Understand, he is the cornerstone of the team, the guarantee of the lower limit.
In the past few years, on the issue of "who is the first center of the NBA", the outside world has always been inconsistent, some people stand on the "emperor" Embiid, some people support "about the teacher" Jokic, before the injury, Cousins can also get some votes, however, just when several camps are at odds, the big man from France Rudy Gobert quietly signed a 5-year, $205 million contract extension, breaking the record for the largest contract in the history of the NBA center.
It's like saying, you keep fighting, anyway, it's me who enjoys the first center.
In an instant, all the spearheads were pointed at Gobert and Jazz, there was no affirmation, almost all of them were negative, and no one thought that Gobert could be worthy of such a high salary.
From the personal data and honor point of view, Gobert is indeed a bit unworthy, at least compared to Jokic and Embiid, he is not a star and a half, no All-Star starting record, no MVP, not even a team has not been selected, 9 years of career, 582 games, only 1 time 30+, career total score is just over 7,000 points, the most important thing is that Gobert has almost no independent offensive ability, is a pure blue-collar player, need to rely on teammates to feed the pie, in order to score doubles.
"His contract encourages a lot of kids, and you can make $200 million in the NBA with just 11 points per game." - O'Neill.
However, it is not only scoring on the field, but also defense is crucial, especially in the small ball era, the excellent defensive core can support the entire team's defensive system, and besides, the price is not determined by the commodity, but by the market, as long as the Jazz feel value, it is enough.
In the past, people did not think how important Gobert was to the Jazz, and it was only in recent games that it was discovered that he was the real cornerstone of Salt Lake City.
Gobert has been absent since January 4 due to the triggering of the health and safety agreement, and in the five games without him, the Jazz have only won 1 game, and the 4 games lost are extremely ugly, and even a rebuilding team like the Pistons can easily beat them.
The reason is mainly the collapse of the defensive system, in this team, Gobert is too important, the Jazz do not have any defensive toughmen, especially the front, not only the height is not enough, the pace can not keep up, do not have to block the demolition, can be easily passed by the opponent, so Snyder's requirements for the outside players are, do not give three-pointers, break through casually, anyway, there is Gobert in the box, either you challenge him, or you shoot the middle distance.
So most of the time, in addition to defending individually, Gobert also frequently participates in the defense, which is the most critical part of the Jazz's defensive system, when he is on the court, the Jazz only concede 106.3 points per 100 rounds, and the defensive efficiency can rank 4th in the league.
But now, without Gobert's protection, the Jazz's inside and outside double lines have collapsed, and they have been suddenly sieve by opponents, and in the past 5 games, they have lost 120.3 points per 100 rounds, and in the same period, they ranked first in the league.
That's what Gobert does, his dominance on the defensive end, not even inferior to Durant's insoluble on the offensive end, 4 years and 3 DPOY is the best proof.
Of course, in the offense, Gobert is not useless, he is one of the league's best basketball finishers, shooting more than 70% this season, ranking first in the league in secondary offensive scoring (4.3 points), in addition, he averages 6.6 cover assists per game, which is also the league's most existent, the Jazz can surround him, design a lot of extremely efficient tactics, when Gobert is on the floor, the Jazz can get 119.5 points per 100 possessions, and vice versa, 115.0 points.
Compared to Mitchell, Gobert is more like the irreplaceable cornerstone of this team, as long as he is in, the Jazz are at least a playoff-level team, but to go further, it is necessary to rely on Scorers such as Mitchell, Bojan and Conley.
Specifically, Gobert is worth 205 million, I think in this era, no one will refuse such a defensive core, if he is surrounded by Durant, Harden, Leonard this level of ball carriers, then the picture can not think of ah.