Rudy Gobert has done it again. He joins a few of the elites to join a 3-time club of Defensive Player of the Year award. This is his 3rd Defensive player of the year award after winning back-to-back in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 season before dropping it to Giannis Antetokounmpo in the last season and now he gets it back from him.
He becomes the 4th Player in NBA History after Dwight Howard, Ben Wallace, and Dikembe Mutombo among players with at least three DPOYs to their name since the recognition of the award in 1982-83. After receiving the award, Gobert mentions,
“To me, it's about impact. It's about how much impact you can have on the court and how much impact you can have on your teammates. At the end of the day, how much impact you can have on your team and the other team. It's not about being cute. It's not about looking good. It's not about narratives. It's not about having a big name. It's about coming out every single night, trying to grind defensively and have that impact on the game”
Why did Rudy Gobert win this award?
1. Jazz is the No.1 seed in the Stacked Western Conference. It is just not possible for a squad to be at the top of any conference with just offensive powers. It is the defense that matters. Gobert alongside Favors of the bench marked an elite defensive team and is one of the factors contributing to the same.
2. 67.5% Field Goals and 2.7 Blocks.
Both of the statistics are the highest of his career. He is averaging more than 2 blocks per game throughout his career and this season he is at his peak.
3. Lead NBA in Offensive Rebounds – 242
4. Lead NBA in Total Blocks – 190
5. Opponents shot 7.7% worse than they did against an average defender.
Career :
Rudy Gobert was drafted as the No.27 pick in 2013 the draft, he had most of his experience in the D-League. He became a starter in 2014-15 post the trade of Enes Kanter and since then has anchored the Jazz Defensive regimes. He cannot be considered as an elite Shot blocker like Dwight Howard, Mutombo, etc. but his improvements can be seen over the few seasons.
As the league has become an offensive-dominated one, Defense has become underrated, and hence, Players like Rudy Gobert, Patrick Beverley, Ben Simmons have been keeping the Defense prioritized that their Offensive Game.
Defensive Player of the Season Stats :
Season | Points | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | FG% |
2017-18 | 13.5 | 1.4 | 10.7 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 62.2% |
2018-19 | 15.9 | 2.0 | 12.9 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 66.9% |
2020-21 | 14.3 | 1.3 | 13.5 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 67.5% |
