2019 NBA Playoffs: Player power rankings

No. 14-13

14: Rudy Gobert – Without a doubt Rudy Gobert is the best defensive player in the league, able to anchor an elite defense on his merit alone.

He is the favorite to win a second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award, and he leads the league in the vast majority of the defensive advanced metrics.

His impossibly long wingspan and superb instincts help him to completely wall off the paint, and it frees up the Jazz’ perimeter defenders to be more aggressive.

The reason Gobert is not higher is that in the playoffs his particular brand of impacting a basketball game becomes a touch less valuable.

Teams running a spread pick-and-roll can take advantage of Gobert outside, as in the past teams like the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rocket have shown. Offensively he is a dependent talent, needing a strong running mate (which he currently has in Donovan Mitchell) to set him up.

13: Draymond Green – It is without question that Green has taken a step back this season, which could be due to aging, conserving himself for the postseason or a byproduct of internal chemistry.

Whatever the cause, Green is a touch slower on both ends of the court and has become even less of a scoring threat.

Yet that stills leaves Green at the top of the list for defensive destruction, and over the past five seasons he has shown that his game goes to another level in the postseason.

He can move smoothly from guarding in the post to guarding on the perimeter, generates turnovers like few others in the league and unlocks the best two-way lineup in the league, if not NBA history.

Offensively he may not seek his own shot but his ball movement and playmaking in transition and the half-court are a major part of the Warriors’ league-leading attack.