Center of the Decade: Rudy Gobert
The Stifle Tower’s accolades are entirely unmatched by the others who manned the middle for the Utah Jazz this decade and the others on this list for that matter. Since debuting for Utah during the 2013-14 season, Rudy Gobert has been named to three All-Defensive teams and two All-NBA teams and he’s won the Defensive Player of the Year award each of the last two seasons.
Gobert also led the league in blocks during the 2016-17 season and has not finished lower than fourth since then. Furthermore, he’s consistently among the league leaders in defensive rating, defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus.
The Stifle Tower has continued to develop offensively and since 2016-17 he’s averaged a double-double each year, while shooting at elite efficiency. Last season he led the league in field goal percentage and set a new record for dunks in a single season.
While his scoring has slipped by one point per game this year, he’s now averaging a career high in efficiency and his 68.8 percent from the field currently leads the league.
Gobert is also pulling down a career high in rebounds per game with 14.1 per contest. With All-Star voting now open, Gobert is looking to make his first All-Star team behind his elite performance on both ends of the floor, and remains a top candidate for numerous end of season accolades.