How the Utah Jazz have been better this season without Rudy Gobert

With Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert out with another knee injury, here’s a look into how they have actually been better this season without their star player.

The injury bug once again has bitten the Utah Jazz, mainly their star center Rudy Gobert.

Gobert, who just recently returned to action for Utah after being a sidelined for 11 games with a bone bruise in his right knee, will now be sidelined for another extended period of time.

This time, it’s due to an injury to his other knee.

In Utah’s win over the Boston Celtics last Friday, Gobert went down very early in the first quarter when teammate Derrick Favors fell to the ground, rolling right into the left knee of Gobert. Gobert exited the game and didn’t return.

On Saturday, The Vertical‘s Shams Charania reported that Gobert was diagnosed with a sprained PCL in his left knee, sending the big man back to the bench for about a month.

The Jazz released an official statement later in the day, saying the enter will be reevaluated in two weeks. Gobert, after all, did come back sooner than expected from his first knee injury this season.

Losing a star player can take a toll on any team throughout the course of an NBA season. You’d expect the same thing for Utah, which is now going through this for the second time already this season, right?

For the Jazz, that hasn’t really been the case. When Gobert has been out of the lineup, they’ve actually been right around the same — and sometimes even better.

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers this season when Gobert is on and off the court.

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The J-Notes

In 18 games on the court, Gobert has averaged 11.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.2 assists in just under 30 minutes per game. When he’s playing, the Jazz have had an offensive rating of 96.5, a defensive rating of 101.1 and a net rating of -4.6, while recording an effective field goal percentage of 48.9 percent.

During that 18-game span, the Jazz went 7-11, including two separate four-game losing streaks.

Entering Wednesday, Gobert has missed 13 games total. In his time off the floor, Utah holds an offensive rating of 110.6, a defensive rating of 104.5 and a net rating of +6.1, while holding an effective field goal percentage of 54.6 percent.

During that 13-game span, the Jazz went 7-6, including a five-game winning streak.

Overall, the plus/minus when Gobert is on the court is -2.3 and +3.4 when he’s off the court. It’s a small sample size, of course, but so far this season, the Jazz are actually a better team without their star player.

Also, if history repeats itself — which is a dumb thing to say when talking about injuries, because you can never anticipate them occurring — Utah fans shouldn’t get used to seeing a lot of Gobert this season.

Throughout his NBA career, Gobert has either been extremely healthy, playing nearly every game during the regular season, or he’s had a hard time staying on the court. This year, it appears to be the latter.

Here are a look at the number of games Gobert has played each season in his five-year NBA career:

• 2013-14 season:  45 games
• 2014-15 season:  82 games
• 2015-16 season:  61 games
• 2016-17 season:  81 games (named to All-NBA and All-Defensive teams)
• 2017-18 season:  18 games (through 31 games)

For the Jazz, they would like to see their star center, who signed a $100 million extension a season ago, back to old form and leading his team during the 2017-18 season.

Next: 2017-18 Week 10 NBA Power Rankings

But so far this year, and with the amount of injuries Gobert has had to overcome already, Utah has better off — and a better team — with him off the floor.