2. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (projected starter)
A three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. A 2020-21 back-to-back All-Star alongside co-star Donovan Mitchell. A newly minted silver medalist with France at the Tokyo Olympics. Soon to be a ninth-year Utah Jazz player and a seventh-year full-time starter.
Other than maybe a few enhancements to his offensive skillset from facing top international competition this summer, Rudy Gobert is likely to be the same Rudy Gobert as last year.
That Gobert is all the Jazz need.
The 7-foot-1, 260-pound Frenchman has stayed relatively healthy for his size over the years, missing only a handful of games between the past three seasons. And while ill-informed onlookers blamed Gobert’s lack of perimeter defense on Utah’s latest postseason collapse, it’s not as if “The Stifle Tower” has looked overly gassed in the late stages of recent campaigns.
With all of that in mind, despite the addition of Hassan Whiteside to the roster and the expected growth of Udoka Azubuike, the assumption here is that Rudy Gobert will give the Jazz at least 30 minutes per game for the seventh straight year.
Projected playing time for Rudy Gobert: 30 minutes per game