Utah Jazz vs Denver Nuggets Takeaway #1: Rudy Gobert might have a career-year
Eight years and 3 Defensive Player of the Year award trophies into his storied NBA tenure, Rudy Gobert was not pegged by many to have the best season of his career. So far, that’s exactly what’s happening. The Stifle Tower continued that trend last night with an impressive stat line of 23 points on 7/8 shooting from the field, and 16 rebounds.
His numbers on the season so far feel entirely unrealistic: 18.7 points on a 70.8 FG% and 19.0 rebounds per contest. Another interesting development in Gobert’s game this season has come at the free throw line. His 68.8% accuracy is a marginal improvement on his career 63.0%, but it’s his volume that’s particularly encouraging. Gobert is attempting 10.7 free throws per game through 3 games, more than double the 5.3 per contest he shot last season.
His shooting form at the line also looks a little bit cleaner, in spite of a subpar 9/16 finish against the Nuggets. It’s possible that Gobert is getting to the line more because he’s more confident there. If he could boost that 68.8% accuracy by even just two percent, we’re talking about a free-throw shooter who Quin Snyder should want attempting 10.7 freebies a night.
Either way, Gobert’s entirely absurd field goal percentage more-than-offsets his slightly suboptimal free-throw percentage. He’s been the best center in the NBA so far this season. Recently, we wondered if Gobert may be deprived of his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award due to voter fatigue. If he continues on this trajectory, he may be able to set his sights on a Most Valuable Player trophy.
The Utah Jazz came away with a resounding victory over the Denver Nuggets in spite of Bojan Bogdanovic’s suspect defense and Donovan Mitchell’s ongoing three-point shooting woes. Rudy Gobert continued his streak of dominance, leading the Jazzmen to their third straight victory. We’ll see which trends hold, and which don’t, when the Jazz face the Rockets tomorrow evening.