Rudy Gobert Fourth Six Defensive Player Of The Year Award….

SALT LAKE CITY – Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert was named the 2023-24 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, earning the award for a record-tying fourth time in his 11-year career.

Gobert joins Hall of Famers Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only players in NBA history to earn the award four times.

The French center also earned the award in 2018, 2019, and 2021 as a member of the Utah Jazz.

Gobert was named Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Timberwolves to the league’s top-ranked defense.

Minnesota held opponents to just 108.4 points per 100 possessions, more than two points better than the second-ranked Boston Celtics.

With Gobert as their defensive anchor, the Timberwolves have emerged as title contenders winning their first six games of the postseason, including a four-game sweep over the star-studded Phoenix Suns, and back-to-back victories over the reigning champion Denver Nuggets to open the Western Conference semifinals.

Gobert is averaging 13.2 points, 11.4 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and 1.2 steals for the Timberwolves in five postseason appearances.

The 32-year-old missed Minnesota’s game two victory in Denver to be with his girlfriend for the birth of their first child.

Gobert was originally selected by the Denver Nuggets with the 27th pick of the 2013 NBA Draft, but was traded to the Jazz for second-round pick Erick Green and cash.

The Jazz traded Gobert to the Timberwolves in the summer of 2022 for four first-round draft picks, a first-round pick swap, Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley, Leandro Bolmaro, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Walker Kessler.

Donovan Mitchell’s final season with the Utah Jazz gave him a far better team than he currently has with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not good enough to beat the Boston Celtics. There’s every possibility that the team could in fact take a few games, or even steal the series against the Celtics, but in either scenario that would be more about the Celtics not playing up to their talent than the Cavs being just better than them.

The Cavs boast a pretty impressive four-some of former Utah Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland. Yet, that’s where it all stops. Their next best player is Caris LeVert and he’s likely playing far too big of a role at this point in his career. Things are further compounded because not only are they already a shallow team but they’re a shallow team without Allen, who remains hurt due to ribs.

This wasn’t the situation Mitchell wanted to be in. In fact, one could argue that the last Jazz squad he was on, and even the last Cavs squad prior to his arrival, were better than this Cavaliers team.

Looking at the Jazz’s last starting five with Mitchell, you had Mike Conley at the one (point guard), Mitchell at the two (shooting guard), Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce O’Neal at the three and four (small and power forwards), while Rudy Gobert at the five (center). Considering Gobert just won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award, while Conley is a key contributor and defender for the Minnesota Timberwolves this postseason, it’s fair to say that the Jazz, at least defensively, is a very good team.

Then you throw in a bench that included Jordan Clarkson as the team’s sixth man (and the Sixth Man Award winner for the season prior), Hassan Whiteside (a solid defender), Joe Ingles, Rudy Gay and a developing Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and you had a pretty good Jazz team that, sadly, drew a bad hand in the NBA Playoffs that season.

That team could’ve done some damage in the following seasons, but the Jazz blew up the squad and sent Mitchell to the Cavaliers, who themselves gave up a lot to get him. They lost Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton and Lauri Markkanen. Considering the Cavs can’t score right now, those two scorers would give you a lot of help. Especially with how bad Garland has looked in the playoffs.

If and when the Cavs lose to the Celtics, it’s clear they need to overhaul their roster but it’s also clear that they don’t have the front office in place to do so. They overpaid for Max Strus and sent off Cedi Osman in a silly trade, further hurting their chemistry and scoring potential.

Mitchell will likely be on his third team by this summer, and hopefully whatever situation he ends up in is better than what’s going on in Cleveland right now.