The Dallas Mavericks You will find yourself in an interesting place for this off-season. They have finished a season that led to the third most successful season in franchise history. They have one of the best assets in the Luka Doncic NBA. They have great free “three and d” pieces on Reggie Bullock, Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber. Assuming they can resign Jalen Brunson, he will complete the best point guard trio in the NBA with Doncic and Spencer Dinwidy.
What stands out for not being on the list above is the true center. It is okay. The league is no longer centered around the center as it used to be. The creator of bidirectional wings and boundaries is the currency of today’s league. However, the most valuable shots in the game are still layups and dunks.
Rudy Gobert is the NBA’s best rim protector. He does so through an incredible combination of length, positioning and timing. He can completely cover the edges with a wall. Unfortunately, this has proven to be more true in the regular season than in the playoffs of the last few seasons. The Utah Jazz For most of the last five seasons, he has been either a good defense team or a good defense team. They got worse significantly during each season’s playoffs.
Utah Jazz Defensive Rating
| Season | Jazz RSD Rating | Jazz playoff rating |
|---|---|---|
| Season | Jazz RSD Rating | Jazz playoff rating |
| 2021-22 | 110.0 | 114.8 |
| 2020-21 | 107.5 | 121.7 |
| 2019-20-20 | 109.3 | 116.8 |
| 2018-19-19 | 105.3 | 108.5 |
| 2017-18 | 103.0 | 106.1 |
This does not necessarily indicate a failure by Gobert. Much went into team defense, and Jazz systematically dismantled his previous border defense to improve shooting and attack. But Gobert’s charm is that he is theoretically a defense against himself. He is also part of this breakdown as the playoff team is working very hard to specifically attack him.
Rudy Gobert’s Rimfield Goal Percentage
| Season | Gobert Rim FG% Allowed RS | Gobert Rim Fg% Allowed playoffs |
|---|---|---|
| Season | Gobert Rim FG% Allowed RS | Gobert Rim Fg% Allowed playoffs |
| 2021-22 | 50.7% | 59.1% |
| 2020-21 | 49.3% | 56.7% |
| 2019-20-20 | 50.1% | 58.6% |
| 2018-19-19 | 52.4% | 53.8% |
| 2017-18 | 50.7% | 48.6% |
The loss of defense at the playoff rims in this time frame is very annoying. Gobert’s elite trim protection was moved to the playoffs in 2017-18. Ben Simmons won the rookie of the year, and LaMarcus Aldridge was the NBA’s top 10 scorer. Perhaps most important of the season, both opponents in the jazz playoffs played in traditional centers for more than 30 minutes per game. The Oklahoma City Thunder Play Steven Adams for 33.4 minutes per game in the first round, Houston Rockets I played Clint Capela for 33.0 minutes per game.
Those centers were combined to shoot the Zero 3 pointer, which allows Gobert to stay close to the effective rim. Both players were actually relatively offensively effective, as they each scored an average of two digits, despite their negligible offensive role. Their individual production was less important than the fact that Gobert allowed him to hide near the rim. When Gobert is allowed to play near the rim with a team with at least one non-floor spacer, he is as good as everyone steals the rim. But the team simply no longer allows him that luxury.
From 2018 to 2019, Jazz played Rockets again, and Gobert once again enjoyed the luxury of playing against non-spacing centers. His rim protection was solid, if not elite, and the Jazz Defense had the final effective playoff run. After that, the league changed from under him and Gobert was responsible for the playoffs.
2019-20, jazz Denver Nuggets And Gobert was forced to protect Nikola Jokić. Jokić shot 46 threes and hit them with 47.8 percent clips in the series. The jazz defense was destroyed by the onslaught of Jokić and Jamal Murray. Gobert was unable to cope with Jokić’s modern offensive capabilities.
Then jazz played Los Angeles Clippers In the second round of the next season. The Clippers didn’t play the big guys who stretched the floor to fight Gobert, they just didn’t play the big guys. Due to Gobert’s aggressive limitations, which is the next part of this equation, they were able to do this.
Gobert is an elite rollman who can finish and attack aggressive glasses to give his teammates additional shots. Unfortunately, no matter how big the advantage he has, he can’t create anything for himself. The idea that Gobert covers Doncic’s defensive mistakes and catches Rob from Doncic at the other end is fascinating. But deep in the playoffs, the team doesn’t allow so many lobs, so it can’t be the basis for a team’s attack. Without those lobs, Gobert is essentially unable to attack, even though Gobert has set up a great screen.
In the perfect environment, Gobert continues to be a great player. If Mavericks wins him at the right price, they will arguably be one of the best regular season teams in the league. The problem is that other teams can now remove him from that setting. Mavericks will be booked by two players who have both proven to be exploitable in the defensive end playoffs. It’s not the secret to a successful playoff, it’s all Mavericks should pursue. The Phoenix Suns Although they were the best teams in basketball throughout the season, the season they just had should not be considered a success for the Mavericks in the future.
The Mavericks will need to break up with at least one of Dorian Finney-Smith or Reggie Bullock in Gobert’s deal. The most important thing to remove from Gobert’s review is that in the modern NBA, he can’t cover a terrible border defense while defending a five-out attack. Therefore, the deal that robs the Mavericks of border defense is not a beginner.
Gobert is a very good basketball player and came when the league left the player with his skill set. If he exercises his player option, he has a contract of about $ 42 million per season over the next four years. Because of that deal, he will be the last meaningful move Mavericks can make for the foreseeable future. He will be wrong. Mavericks is in a strange place with lots of questions, but Rudy Gobert is not the answer.
