Utah Jazz: End of season awards if the season is over

Most Valuable Player

Who were you expecting? Rudy Gobert has been having the best year of his career in year seven, receiving more minutes and defensive responsibility than ever.

He’s averaging a career high in rebounds per game and field goal percentage, and is a league leader in both of those metrics (second in FG%, tied for third in rebounds per game). I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a top-three finalist for Defensive Player of the Year this season, and he was also an All-Star.

As usual, his impact on both offense and defense is bigger than any other Jazz player. His individual offensive rating is 130, and his defensive rating is 103. No other Jazz player who’s played significant minutes can even touch that.

As for games he’s completely missed this season, there are two: versus the New Orleans Pelicans on November 23rd, and against the Bucks in Milwaukee November 25th. The Jazz barely squeaked by an extremely shorthanded Pelicans squad that they really should’ve beat by eight or 10 points.

Against Milwaukee? Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 50 points, and there was no answer for his attacking the rim with Gobert on the injury shelf.

Rudy Gobert is the best player on the Utah Jazz

by Lucas Miller

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Honorable Mention: Donovan Mitchell

Earlier in the season, Don looked like he was ready to become the best player on the Jazz. On the Kia MVP Ladder for NBA.com, the writers were giving Mitchell the nod as the Jazz’s MVP representative rather than Gobert.

But his consistency fell of a little bit after his strong start. If he can completely erase the blunders, like the one he had in Denver on January 30th, he can cement his status as a top-15 player in the NBA. Right now, he’s floating somewhere between 15th and 30th, depending on if he has a good or bad week.