Rudy Gobert is your 2019 NBA defensive player of the year. He is a back-to-back winner of the award after being named the 2018 Defensive Player of the Year. The Utah rim protector previously was also named First-Team All-Defense.
Bringing home the hardware (again)
??#DPOY | #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/U2KmbZefXR— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) June 25, 2019
Gobert wins the award over two MVP candidates in the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George. The Jazz big man averaged 12.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks to go along with averaging a career-high 15.9 points per game.
With the value of big men who can’t stretch the floor seeming to get lower and lower by the year, Rudy Gobert winning this award proves that there is still a place in this game for a dominant shot blocker.
Part of his acceptance speech can be seen here:
