Rudy Gobert should be the Defensive Player of the Year

The Utah Jazz are on another winning streak, with the current run up to 6 games. Their next 5 are against the Pistons, Suns, Kings, Hawks, and Mavericks. Could they accomplish multiple 10+ winning streaks in one season?

And just how has this turnaround happened?

Look no further than 7’1 center Rudy Gobert. Andy Bailey put together a nice thread showing the big Frenchman some statistical love:

Rudy is putting together yet another incredible season. He’s also the main factor in Utah’s miraculous season turnaround. Don’t believe me? Check this out.

I’m sure you can guess when Rudy made his return to the Jazz starting lineup. It doesn’t matter which defensive metric you look at, or even some offensive statistics, Rudy is right up there with the best of them. It would appear that we aren’t the only ones that see Rudy as a contender for the Defensive Player of the Year award:

I recently saw an article about how NBA ‘Bubble’ teams perform down the stretch of NBA Playoff races.

Given how tight the standings are, you’d think that every game you’d see guys giving 100-percent, March-Madness-plucky-mid-major-kid levels of effort. But you don’t. Teams still lose to bad squads; it’s why I don’t automatically pencil in teams for playoff spots just because their closing schedule is weak...

I took a look at the past four seasons, going back to 2013-14 in our BetLabs database, to see how teams that finished within three games of the playoffs (in or out) performed against the spread from March 1 through the end of the year. Why March? It’s typically when teams start ramping up their playoff push while the bad teams begin tanking and the great teams begin resting. I was expecting a mixed set of results, and while none of the percentages went below 40 percent, there were still some real shocks...

It will be interesting to see how these principles apply to this year’s playoff race. Utah has a more favorable schedule than most of the other playoff hopefuls in the West. Hopefully they capitalize on that and find themselves in the middle of the playoff picture sooner rather than later.

Thanks again for everyone’s work in the Fan Post section. SLC Dunk is great only because of this great community.

Gobert_the_Destroyer decided to bring back “While you were sleeping”. I think we can assume we’ll see something on a daily basis, which can help you keep track of the games around the NBA and how that influences current standings. Yesterday’s piece can be found here.

RainDanceParty rolls out some NBA predictions for the remainder of the season:

We all have NBA predictions for the next few months, admit it. You have them, I have them. Today we are going to talk about mine. Why mine? Is it because I can’t help myself?

No, silly rabbit. It’s because my predictions are so accurate...

Ok this highlight deserved a spot of its own. Donovan Mitchell has provided some incredible moments in his rookie season. Every time I feel like he’s shown us everything he’s capable of, he comes up with a new way to surprise us. Just look at this.

This kid is a superstar. He loves being here and has many more years of highlights with that beautiful J Note on his jersey.

I’m not crying, you’re crying...

Fellow Dunker and teacher had a funny thing happen to her in the classroom recently:

I’m right there with you! This Jazz team is high on my list of funnest Jazz teams in my lifetime. They deserve this incredible run to get them a playoff spot. I’m sure I’m not the only one that would be crushed if they came up short.

But rather than focusing on that, I’d rather ask you this: What will you do to celebrate if the Jazz complete their turnaround and make it to the playoffs again? What if they win another first round series?

And to round things off, here’s a nice poll for you to answer.