Defensive Prowess
And despite Rudy Gobert not being voted into the category of best defensive player, the Jazz as a whole received high marks for their stifling defense.
The Jazz defense has finished among the elite in the NBA over the past couple years and between player improvement and savvy additions, it appears that facet of their game will only continue to get better.
The Utah Jazz finished in a three-way tie for the third-best defense in the league receiving 10 percent of the GM votes along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. Ranked in the exact same position defensively as the two reigning NBA Finalists? No complaints about that!
The GMs selected San Antonio as the top team defense with 50 percent of the vote and Boston received a slight edge over the third-place teams with 13.3 percent of the vote.
Seeing the Jazz ranked among the absolute elite in the league defensively is not only fitting, but also very encouraging. The age-old mantra that “defense wins championships” still holds true and while Utah needs to add more scoring punch to that elite defense, it certainly puts them ever closer to becoming a contender.