Up next in our annual ranking of the Utah Jazz roster, Ekpe Udoh has been voted 12th. The backup center played some good minutes for the Jazz when Rudy Gobert went down with an injury last year.
His raw stats aren’t anything to write home about, but his advanced stats show you why Dennis Lindsey and Quin Snyder decided to keep him around. His defensive rating of 98, with 4.6 blocks per 100 possessions adds to the defensive identity of Utah. I’m sure it’s demoralizing for opposing teams to know that at any given point in the game Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, or Ekpe Udoh will likely be defending the rim.