If you’re reading this, you probably already have an educated enough opinion to know that there are only two members of the Utah Jazz who have a chance to be named here. With all due respect to high-level NBA players like Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neale, the Jazzmen live and die with the star duo of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. It’s readily apparent that these are the two most important players on the Utah Jazz. However, the question of which of the two is more important to the Jazzmen is much riper for discussion.
It may, in fact, be a pointless discussion. Mitchell and Gobert play drastically different roles for the Jazz. The former has blossomed into the squad’s annual leading scorer, while the latter is arguably the best defensive anchor in the NBA. Both are ultimately pivotal to the club’s success, and stand to reside in Salt Lake City for the foreseeable future.
That’s not going to stop us from hosting the aforementioned discussion. They say comparison is the thief of joy, but if that were true in the sports world, we would be joyless.
We’ll note that we’re only thinking about the 2021-22 season here. Donovan Mitchell is obviously significantly younger than Rudy Gobert, but the future doesn’t factor into our consideration. We’ll also be referencing stats from 2020-21, as the current season is too young to invest full stuck in.
The question is essentially this: if the Utah Jazz win the championship in 2021-22, who would we bet on to be named their Finals MVP?
Here’s the case for Rudy Gobert and the case for Donovan Mitchell as the most important Jazzman.
The case for Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert
Frankly, the case for Gobert is pretty simple: virtually every advanced metric pegs him as the most important player on the Jazz.
He paces the club in Win Shares (WS) in 2021-22 so far at 1.7. He’s atop the Jazz leaderboard in Box Plus/Minus (BPM) at 5.2. He also leads in Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) at 0.5.
In case you think this is an example of small sample theater, the numbers told the same story in 2020-21. His 11.3 WS led the Utah Jazz by a considerable margin. His 4.5 BPM narrowly edged out Mike Conley’s 4.4. Finally, his VORP of 3.6 was (you guessed it) the highest mark on the team.
None of which should be particularly surprising. Gobert’s presence as a rim protector fundamentally alters opposing teams’ strategies in a way that no other skill possessed by any other Jazzman can. The paint becomes a no fly zone when Gobert is in the middle of it. He effectively removes the best shot in basketball from any team’s diet, which frequently leads to more general offensive breakdowns.
On the offensive end, Gobert is obviously not a featured weapon, but his combination of vertical spacing and elite screen setting is still essential to the Jazz’s plan of attack. It’s a little early in the 2021-22 season to factor Offensive Rating prominently into our equation, but it’s worth noting that Gobert actually led all Jazz starters in that category in 2020-21 at 131.
That’s not to say that Gobert was the Jazz’s most important offensive player. He’s a complimentary piece on that end: an NBA offense built around him would be built to suffer. Still, as far as two-way impact goes, the numbers make a strong case for Rudy Gobert as the most important player on the Utah Jazz.
The case for Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell
If you believe that Donovan Mitchell is the most important player on the Utah Jazz, there’s a pretty good chance you’re not a huge fan of advanced metrics.
There is a case to be made. Now in his fifth season, Mitchell has led the Jazz in scoring in every season since his 2017-18 rookie year. The 2021-22 season so far is no exception, as Mitchell’s 24.9 points per game comfortably pace the Jazz.
As detractors of metrics are often quick to remind you, the game is about a bucket. While the Jazz have done an admirable job of surrounding Mitchell with tertiary offensive options, nobody else on this roster is talented enough to lead a contending NBA team in scoring.
Rudy Gobert does a remarkable job of raising this team’s ceiling, but without a primary offensive option, any NBA team’s floor lands somewhere at the bottom of a bottomless pit.
It’s a convincing argument, but it’s one that we’ll ultimately reject. Advanced metrics are often designed to measure a player’s impact on their team’s success. Sometimes, they can be noisey, but when they’re all pointing in the same direction, they’re usually worth following.
There are simply too many numbers that tell us Rudy Gobert is the most important player on the Utah Jazz for us to accept otherwise
Verdict: Rudy Gobert
The question of who the most important player on the Utah Jazz is may boil down to a philosophical dispute. If you believe that scoring trumps all, you’ll be forced to select Mitchell. If you believe in the validity of several advanced metrics, on the other hand, the answer has to be Rudy Gobert.