Its such a joke though. Impacting the win column is what MVPs are judged upon... but rookies are judged based on whether they look nice or not.
Yeah this is a bit overblown. Rudy has established his dominance in the paint over the years so completely that they just don't challenge him anymore. We saw that in Utah last year even, where people would just veer out of the paint and pass it away instead of challenge Gobert. Hard to get blocks when they avoid you. Easy to get them when they think they can just plow through the rookie then get stuffed at the rim. I would expect to see Kessler's blocks go up for the next couple of seasons then see a similar decline as the league learns to just stay away.
Ok to answer my own question, at least partially, here is something I found. We have 2 of the top 10 rim protectors in the NBA, among players with >1000 minutes played this season, in FG% difference at the rim. Kessler is #3 and Markkanen is #5. Damn.
I bet walker would look pretty good in those comparisons as well. Walker is like a really really good defender/rim protector. It was pretty well established that he was an amazing rim protector in college as well. Im certain that it was not secret to the other teams in his conference that he was amazing at protecting the rim. Didn't make him any less effective. He just has really good instincts and timing and moves well to go along with his size. He is just an amazing rim protector.
This. Rudy was awesome while he was here. One of the best Jazz players of all-time, no doubt, and we loved having him. No need to **** all over him just because he isn't here any more. We sent him away, not the other way around. Now if he had pulled a Hayward dick move then yeah sure, he gets some scorn. But he was loyal to the end, and always played hard. I miss him, no doubt.
Why isn't Gobert on that list? The list is about players that protect the rim the best right? regardless of frequency of being attacked there. So Rudy should be right near the top right?Ok to answer my own question, at least partially, here is something I found. We have 2 of the top 10 rim protectors in the NBA, among players with >1000 minutes played this season, in FG% difference at the rim. Kessler is #3 and Markkanen is #5. Damn.
Of course, no idea how accurate this is, but it confirms my biases and makes me feel happy, so it is great!
Best Rim Protectors - NBA Stats & Analytics | CraftedNBA
The best rim protectors in the NBA. Preventing teams from scoring at the rim is key to a great defense, and these guys do it the best.craftednba.com
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Check above, I found something that shows exactly that.
Yeah but he isn't, that is really interesting. I even played with the criteria on the site to try to get him into the list and couldn't. Really not sure why. But I am not a top stat-head guy so I don't know where to find these all the time and this is just one I could find pretty easily so it may be flawed. Or Gobert just isn't having the impact this year. He is having an off-year so it wouldn't be too surprising, tbh.
Found him. He is 18th!! Wow, not what I expected. I mean still top 20 but, wow. Kessler with a rim opponent FG% of 51.2% and Rudy at 56.5%.
Ya that stat seems to show just how awesome Kessler is. I love it. Hopefully he keeps getting challenged the rim as that seems like a successful defensive possession for the jazz more often than not. Keep it coming idiot opponents!
