Will Rudy Gobert win the Defensive Player of the Year DPOY?

[wco81]

Thunder hasn't made it out the first round with Westbrook and George leading them.

And I could have sworn Houston won the series 4-1?

[dr0welf]

Thunder hasn't made it out the first round with Westbrook and George leading them.

And I could have sworn Houston won the series 4-1?

yup but the defense was great. The problem we had is all our shooters acted blind and couldn't make a jump shot. If we would have shot open jump shots at season average we would have won 4-1. No matter how good the defense is, you can't win if you don't outscore your opponent. The whole team got cold at the wrong time. Gobert is a great defensive player but on the offensive side he is great at screens and rolling to the hoop. He needs an offensive game before he goes max imho.

[wco81]

I'd be curious how well Ben Wallace was paid at the time relative to other top players. Also of course relative to other players on those Pistons teams.

He was certainly instrumental in the Pistons' championship in 2004 and the Finals run they made in 2005, which they lost 4-3.

[Luigi]

Thunder hasn't made it out the first round with Westbrook and George leading them.

And I could have sworn Houston won the series 4-1?

[zero24gravity]

I'd be curious how well Ben Wallace was paid at the time relative to other top players. Also of course relative to other players on those Pistons teams.

He was certainly instrumental in the Pistons' championship in 2004 and the Finals run they made in 2005, which they lost 4-3.

Not even close to the same as Gobert, but I understand why you went there.

Again, while he's not a shooter, Gobert is a HIGHLY efficient offensive player, who not only lead the league in FG%, but also is the best screen setter in the league (lead the league in screen assists by 0.6 more per game than 2nd place, and lead the league in screen assist points by 1.2ppg more than the next guy).

Wallace did nothing but stay out of the way on offense & go for rebounds. (5.7ppg & 47% FG for a guy who only shot short shots is terrible.)

A couple overall impact stats:
Ben Wallace's career per was 15.5, Gobert 21.5 (24.6 last season).
Wallace's career win share per 48 minutes 0.140, Gobert 0.218.

I'm not trying to diminish what Wallace did as an undersized center. He was a beast at what he did, but he had holes in his game the size of the Pacific Ocean (Hello 41% FT's!) . Rudy is a factor on both sides of the ball, whereas Wallace simply was not.

Oh, to answer your question about salaries.... Wallace was the 3rd highest paid Piston in 2003-04 @ $5.5m. That team had NO big salaries, with Rip Hamilton tops @ $6.5m.

[Luigi]

Yeah, I looked up Big Ben's offensive numbers for reference, too. Rudy keeps getting better on the offensive side of the ball, and his defense has also become even more stifling each year.

Can't wait to see him catching lobs from Conley this year, and having space from another shooter on the floor. Hopefully he takes yet another stride forward on offense.

[wco81]

I'm not directly comparing them so much as Wallace was a guy who mainly contributed on defense on a team which won one title and came close to winning back to back.

I don't now if he was ever DPOY but had to be on one of the all-defense teams.

[TO11]

I'm not directly comparing them so much as Wallace was a guy who mainly contributed on defense on a team which won one title and came close to winning back to back.

I don't now if he was ever DPOY but had to be on one of the all-defense teams.

Rudy isn't as effective against the Rockets on defense, but James Harden is just an absolutely INSANELY gifted offensive player. I still don't think I would call him a "liability" that series. Maybe you don't remember but the first two games he basically played 2v1 with Capela and Harden, until the Jazz guards understand a little better how to guard Harden with Quin's scheme. Perhaps the scheme was just bad and that's on Quin, it's just really hard to say because Harden is just that good.

Maybe the point you are trying to make is that Rudy isn't a good enough player to max? Well I mean that's very relative. Sure, compared to Giannis, Harden, Durant he isn't worth the max. But Utah isn't the mecca for signing high profile free agents. Like maybe you are a new follower to the NBA but it's been this way for quite awhile and is pretty obvious. Rudy wins us a TON of games compared to anyone else that would be willing to play in Utah and so that in itself makes it really worth considering. Obviously the supermax sucks and none of us here know if its the right move, but we have to entertain the idea at least.

[Luigi]

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