Rudy Gobert: Future DPOY

[cyclix]

Bosh was shooting 44% in 2015, leading up to the blood clot problem. He wasn't nearly as good as earlier in the season, where he shot 48% in 2014. There were reports from Heat staff even that Bosh had a "rib injury", well before they eventually discovered blood clots in his lungs. So, it's apparent that Bosh was ill for some time. A vast majority of Whitesides season came from January 2015, when Bosh probably started to develop these clots.

[Atmanne]

[Litany]

Grantland article:

French Lessons: Rudy Gobert Is Making Utah an Elite Defensive Team

Last Monday in Utah, Tim Duncan was attempting his 10 millionth career face-up move from the left wing. He took three right-handed dribbles into the middle of the paint before spinning back toward the baseline and rising for his patented bank shot. But the league’s most dominant young defender was there to make sure Duncan’s attempt would never even glance off the backboard.

Something’s brewing in Utah. Since the team dealt Enes Kanter on deadline day, the Jazz have won five of six games and suddenly have the look of a team that has figured something out. That something is defense.

Jazz opponents have looked hapless on the offensive end. Since February 20, the Jazz are giving up only 88 points per 100 possessions, which is not just good, it’s off-the-charts great. And when you look at the teams they’ve defeated since the Kanter deal, the run looks even more impressive.

February 20: 92-76 over Portland
February 23: 90-81 over San Antonio
February 27: 104-82 over Denver
February 28: 82-75 over Milwaukee
March 3: 93-82 over Memphis

Those are some good teams, featuring some great interior scorers, putting up some low scores. But that’s what the post-Kanter Jazz are all about: turning good interior scorers into bad interior scorers.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/frenc ... sive-team/

[Prokorov]

he doesnt shy from contact on either end. that i thik really will seperate him from the pack with his size and agility. sky is the limit

[eckles]

Exactly this guy upside is off the charts and a difference maker.
Not since D-Will sophomore year has Jazz fan's been so excited about a prospect.

Other factor's in the recent surge is Gordon Hayward leadership, the boys look up to him

[Nate505]

People can be skeptical of Gobert all they want, he sure looks like the best defensive center the Jazz have had since Mark Eaton, and he's only 22.

[breatnach]

He looks like an exciting prospect in Utah!

What were his red flags coming into the draft that made 26 other teams pass on him?

[Nate505]

Grantland article:

French Lessons: Rudy Gobert Is Making Utah an Elite Defensive Team

Heh, notice in the vine on the link that Duncan does his typical look of amazement that he can't believe a foul wasn't called...even though it wasn't close to being a foul.

[Nate505]

He looks like an exciting prospect in Utah!

What were his red flags coming into the draft that made 26 other teams pass on him?

I'm not sure if it was red flags as much as he was thought to be a really raw prospect, and I'm guessing previous big men who were really raw prospects that turned out to be busts probably made teams shy away from him. IIRC he was mocked anywhere from 10 to the 2nd round, so the range on him was massive. I wanted the Jazz to spend their 21st pick on him if he lasted, and was really pleased they bought back into the 1st round to get him (once they traded that pick to Minnesota).

I remember having the perception he was a bean pole, yet after they drafted him I saw some video and while he's skinny, it looked like he had pretty good athleticism and strength. But I guess nobody really saw what a hard worker he was except Jerry Sloan, who noticed it and suggested the Jazz draft him.

[Froob]

Jazz are lucky, I'd ****ing kill for this guy right now. Not easy to find young stud big men. He's going to feast on the Celtics tonight ugh.

[Nate505]

One sorta fun thing to do is to look at sites like draftxpress and see what people were saying about him at the time. The comments section is full of gems. Full disclaimer, my predictions generally suck too which is why I try not to make them too bold, so people in years past would see that I was angry at the Jazz for taking Hayward over Xavier Henry and other winners like that, so I can't fault people too much. Still, this one is great:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Rudy-Gobert-5878/

I'm a SacTown kings fan and it says that they mocked us drafting him.....why? I get that he's big, long, and shuts down the paint....but he's 7 feet tall and doesn't grab more than 5 boards? Also if he can shut down the paint he should be getting more boards Kings please pass on this guy

(think Gobert had 24 boards yesterday)

Now not that McLemore isn't a bad player or anything, but is there anyone who would want McLemore over Gobert? In fairness to the Kings though, they would have got raked over the coals with that pick, even though if things stayed the same it would have been the right pick.

