Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert is considered one of the most impressive defenders in the league but also brags an elite offensive skill set.
With his 7-foot-9 wingspan, even if he is mostly known as a defensive stopper and a rim protector, he has used his long arms to throw down dunks at a record-setting pace without requiring much vertical air time to reach the hoop.
Gobert has connected on a career-best 71.6 percent of his opportunities in the restricted area. The French-born big also leads the league with 275 dunks for the Jazz this season, per Basketball-Reference. That breaks the record set by Dwight Howard in 2008, according to data first collected in 2000.
His teammate Donovan Mitchell averages 0.7 assists per game to the center, finding him for 3.9 passes per game. This week, the sophomore discussed his own role as a playmaker for Gobert (via The Salt Lake Tribune):
“We try to find him as much as possible. I know I’ve worked a lot at that, just trying to find him and make sure I’m making the right plays, making the right reads. It’s paid off.”
Considering that he has had 306 total dunk attempts, Gobert has connected on 89.9 percent of his slams this season. Four out of five of them have been assisted while one out of every three has been an alley-oop, including a pass from Mitchell that broke the record.
He ranks No. 1 overall with 329 points scored on cuts to the basket, No. 6 overall with 322 points scored as the roll man on pick-and-roll possessions and No. 2 overall with 258 points scored from offensive rebound putbacks. It is clear that not all of these led to dunks – but it showed how prolific he has been as a rim finisher.
The big man has averaged 1.40 points per possession on attempts near the basket that were not post-ups. That ranks in the 94th percentile among all players, per Synergy. He has scored 10.2 points per game this way, which is the third-most in the league.
According to Cleaning the Glass, nine out of 10 field goal attempts from the French-born star has come within four feet of the basket. He has attempted just 47 field goals (0.63 FGA/game) from beyond five feet of the basket. It’s the main thing to know on an opposing scouting report – but it has been an impressively serviceable way of scoring.
