39. Rudy Gobert
Jazz | Center | Last year: —
It took just 37 games as a starter last season for Gobert to make an upstart case for Defensive Player of the Year. Utah just so happened to rank as the best defensive team in the league from the moment of Gobert’s promotion. The causality is transparent. According to a metric created by Nylon Calculus, no player saved more points at the rim in the regular season; Gobert was not only positioned well to contest a ton of opponent attempts but allowed a league-low 40.4% on those shots. No one in the NBA has yet figured out what to do with the 23-year-old eraser, who in two brief seasons has risen from prospect of intrigue to undeniable stalwart.
37. Derrick Favors
Jazz | Forward | Last year: 79
Grizzlies guard Mike Conley has been the NBA’s reigning “most underrated” player for two or three years now, a length of time that really should invalidate the title. So let’s nominate a new candidate: Derrick Favors. The Jazz big man fits this bill precisely for so many reasons. He plays in Utah, he’s a member of a young team that hasn’t turned the corner (but soon will), his teammates Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gobert hog the spotlight, his rise has been steady not meteoric, and he gets lost in the shuffle in a Western Conference that is stacked with future Hall of Famers and perennial All-Stars at his position.
31. Gordon Hayward
Jazz | Forward | Last year: 57
Gordon Hayward has blossomed into an efficient alpha scorer who is knocking on the door of All-Star status. Hayward, 25, has been a quality all-around playmaker for a few years now, but he has faced some major handicaps: he’s played on young teams, he’s been stuck without great point guards, he’s been asked to do too much, and he spent much of his early career playing for an uncreative offensive mind. However, coach Quin Snyder’s first season saw Utah improve from 25th to 15th in offensive efficiency. Hayward benefited from higher-quality looks, improved flow, more catch-and-shoot opportunities, and a new pick-and-roll finisher in Rudy Gobert. The Jazz were 6.6 points better offensively with Hayward on the court last season, as he helped compensate for a season-ending shoulder injury to Alec Burks and uninspiring contributions from Trey Burke.
We can always have a thing or two to quibble about with such a list(I would have liked to see Hayward higher, I can't fathom how Drummond is above Favors when Favors is better than him pretty much every facet of the game barring rebounding, Bledsoe ranked higher than Favors, etc.), but in general I think they've done a good job and have recognized our players improvement from last year. I have no doubt if we make the playoffs those players will be even higher next year.
