Ever since he took over as the Utah Jazz’s starting center, Rudy Gobert established himself as the best rim protector and interior defender in the NBA. While his defensive skills in the perimeter aren’t as sound, he’s still an elite defensive anchor in the paint.
Gobert has been named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year three times in his career, all in the past four seasons. This time, however, he doesn’t even figure to be a top-3 candidate to take the award home, as the Jazz’s once-great defense has slightly regressed.
When asked about it, Gobert claimed that the voting system just wasn’t fair, as the award should go to the player who makes the biggest defensive impact, regardless of his team’s overall defensive numbers.
NBA News: Rudy Gobert Thinks DPOY Voting System Isn’t Fair
“You know, there’s a lot of great defenders in this league, and as they should, it’s great that a lot of guys want to win this award, but I think it’s just about impact,” Gobert told Malika Andrews of ESPN.
“Who is having the most impact for their respective teams? Over the years, I’ve been trying to, everytime I step on the court, translates what I do into wins and to impacting my team in a positive way defensively,” Gobert added.“This year again, we’re back. Not as good as last year, collectively, but still a very good defensive team, and when you look at the numbers, they don’t lie. I mean they speak for themselves.”
Gobert Feels Like The Standard Is Higher For Him
The French big man knows that he’s not exactly a fan favorite and that some of his colleagues also think he’s overrated. Add 3 DPOYs to that mix, and it’s clear that the bar will be higher for him when compared to other players:
“For sure, for sure (the bar is higher),” Gobert said. “It’s kinda human nature when someone does the same thing over and over and over every year, and is really being consistent doing it, we can take that for granted.”
“I kinda knew it was coming, but this year I really felt like people kind like, ‘Okay, Rudy’s doing this, but let’s see what their guys are doing. Let’s stop looking at the numbers, stop looking at the impact, and then find more exciting narratives out there.’ I don’t really blame them — it’s a little unfair — but it’s human nature,” Gobert concluded.
Gobert is averaging a whopping 2.1 blocks per game to go along with a league-best 14.7 rebounds. But with the Jazz struggling to get stops, that may not be enough to tie Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo with his fourth DPOY award.