If his offense earns more minutes, defense will get more acclaim.He and Adebayo are the twin turbos of Heat’s defense.Too low here only if he were *wink* the GOAT defender.And in the offense-as-best defense dept., Giannis outscores the others in this Top 5 by 10-14 points per game. Foes shoot 4.6% worse when “The Greek Freak” is guarding them. From a 97.4 defensive rating to 107.3, though his net rating still is a strong 9.8. Milwaukee fiddled with its defense and dropped off this season, Antetokounmpo dipping with them. Combined, that’s a swing of 9.8 points per 100 - more than James Harden in his 2017-18 Kia MVP season (4.4) and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first of his two MVP seasons (9.4 in 2018-19). When Capela was out there, they were comfortably in the black, scoring 114.8 per 100 vs. When Capela sat, Atlanta struggled, giving up 3.2 points more than they scored per 100 possessions. Just so Simmons acknowledges he has a defensive helper in Joel Embiid, and that Gobert’s brand of defense, while altogether different, has as much or more value.īam Adebayo's versatility on the defensive end helped Miami time and again in 2020-21.Ĭapela led the league in rebounding (14.3) and averaged 2.0 blocks, but it was his mere presence on the floor that his fellow Hawks valued most. So when you’re in a matchup with the likes of Bradley Beal, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo or their ilk, holding that man to “only” 20 points can be a legit outcome. His chores are more personal, hitched to the wagons of the Sixers opponents’ top scoring threats. Simmons’ and his supporters’ case that he should win the DPOY relies on him tackling defense in a completely different manner from Gobert. I think that day, maybe people will finally stop disrespecting me.” “The day I retire,” Gobert told FiveThirtyEight, “we’re going to be able to look at the data. The data would favor Gobert even more, the Web site suggests, if his success over multiple seasons at blocking shots, thwarting roll men on pick-and-rolls and suffocating post-ups hadn’t discouraged many opponents now from trying those things. … In fact, Gobert’s defensive on-off split is one of the largest of any high-volume player over the past 15 years.” “The data suggest that not only is running away with this year’s award, he’s having one of the best defensive seasons in modern NBA history. Hyperbole was not a concern, either, when they wrote: Rudy Gobert, Utah JazzĮven the statistical and political Web site chimed in on Gobert’s defensive impact this season. (All stats through the end of the regular season) 1. Here are the Top 5 of the final 2020-21 Defensive Player Ladder: Two different sorts of defenders, two sets of numbers, only one top rung. A 106.0 defensive rating, a 328 plus/minus and 0.140 defensive win shares. Here are the Philadelphia player’s respective stats by category: minus-0.4 net defensive rating, a 5.2% impact on shooters in the 9.9 shots he faces nightly. His defensive rating is 100.9, his plus/minus for the season was plus-728 and his defensive win shares was 0.181, all per NBA.com/Stats.Ĭompare those numbers to Simmons, widely is regarded as the league’s top on-ball defender with his capability of guarding all five positions. Shooters fare 7.7% worse when he’s the one contesting their shots, and he tops the NBA in defensive field-goal attempts (19.1).
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Utah’s defense when Gobert is on the floor is 11.9 points better than when he’s off. Rudy Gobert recorded a season-best nine blocks against the Bulls on March 22.Īs for Gobert specifically, his statistical edges over the competition are on par with his wingspan. The Jazz ranked third in points allowed per 100 possessions (107.5), fourth in points scored per 100 (116.5) and tops in the gap between them (9.0). And that defensive scheme is essential to Utah’s 52-20 record, the NBA’s best this season.
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Whether you prefer analytics or eye tests, his play at that end of the floor is essential to the Jazz’s defensive scheme beyond any rivals’. So it was 1) Gobert, 2) the Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons and 3) the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo, with 99 other voters determining how that order holds up come trophy time.
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More specifically, the top three rungs mirror the three-spot ballot that I cast with the league by Monday night’s deadline. Because it’s a ladder - the Defensive Player Ladder, our weekly ranking of the NBA’s most effective and stifling defenders - that makes him top dog of the top rung.Īnd since this week’s edition is the final one for the 2020-21 regular season, it carries with it a prize: One first-place vote for the NBA’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award. If this were a hill, the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert would be declared king of it. Rudy Gobert’s patrolling of the paint keyed the Jazz as they ran up an NBA-best 52-20 mark in 2020-21.