Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert may have been passed over in favor of LaMarcus Aldridge for All-Star honors, but the reigning NBA DPOY just showed us who the true star is.
The NBA All-Star rosters were revealed more than a week ago, but Utah Jazz fans are still surly over the list of participants. Rudy Gobert‘s inexplicable exclusion from the festivities — despite being the league’s best defensive player and the key cog for a team that’s fighting for a top four seed in the West — is proof positive that time doesn’t necessarily heal all wounds.
However, the Jazz’s showdown with the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday may have done the trick.
Not just because the Jazz won, either, although they did do that to the tune of a 20-point beatdown at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The real satisfaction came with Gobert dominating his match-up with Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge.
Gobert paced the Jazz to victory by scoring 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and adding 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots to the box score. Utah outscored San Antonio by 15 when he was in the game.
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Meanwhile, Aldridge missed 11 of his 16 field goal attempts and the Spurs were minus-11 in his 32 minutes on the court.
That’s the same Aldridge who was essentially chosen by coaches for a spot in the February classic instead of the Stifle Tower. It was a development that flew in the face all logic, reason and, more importantly, statistical data.
After all, if you’re looking at things like win shares, value over replacement player, real plus/minus or box plus/minus — statistics designed to measure players’ overall impact on games, as well as their team’s ability to win them — Gobert is a top 10 player in the league.
Aldridge is, well…not that.
As was the case on Saturday, he’s been a net negative for his team on the year. We may just be talking a minus-0.1 net rating, but that combined with the fact that the Spurs are 1.7 points per 100 possessions better when he sits isn’t a good look.
For the record, Gobert boasts a net rating of 6.7 and a positive net swing of nearly 11 points/100 poss. if you compare the team’s performance with him on versus off.
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Regardless of the numbers and the perceived snub, though, Gobert never made Saturday about him or his match-up with Aldridge. “He’s an All-Star and people know it,” he said post-game. “And even if he’s not an All-Star he’s still a very good player but that doesn’t really matter.”
It may not matter in the grand scheme of things; the bigger issue was getting the win. And even if the numbers back him and he outplays Aldridge head-to-head, All-Star selections have already been made. What’s done is done.
Still, while Gobert may have avoided making a statement with his words, his play spoke volumes. And it said, quite definitively, that he, not Aldridge, is the true star.
Even if the coaches blew the ballot.