Better Defensively: Rudy Gobert or Giannis

[mdonnelly1989]

Better Defensively

[SHAQ32]

I think relative to position you gotta go with Giannis. Rudy is a great defender but the gap between him and some of the other guys at center isn't as big.

[No-more-rings]

I think relative to position you gotta go with Giannis. Rudy is a great defender but the gap between him and some of the other guys at center isn't as big.

Relative to position doesn’t matter that much.

I don’t think i’m qualified to answer this, though half of us or more aren’t some just pretend to be.

[Statlanta]

Gobert.

Who cares about a swiss-army knife when you have the defacto best defensive player in the league.

[Dr Positivity]

Giannis because I think Gobert can be game planned against more. Against a team like the Rockets they can neutralize his shotblocking easier than Giannis.

I also think relative to position does matter, it's easier to find a good defensive center beside Giannis than the other way around

[freethedevil]

Better Defensively

Gobert.

Here's why:

But over the 82-game grind, Gobert barely gets the edge. As a center, Gobert is involved in the main action -- as both pick-and-roll bulwark and last-line-of-defense helper -- more often than Antetokounmpo and George. He challenged about 27 shots per 100 possessions, according to Second Spectrum; Antetokounmpo and George faced about 15.5 apiece.

And his magnum opus this season off course was his performances in the last 3 games(when the coach had figured out the bucks scheme) where he completely nuetralized harden's scoring and limited the rockets offense more than the bucks had despite having clearly worse personell to employ the scheme they copied.

Gobert is the league's best defender. Bar none.

[freethedevil]

Giannis because I think Gobert can be game planned against more. Against a team like the Rockets they can neutralize his shotblocking easier than Giannis.

Except that the rockets completely failed to do so when they played gobert in the playoffs...

[countryboy667]

Myles Turner--most unjustifiably overlooked defensive big in the league. At least as good is Gobert, if not better.

[Dupp]

Giannis clearly to me. He can not be targeted by certain teams in the playoffs. He can and is dominant under every circumstance against every team.

[Statlanta]

Myles Turner--most unjustifiably overlooked defensive big in the league. At least as good is Gobert, if not better.

No, he doesn't even play the minutes.

[LKN]

Giannis is definitely the more unique player...... Maybe Hakeem is the best comp for him on defense? How many guys in NBA history can defend the rim like that, guard on the perimeter and cover so much ground on defense. The guy literally is a freak

[Doctor MJ]

Giannis because I think Gobert can be game planned against more. Against a team like the Rockets they can neutralize his shotblocking easier than Giannis.

Except that the rockets completely failed to do so when they played gobert in the playoffs...

Please elaborate. I'm not denying that there's a laziness to assuming Gobert's defense was exposed just because his team got torched, but it's hard for me to see how the Jazz can say they made the Rockets fail. Seems like they've been an easy out for the Rockets both of the past two seasons.

[mattg]

Gobert can be played off the floor in way that Giannis cannot. In fact the bucks even did it to the Jazz this year by putting Giannis at center the jazz were forced to sit Rudy because he absolutely could not guard Giannis, and was out of place trying to guard someone smaller and was basically giving up easy dunk after dunk.

Giannis fully locked in is substantially better defensively than Rudy, but because of his offensive load a lot of times he is conserving energy or not taking the run protection role due to the presence of Lopez.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Gobert is the better rim protector but I lean towards Giannis for having a more portable defensive skillset.

[Luigi]

Gobert vs the Rockets in 2018 has a few highlight plays that really sunk in for some people.
Gobert vs the Rockets in 2019 was fantastic defensively.

I think some of you should update your opinions.

[freethedevil]

Giannis because I think Gobert can be game planned against more. Against a team like the Rockets they can neutralize his shotblocking easier than Giannis.

Except that the rockets completely failed to do so when they played gobert in the playoffs...

Please elaborate. I'm not denying that there's a laziness to assuming Gobert's defense was exposed just because his team got torched, but it's hard for me to see how the Jazz can say they made the Rockets fail. Seems like they've been an easy out for the Rockets both of the past two seasons.

I'm talking aboutthe rockets offence. In the firstthree games, the jazz tried to copy the bucks scheme but weren't really doing it properly:

Watch on YouTube

Then in the last three games, having figured it out, with gobert as the centerpiece the rockets averaged only 98 points for the last three games despite gobert not having the defensive personell giannis does.

IOW, the jazz adopted a radical scheme on the fly, the coach hadn't figured outhow to implement it. And then when he did gobert had by the far the biggets role in making the rockets offence completely anemic.