Utah Jazz ’17-18 review: Rudy Gobert dominates with D

A look back at Rudy Gobert’s 2017-18 season. The Stifle Tower continued to prove himself as one of the top centers in the league and helped lead the Utah Jazz to a historic second-half run.

Throughout his entire career, Rudy Gobert has been defying the odds and proving his doubters wrong. This was once again the case during the 2017-18 season, as Gobert spearheaded a historic run over the back half of the season for the Utah Jazz and put together a strong case for Defensive Player of the Year.

It has not all been roses, however, as injuries once again plagued the Jazz star. In just the twelfth game of the season, Miami Heat wing Dion Waiters recklessly dove sideways into Gobert’s right knee. As a result, he was shelved for the next six weeks. It was a crushing blow to the Jazz and Gobert, who prior to the injury looked to be on pace to earn his first-ever All-Star nod.

At the time, he was averaging 14 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.

With Gobert sidelined, the Jazz faltered. He would make a brief six-game return in December, but never fully looked healthy. Then, just two minutes into a game against the Boston Celtics, he would once again go down with an injury — this time to his left knee.

So, on the whole, Gobert was either limited in his abilities or out entirely from November 11 to January 17. It was a disastrous stretch for the Jazz, during which they posted a 13-19 record.

Gobert has become the leader on this team, and all season long he set the tone and was an example for his teammates. He could have been discouraged with how the season had gone up until that moment, but instead, he remained confident.

It was during this time that he sent out what has become one of his more famous tweets —

The Jazz would indeed be fine. When he made his return, he was clearly ready to lead his squad back into the playoffs.

In his first game back from injury, a January 18 bout with the New York Knicks, he scored 23 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots, outdueling Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis in the process .

In just the third game back from injury, the Jazz would lose in embarrassing fashion to the Atlanta Hawks. The fight and resolve that we have come to admire about this Jazz team just was not there. That loss would drop them to 19-28. That game has come to be known as a turning point for the Utah Jazz and their season.

After that loss, the Utah Jazz would go on to win 11 straight games and would head into the All-Star break two games over .500. They would drop two out of three coming out of the break, but then went on to win another nine games in a row to officially get themselves back into the playoffs.

There are many reasons why the Jazz were able to turn their season around. The outstanding play of Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio churning out the best stretch of his career being two reasons. However, the Jazz turning their season around correlates directly with the return of the Stifle Tower, and is the primary explanation.

It is unheard of that a player who only played in 59 games could win one of the main awards for the season, but Gobert was just that dominant. It is all but assured that Gobert will be this year’s Defensive Player of the Year, and his play since returning on January 19th is the main proponent why.

The Jazz had the second best record in the NBA over that stretch, 30-8, and by far the number one defense. With a defensive rating of 97.5, they were nearly four points better than any other team in the NBA. Gobert would average 14.4 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks post-injury. He also had a block percentage of 60.3, was number two in the league in defensive win shares and led the NBA in Defensive Real plus/minus at 5.14 on the season.

There were some definite struggles in the playoffs, but Gobert has proven that he is a top-5 center in the league, and if he can remain healthy, he should be a Western Conference All-Star next year.

Heading into next season, Gobert would like to become more of a threat offensively, as the Rockets exposed him a bit on that end of the floor. During his exit interview with the media, Gobert said, “It’s time I become a real weapon and give them more trouble when I have the ball in my hands.”

Outside of the injuries, this has been a fantastic season for Gobert. Every year of his career he has come back bigger and stronger. After leading the Jazz to a 30-8 record over the second half of the season, and a playoff victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, expectations are extremely high for next season.

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One can only expect Gobert to come back ready to lead the Jazz back into the playoffs and as one of the top teams in the NBA.