Rudy Gobert has been named the Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth time in his career, the NBA announced on Tuesday (via Twitter).
The Timberwolves center joins Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only four-time winners of the award. Gobert also claimed the award in 2018, 2019, and 2021 when he played for Utah.
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, who was unanimously voted the Rookie of the Year on Tuesday, finished second in the voting, with the Heat‘s Bam Adebayo a distant third.
Gobert was the league’s second-leading rebounder (12.9 per game) and sixth-leading shot-blocker (2.1). More significantly, he anchored a Timberwolves defense that held opponents to a league-low 106.5 points per game during the regular season. Minnesota was also best in defensive field goal percentage, limiting opponents to 39.0 percent shooting.
Gobert received 72 of a possible 99 first-place votes while compiling 433 points. Wembanyama, who was the league’s top shot-blocker at 3.6 per game, received 19 first-place votes and earned 245 points.
Adebayo received three first-place votes and wound up with 91 points, eight more than fourth-place finisher Anthony Davis of the Lakers (four first-place votes).
Pelicans forward Herbert Jones finished fifth and Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, who notched the other first-place vote, was sixth. The full voting results can be found here.
4x DPOY and can’t guard anyone outside the paint. When is the NBA going to devise better criteria to evaluate defensive performance than let’s just give it to the tallest guy who blocks a lot shots? Lazy!
If that was the criteria then Wemby would have won.
I’m with you. D is more than rim protection. Bam and wemby can swith, guard smaller guys. Much more versatile than Rudy.
Maybe they should pick the best defensive player on the best defensive team, or the guy who led the league in DEF win shares, maybe they should consider the guy that held his 45.2 effective field goal percentage which was the lowest in the league amongst the 38 players that contested at least 1000 shots or the player who lead the defense that held opponents to the lowest FGP on dunks and layups. That player would be Rudy Gobert
Rudy is decent at defending opposing players in space as long as he doesn’t have to do it nearly every possession of every game in a playoff series where both of his guards had leg injuries. His job though is guard the paint and to make opposing players settle for mid range jumpers, as long as his perimeter defenders are chasing guys off the three point line there isn’t anyone better.
So team success for an individual award in some regards? Replace Bam or Wemby with Rudy what’s different? I’m allowed to think Bam and wemby are more versatile.
Bam is great and perhaps a bit more versatile but Rudy’s better in the paint while Bam is better in space. I think Bam had the second most impact defensively of any player in the league.
A lot of Wembanyama’s candidacy was hype. He’s going to be great and yeah he blocked a lot of shots but he didn’t even have the defensive impact of his fellow rookie Holmgren let alone AD, Bam or Gobert.
Yes team success should also be a factor for this award when it is a result of the one player’s impact:
“Rudy’s driven the defensive culture here,” Finch said. “I think it’s a testament to his impact, his presence and what he’s infused into the team, how important defense is and how great we can be when we play it.”
Source: link to theathletic.com
Last one for Gobert. Next 10 go to Victor
4 time DPOY, 4 time ALL-NBA(has a shot to make another this season) 6 time about to be 7 time All-Defense, 3 time All-Star plus two Bronze in the World Cup and a Silver at the Olympics in international play. This should lock his Hall of Fame selection even if I’m the only person other than his mom that likes him.
Big fan here.
Didn’t think he could do it with KAT next to him. Nice job Rudy.
The fact Adebayo got more points than Davis is voting just shows how meaningless this award is.
Bam’s a center yet he can defend both the paint and the perimeter.
If AD tried to do even half the defensive switching that Bam does, he’d probably miss most of the regular season and be hobbled come playoffs.
Well deserved Gobert!
Defense player award is huge but defense is really a team effort. Rudy anchored his team and they all bought in. He is a huge impact player on the court which is why he is despised . …
He is making that kings ransom from Ainge look legit.
Predict wolves win it all!!!!
Not a wolves fan but they look for real
Wolves fan so I’m happy for Gobert. Wemby was stellar doing all that in his rookie season. Spurs got a day one franchise star.
To be fair to Gobert, he doesn’t have to be as active as, say Bam, in the paint….. His presence and length alone, alters shots and forays within the paint area.
Have to agree that from hereon in, Wemby making the necessary regular season games, the DPOY will be a near lock for him.
No issue with the winner. Gobert, this season, was the league’s most impactful defender.
Wemby is the future of all things, if SAS can put almost anything around him. But him finishing 2nd (getting any 1st place votes at all really) for this award is a joke. But it’s a function of who votes for these things.
You’re right. Too many people think defense is just blocked shots and steals. Hassan Whiteside lead the league in blocks twice and even though he finished third in the 2015-16 season he was never really a DPOY contender.
Wemby had a great year, after he got moved to center and got more minutes he did have more of a defensive impact but one has to take the whole body of work into account and he didn’t even have the impact of Chet Holmgren for the entire season.
It’s a seasonal award, so it should be about seasonal impact. Not stats, not a skill set celebration. Those might be relevant, but certainly not dispostive. If it’s going to be about who’s defensive skill set is the best, then the same guy would win every year, unless the voters change. No real reason to have it as a seasonal award.
Wemby should have won, he was the best defender of the season!
AD was the second best.
Rudy actually won because he was allowed to put his hands on Klay neck and turn that into him getting Draymond suspended for putting Rudy in a chokehold