![]() Utah entered last season as one of the favorites to win the NBA title. There’s been a series of disappointing playoff exits for Gobert and Mitchell, which led to the annual question of whether the two could coexist on a title-contending team. What's next? Making sense of the reported Rudy Gobert trade. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi reports that Utah’s intention is now to retool its roster and build around Mitchell. This week the Jazz also hired Will Hardy - a longtime San Antonio assistant and an assistant for Boston on its run to the Eastern Conference title this past season - to take over on the bench.Īnd now, Gobert leaves, officially ending his pairing with guard Donovan Mitchell in Utah - an on-court relationship that seemed really good at times, and strained at other moments. Utah acquired a 2023 first-round pick from the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday in exchange for Royce O’Neale. He leaves a Jazz team that has loaded up on a slew of future assets since the start of free agency. ![]() He’s made the All-Star Game in three consecutive seasons with averages of 15 points and 13.9 rebounds per game. Gobert is a three-time Kia Defensive Player of the Year and has been a First Team All-Defensive selection for six straight seasons. Minnesota is receiving one of the best defenders in the NBA. Welcome to the squad, □ /8SgOos2CUrįor being a leader in the community and easy to root for on and off the court-Thank you, ❤️ /WGtp5PXO6d And that’s why they’re going home.Rudy Gobert averaged 15.6 ppg and 14.7 rpg and will join fellow All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota.Īll-NBA center Rudy Gobert is on the move after being traded by the Utah Jazz to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the teams announced today. This is certainly a lesson in the limitations of a rim protector like Gobert, but it also shows how important keeping paint penetration to a minimum is.Įither way, the Jazz and Gobert couldn’t get it done defensively against the Clippers. That’s not his game as a defender - he’s a rim protector, not a defender. He had to navigate so much space from the paint to the 3-point line to guard the Clippers’ small-ball lineup and he just couldn’t do it. Both are off pick-and-roll action in which the Clippers force a switch, after which Jackson drives by Royce O’Neale and challenges the Defensive Player of the Year. Reggie Jackson has two nearly identical floaters over Rudy Gobert in this quarter. But some of them were certainly possessions like this where he was absolutely attacked by the Clippers. That’s part of the reason Terance Mann had a career night. Another Clarkson blow by and it is almost the same exact play as the previous one. The inability to prevent penetration is killing the Jazz. To be fair to Rudy, though, many of them were contests like this one where he had to close out to wide-open shooters while also trying to defend the paint. That typically does not happen with Gobert. The Clippers made 15 of those shots (79%). Rudy Gobert was the closest/primary defender on 19 Clipper shot attempts in the 2nd half of Game 6. ![]() They hit 15 of those shots, per StatMuse. Gobert was the primary defender on 19 of the Clippers’ shot attempts in the 2nd half of Game 6 when they made their furious comeback. Last year’s playoff series vs the Nuggets. Rudy Gobert has 0 blocks in back-to-back games for the first time since… The last time was when the Jazz were eliminated by the Nuggets. It was the first time that happened for him in a year, per StatMuse. There are a couple of stats that show just how much the Clippers took advantage of the Jazz star.įirst, he didn’t register a single block in Game 6 just like Game 5. He finished the night as a -24 - a huge negative. They legitimately attacked Gobert to the point where he was uncharacteristically ineffective on defense in an elimination game. He’s one of the best shot blockers and rim protectors we’ve ever seen.īut…none of that really mattered in game 6 against the Clippers on Friday night. You don’t win three defensive player of the year awards by being a liability on that end of the floor. ![]() Rudy Gobert is certainly one of the best defenders in the NBA - there’s no question about that. ![]()
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