Defensive Player of the Year – Rudy Gobert
Considering that Rudy Gobert missed 26 games earlier in the year, many have supposed that his lengthy absence would prevent him from winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award, the recognition for which he was a close runner-up last season. However, with a lackluster field this year and with Gobert propelling Utah’s defense to elite ranks since his return, he is quickly inserting himself back in the conversation in spite of his prior injury woes.
The Jazz are currently fourth in the league in defensive rating at 102.9 and since Rudy Gobert’s return to action from injury on January 19th, they are first in the league with an astounding defensive rating mark of 98.3. During that same time frame, Utah’s defensive rating as a team with Gobert on the court is 97.2 compared to 100.8 when he’s off. On the season, it’s 98.9 when he’s on compared to 105.6 when he’s off. Talk about an impact.
The Jazz have a defensive efficiency of 102.1 and have held opponents to 43.5% shooting since Rudy Gobert came back to anchor their defense.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 6, 2018
Both those numbers would be the best by any team for a full season in the last two years. pic.twitter.com/D97NAOp5f9
Since Gobert’s return, the Jazz are also holding opponents to just 43.2 percent shooting from the field and 32.4 percent shooting from deep, both of which would be the best marks in the league if sustained over the course of the entire season. He’s also second in the league in blocked shots behind Anthony Davis and second in Basketball Reference’s defensive box plus/minus statistic behind Andre Drummond, and that includes his stint between injuries as well as a slow start adapting to new teammates.
Although injury prevented Rudy from having his full defensive impact over the course of the entire season, he’s showcasing it now in full force. If Utah’s defense can maintain their current trend with Gobert leading the way, there’s no reason why he can’t emerge as the Defensive Player of the Year come season’s end.
After all, his impact speaks for itself, and when he’s been able to be in action, there’s no doubting the problems he’s caused for opposing teams. Especially if Utah qualifies for the playoffs on the back of Gobert and a league-leading defense, there’s no questioning that Rudy will deserve to be right back in the DPOY conversation once again.
Next: Utah Jazz/Indiana Pacers react: Gobert remains hot, Jazz win in Indy
As I mentioned several times throughout, a lot of these awards will hinge on the Jazz making the playoffs. Even if they do qualify for postseason play, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll receive more than one (if any) of these awards due to the nature of their market, injuries, exceptional performances from others (such as Simmons) or any other additional obstacles.
Nevertheless, the Utah Jazz have done great things all year and are playing exceptional basketball right now to the point that they simply cannot be ignored. And as they continue to surge, it should only be expected that these four legitimate candidates will continue to gain traction in each of their potential award categories.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com unless otherwise indicated.