Gobert is a great defender
He shut down the whole NBA JK
Too soon?
That joke's been floating around Reddit haha.
"Rudy Gobert defensive player of the year? He shut the whole league down."
TP for the sense of humor.
If Stevens can make Kanter playable and Theis a decent perimeter defender he would make Gobert elite. I would love to have him alongside Smart, Brown, and Tatum. I would just worry about his offense, is he a decent passer?
Gobert is already elite.
The guy is a two time DPOY, 3-time All-Defense, 2-time All-NBA, 1-time All-Star that over the last 4 years has average 14.7/12.6/1.5 with 0.7 SPG and 2.3 BPG shooting 66.4/0/64.6 with a TS% of around 68%.
I think Stevens would optimize Gobert's skills in Stevens' system and help show how elite Gobert is. But making Gobert elite, well, Gobert has already shown he is that.
The notion that Stevens can't make use of a 2x DPOY center that has the length + wingspan to be able to defend almost anyone near the rim is ridiculous.
Some players cannot shoot nor space the floor, doesn't mean we can't use them either.