"You're Doing Something Right" | Gobert Finishes Year With Best Statistical Season Of Career

Entering the 2021-22 NBA season, Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz made their goals for the year abundantly clear.

As a team, the Jazz felt they had the sort of group that could bring Salt Lake City its first title — especially with Gobert anchoring one of the best defensive units in the league.

Individually, Gobert wanted to win another Defensive Player of the Year award, which would’ve been his third consecutive victory and tie him for most times winning the award in league history.

Alas, both Gobert and the Jazz came up short of their ultimate goals — but there’s nothing to be ashamed of. While Utah may not be holding the Larry O’Brien trophy this year, Gobert turned in arguably the best overall season of his nine-year career.

“Rudy gets evaluated on a lot of different things, sometimes two of them at the same time,” head coach Quin Snyder said. “The fact we’re even making that analysis of guy that can actually protect the rim and go out and contest the three says a lot about what’s he’s capable of doing. His ability to do that is essential on how we play defense.”

He finished the year second in the NBA with 53 double-doubles, averaging 15.6 points and a career-high 14.7 rebounds. He also posted career-highs in field-goal percentage (71.3% — tops in the league) and free throw shooting (69%).

Even with his impressive offensive stats, Gobert still finished third in the NBA’s DPOY voting — solidifying his spot as the league’s premier defensive big man.

Despite his standing as one of the greatest defensive players of all time, Gobert has still faced an insane amount of criticism. From players, coaches and media, many don’t give Gobert the respect he deserves — a notion that he no longer cares about as long as the Jazz win.

“If anything, when people keep talking about you, if they’re talking about you in some way, it means you’re doing something right,” Gobert said. “If anything, the more noise, the harder it becomes to take these people seriously. When you’re great at what you do, the world will recognize you for who you are and what you do. … That’s my mindset.”

Another year, another DPOY award finalist.

__#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/GryLFaBTob

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 17, 2022

While his defensive prowess isn’t up for debate, many in the league still question Gobert’s ability as a well-rounded player. They constantly knock his perceived lack of an offensive game, thinking of him as just a dunker rather than a scorer.

He’s added an array of skills on the offensive side of the ball. From a eurostep to a mini jumper and the ability to play under control and find the open man, Gobert has proven that he’s somebody defenses need to account for on that end of the court.

Gobert made NBA history this year, finishing with the best true shooting percentage in league history at 73.24%. He now holds five of the top-20 spots in league history.

“If you’re the best in the world at something, people become insecure and try to discredit you,” Gobert said. “People are going to try to discredit what I do, what we do as a team. … It’s been the same my whole career. I’m just going to keep winning awards, winning trophies, and hopefully help my team win something bigger than that.”