NBA: Top 10 candidates for 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year
By Phil Watson
. . . Rudy Gobert. 2. player. 118
The reigning two-time winner of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz will have a different supporting cast this season and that could affect the composition of the team’s defensive work.
Most notably, the Jazz signed Bojan Bogdanovic as a free agent, a gifted offensive player who is adequate at best at the defensive end.
But Gobert is an elite rim protector, who averages 2.2 blocks per game over his six-year career and led the NBA in blocks in 2016-17.
He’s also steadily improved as a rebounder on the defensive glass, finishing ninth in the NBA last season with a 27.0 percent rate.
Gobert also led the NBA in Defensive Real Plus/Minus last season at plus-4.35, just ahead of his new teammate, backup big man Ed Davis, who posted a plus-4.13 last season for the Brooklyn Nets.
The one Achilles heel Gobert experienced during international play this month at the FIBA World Cup was foul trouble, but NBA officials whistled him for just 3.2 fouls per 36 minutes last season, so getting him into difficulty via personal fouls is more difficult while he is at his day job in Utah.
While Gobert is the two-time winner, there is a challenger emerging that could be in a position to usurp the crown.