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The Gobert Report: Ep. II, Rudy Breaks The National Seal

By Clint Peterson

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The Gobert Report – Illustration by Clint Peterson

A weekly report on NBA center and Utah Jazz phenom, Rudy Gobert, The Gobert Report will keep you updated on the latest Rudy Gobert news, stats, highlights and happenings. This is The Gobert Report: The chronicles of the best center playing basketball in the world. 

We all knew it was only a matter of time before we couldn’t keep Rudy Gobert a secret anymore. Especially with defense like this that converts into instant offense:

Pundits around the league have begun to take notice of the Utah Jazz’s best defensive rating in the league in the month of February.

Former Los Angeles Laker, Rick Fox, picked Rudy Gobert as his Player of the Week on NBA TV, saying,

"My Unofficial Player of the Week is ‘Rude Boy Go-Burt,’ Rudy Gobert."

Rick Kamla asks Rick Fox if the trade of Enes Kanter “was to get Gobert the starting role and shine he’s getting right now?” to which Fox replies, “It looks that way, and I think he’s stepping into it and delivering.”

KSL’s Jeremiah Jensen wonders how many 7’1″ players in the NBA can do this:

It’s hard to pick just one defensive highlight of Rudy Gobert, but NBA TV whittled down the multitude of choices to this utter stoppage of

Michael Carter-Williams

for their

Block of the Night

.

"“Access denied. Gobert, the Gobstopper!”–Matt Harpring"

If you wander around the upper echelons of the EnergySolutions Arena, you’ll find the crew has installed the biggest Fathead you’ve ever seen, of Rudy Gobert. This bad boy is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 feet in height.

The Gobert Report – A 30 foot high Rudy Gobert

There’s still some worrisome chatter that Gobert lacks any range or a go-to move on offense, as Tony Jones noted at the Trib:

More from Jazz News

"This is what we thought when the Utah Jazz traded Enes Kanter to the Oklahoma City Thunder. And through five games of the Jazz’s newly minted tandem playing major minutes together, there’s no reason to change the narrative.Defensively, the paint is rough going for opponents. Gobert and Favors are blocking shots at an almost superhuman rate. They are inhaling rebounds. They are such a deterrence on the interior that the opposition is at many times settling for perimeter jumpers.On offense, though, the two will be a work in progress. And they will in spots have spacing issues. Both of them know this, and they say they want to embrace the challenge. They want to improve and want to become one of the best frontcourts in the league.“The thing is, I think we can become so much better defensively,” Gobert said. “But we have to improve on both ends. We both have to keep working on our games, and we’re both smart enough to know that.”Through five games, the Jazz are 4-1 with the two in the starting lineup. As a team, Utah’s allowed 100 points just once in that span — in a defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers.–Tony Jones, Salt Lake Tribune"

The offensive apprehension seems a bit overblown when we take into account things like differential. The Jazz’s offensive rating since the Enes Kanter trade is 99.4 points per 100 possessions with an unreal 87.1 defensive rating, according to NBA.com Stats, for a +12.2 net differential.

We can debate about all the nuances, but in the end, it’s winning that matters the most to fans and teams. And Rudy Gobert has helped make the Utah Jazz a winner

Sure, points are nice. Unless you’re giving up as many or more than your opponent, like the Jazz consistently did when Kanter was the starter.

According to Basketball Numbers guy Arturo Galletti, the Jazz are currently projected to finish the season with the NBA’s best defense since the 2015 trade deadline with a net differential of +11.2, if they continue the way they have of late, winning a whopping 80% of their games to close out 2014-15.

The Gobert Report – Arturo Galletti projects the Utah Jazz as the best defensive team to finish the 2014-15 NBA season

Click image to enlarge

And when Rudy Gobert stays dropping Euro-steps to the rim it’s difficult to get too worked up about the final score.

We can debate about all the nuances, but in the end, it’s winning that matters the most to fans and teams. And Rudy Gobert has helped make the Utah Jazz a winner.

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