Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert is on-board with the Dallas Mavericks big draft-night play for Euro star Luka Doncic.
On the night of the 2013 NBA Draft, perhaps no player was as overlooked as Rudy Gobert. Somehow, the Utah Jazz star slipped all the way to No. 27, where the Jazz essentially paid the Denver Nuggets to draft him in their stead. Now, Gobert is arguably the most impactful defender in the league and a franchise player.
Although he was taken No. 3 overall in Thursday’s 2018 NBA Draft, the Stifle Tower thinks people are sleeping on Slovenian wunderkind Luka Doncic, too.
When the Dallas Mavericks swung their pick at No. 5 (Trae Young) to the Atlanta Hawks for Doncic, Gobert took to Twitter to praise them and their new player —
Great move by the Mavs, people don't realize how good this kid is.
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) June 21, 2018
The Jazz center isn’t alone in that thought process.
Although Deandre Ayton was the top pick of the 2018 class and had been the odds-on favorite for that distinction for some time, Doncic was No. 1 on his fair share of draft boards, too. When myself and the J-Notes crew put together our own mock drafts, half of us had Doncic as the first selection.
In any case, Doncic has the look of a star in the making. He averaged 20.9 points, 7.5 boards and 6.6 assists per 36 minutes for Real Madrid last season. Those are great numbers, of course, but they hardly tell the tale.
Simply put, he’s maybe the most visionary and offensively skilled 19-year-old you’ll ever see.
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Although Gobert likes him for the Mavs, Doncic’s move to the Big D could make life harder for the Jazz down the road. It’ll take some time, but Mark Cuban is committed to rebuilding his team into a winner. And now he has two big-time players in Doncic and Dennis Smith, Jr. as cornerstone pieces.
If they can make some noise via free agency in the next year or two, Utah may have itself a new rival in the Wild West.
As if the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets of the world weren’t enough.
Nevertheless, Gobert and the Jazz have never been ones to shy away from a challenge.