[Ruckusmh]

He looks like an exciting prospect in Utah!

What were his red flags coming into the draft that made 26 other teams pass on him?

I think his lack of offensive polish hurt him, and I think he had a nagging foot issue at the time as well. Those in combination helped him fall, but honestly even given what we saw from him last year the overall improvement in his game is pretty unprecedented.

Last year he played spot minutes, was able to block some shots but certainly didn't seem as talented as an actual defensive player.

Something clicked for him and he boasted over the summer and here we are.

He still doesn't have much ability to score, although he finishes creatively. His biggest issue offensively is probably that he just is kinda awkwardly long at times. He misses shots that really shouldn't be missed by an NBA player occasionally, but he also has some creative finishes that give you hope he could eventually be at least an ok offensive player.

[erudite23]

I hate that we somehow have to choose between Whiteside and Rudy, and that in order to do so we have to put one or the other down. They are both great stories for completely different reasons. Whiteside has some personality and maturity issues. The talent was always there, he just never got it together. Now it looks like he has and its allowing him to play to his abilities.

Gobert is different because he's so smart and has an incredible frame in combination with sneaky good quicks/hops. How did he make it all the way through the scouting process with that combination? My biggest worry with Rudy is that he will get injured or that something will happen like what happened with AK47 where he just loses his edge for no apparent reason. Is this sustainable for an entire career? He's so nasty and he just loves to play and enforce his will on the game. If he keeps that and continues to work on his skill set--which is a lot more developed than people are aware--he could be something like an 18/14 guy who shoots 60% from the field and 70%+ from the FT line. He might even sneak into the fringe of the MVP discussion at some point. I have a hard time putting any limitations to it.

[Amish Mafioso]

Giannis, Schroeder and Gobert... The 2013 draft shows you perfectly that European players still have a stigma on them. All three of those guys were elite athletes, who should have went in the top 5 in that otherwise abysmal draft. Most GM's failed spectacularly that night. Also, another lesson that you should always go for the high upside players. We could have drafted any of those three, and dropped the ball in a major way. Nelson actually wanted Giannis, but Cuban talked him out of it...

Cuban is probably my favorite owner, but man, he needs to start trusting people who know the game, instead of assuming his expertise in business qualifies him to make such decisions. I believe Utah has had somewhat of the same problem over the years, but it looks like the Miller family has finally decided to give full control to their GM, after losing two borderline all-stars for nothing, because they tried to compete as a treadmill team.

[theGreatRC]

He looks like an exciting prospect in Utah!

What were his red flags coming into the draft that made 26 other teams pass on him?

If I remember correctly, he did horrible in pre draft workouts even with his freakish measurements, some said he's too soft for the NBA game. Well, they were wrong.

[Catchall]

A record producer once said the Beatles had no future in show business.

[coutournant]

Draftexpress had him at the 4th position in an early 2013 mock draft.
But some draft genius thought he would be a bust and compared him to Hasheem Thabeet or Alexis Ajinça, which was a huge mistake. Even if Ajinça is going to be to be a pretty good offensive center in NBA (he improved a lot when he came back to France with the french NT coach in the Strasbourg team), the opposite profile of Gobert

You can have a look of what was said about Gobert before the draft :

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1186551&start=20#start_here
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1253270#start_here

[RSCD3_]

i remember people saying he was too raw defensively to help any contender

Spoiler:

[Altered_Beast]

ive only seen him play against the heat and i was really impressed. ironically we have our own center whos not too shabby and has dpoty material but he certainly looks to be a force on that end

[cyclix]

I can see Gobert putting up Deandre Jordan type numbers next season with better shotblocking and rim protection.