Miami Heat: Bam Adebayo May Not Be DPOY, But Rudy Gobert Isn’t Either
DPOY has been one that has had a personal feel to it for a while here, based on a desire to focus on what can only be called the Rudy Gobert Conundrum. The conundrum is this.
How do you award the best defensive player award to someone that can be schemed against or isn’t someone who is a lockdown defender on the perimeter? Though deeper than that too, that is the most foundational principle here.
For what it’s worth, you can’t scheme against the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo. He can guard anywhere on the floor and anyone on the floor, guarding all five positions as if they were his assignments, but again, that’s neither here nor there.
Gobert has won the award three times now and is a top-three finalist this year, meaning that members of the voting class have voted for him again. Gobert’s main talent is protecting the rim, as he’s great at blocking shots, while he has excellent timing and intuition in the paint.
He, not only, stops shots from going in but deters offenses from attacking the basket. The controversy all starts with the infamous Clippers series of last year’s playoffs though.
The Clips went small and made open shots when Gobert stayed in drop coverage. He wasn’t necessarily played off the floor, but it wasn’t good.