Despite losing Gordon Hayward and George Hill in free agency, Utah Jazz General Manager Dennis Lindsey doesn’t want to blow up the team; he wants to rebuild around center Rudy Gobert. From Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune:
“We feel like we can build defensively around Rudy Gobert,” Lindsey told The Tribune. “We look at him, and he’s a top 10 player and unique defender. So we wanted to build a team around his talents.”
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“We just felt like we had too much talent to tear it down to the foundation,” Lindsey said. “The main thing with Quin and Rudy is what do we stand for? We feel like we have a great player in Rudy, and we want to showcase his ability.”
Saying that Gobert is a top-10 player is probably a stretch, but Gobert is tremendous, and – with Hayward gone – is unquestionably the best player on the Jazz.
Gobert, 25, is probably the best rim protector in the league. While his offensive game is unpolished, he’s extremely impactful on that end.
Last season for the Jazz, Gobert averaged 14 points, 12.8 rebounds (fifth in the NBA) and 2.6 blocks (first in the NBA) per game on 66.1 percent shooting (second in the NBA).
