Utah Jazz Defensive Hyperbole Rampant

Feb 20, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) goes up for a shot against Portland Trail Blazers center Robin Lopez (42) during the first half at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

It’s no secret that it takes defense to be a legitimate contender in the NBA, a Quin Snyder and Jazz brass mandate that’s been paid lip service without any real results to date. After the Rudy Gobert era began in earnest last night, the Utah Jazz defensive hyperbole was running rampant.

While Enes Kanter was a favorite target for being a defensive liability, the defensive rating numbers have been rather drastically better over the last few weeks with him on the floor, as opposed to the same or worse when Rudy Gobert occupied lineups.

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Still, that’s not to minimize the obvious effect Gobert has on opposing offenses when he’s patrolling the paint; there can be no debating that the new Jazz starting center scares the daylights out of would-be penetrators into the restricted zone. This is a cautionary tale of sample sizes first.

Rudy Gobert blocks fade-away jumpers, hook shots, and runs the floor for chase-down blocks, not to mention changes the minds of countless players who have committed to rising for a field goal attempt, shrugging off their attempts into a brick-filled abyss. That, when he fails to lay a finger on the ball leaving their suddenly unsure hands.

Gobert blocked 41 shots in his rookie season. Here’s all 41 of those.

Already in 2014-15 Gobert has turned back 120 field goal attempts and leads the NBA in block percentage, turning away nearly one in every ten shot attempts. As a starter for the Jazz this season, Gobert is averaging almost four blocks per game. The franchise record, and indeed, NBA record for blocks per game in a single season is held by Mark Eaton, the only player to ever average over five blocks a game for an entire season.

Mark Eaton holds the NBA record for blocks per game in a season

It’s not unrealistic to expect to see Gobert join this prestigious list from BasketballReference.com, maybe more than once or twice.

The Jazz shut that down, playing defense like a seamless unit with one brain directing all extremities to the right place at the right time, time and time again

In holding the Portland Trail Blazers to a season-low 76 points, the Utah Jazz moved up an entire spot in NBA defensive ratings, to 25th — no small feat for being 54 games deep into the season — threatening to climb out the defensive cellar for the first time in two years.

With that in mind, let’s start a little exercise where we track the defensive ratings of both the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder for the remainder of the 2014-15 NBA season to see if Enes Kanter and Rudy Gobert truly do make all the difference the narratives purport.

Using the magic of filters, before the Rudy Gobert era began in earnest, the Utah Jazz were 26th in NBA DRtg, the Thunder 10th. The Jazz are now 25th.

Utah Jazz defensive rating February 20, 2015

Blazers head coach Terry Stotts runs an offense with sets going simultaneously on both sides of the floor to confuse defenses and open up his guys for shots and penetration. The Jazz shut that down, playing defense like a seamless unit with one brain directing all extremities to the right place at the right time, time and time again, posting a defensive rating for the game of an astounding 82.9.

Utah Jazz defensive rating against the Portland Trail Blazers, February 20, 2015

Enes Kanter will start tonight for the Thunder against the Charlotte Hornets and his first NBA mentor, Al Jefferson.

We’ll keep track of these defensive ratings for the remainder of the season, using filter snapshots every few games to see if hyperbole can morph into reality.

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