As our own Ryan Aston covered recently, Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert was named the best interior defender by league GMs. But where do his performance and the team’s overall defensive chops rank historically?
There’s no question that with a 50-plus win season and first-round playoff series victory, the 2016-17 campaign was one of the most exciting and successful seasons on this side of Jerry Sloan’s resignation. All this came despite the shadow of Gordon Hayward’s potential exit hanging over the season.
While Hayward’s All-Star bid could be could be considered an achievement of the Jazz as a whole, I personally believe the crowning achievement of the Jazz last season was the defensive strength of the entire team, as well as the individual defensive performance of Gobert.