discussion about Gobert making the HOF as a 3rd DPOY puts him into the discussion.

 

[Kinguno]

But he cried like a bytch over All-star He a bum to me

If he wins a title so what do it again. And if he wins two titles do it again.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

He’s gonna need a top 5-10’ish level co-superstar for that, just like all the other real title contenders... i.e. BK/LAL/LAC* (when PG13 isn’t a bum).

Everyone else is essentially a fake title contender relying on injury or mental midget-try to pull the upset vs the aforementioned..

That said, if LAC/PHO/LAL all end up on the other bracket, no excuse for a healthy UTA not to make the WCFs.

Mitchell has been a** in the playoffs outside of last years bubble, so hopefully last years performance will carry over.

 

[Primetime]

Mitchell has been a** in the playoffs outside of last years bubble, so hopefully last years performance will carry over.

Hell if Donovan could just carry over his regular season splits (26/4/5 on 44/38/84 in 33mpg) to the playoffs, that would be acceptable.

Bc that 36/5/5 on 52/51/95 bubble ish... that’s probably unreasonable.

However, he simply can’t go back to those 32/25/72 playoff shooting splits. He was 21 and 22 years old then, but at 24 it’s time to put on the big boy pants.