Brunson said nobody could guard Kyrie Irving or Luka Doncic one-on-one consistently, claiming switching on the perimeter is not why Gobert is good defensively. He thinks Jrue Holiday should be the DPOY due to his defensive versatility.
Rudy Gobert is one of the most disliked NBA players among the league's fans and players. New York Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson recently defended the Minnesota Timberwolves center in yet another DPOY debate.
Minnesota Timberwolves / Schedule
Dallas Mavericks
Minnesota TimberwolvesGobert has been widely criticized for not being worthy of being named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). The Frenchman had a number of disappointing games in the playoffs, especially against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, and the conversation about Gobert's worthiness for the trophy has resurfaced.
Jalen Brunson appeared in the latest episode of The Roommates Show with his teammate Josh Hart, where the two players discussed the topic. Brunson first suggested his own alternative to Gobert.
"Jrue [Holiday] has never won Defensive Player of the Year. Think about how many game-winning stops he's had," Brunson said. "Think about all the different matchups he had to do. He's sometimes guarding the five. He ends up switching the pick-and-rolls and doing all that stuff."
Gobert got into the most spotlight when Dallas' Luka Doncic hit a game-winning three-pointer during Game 2 of the series. The two Knicks teammates think it's unfair to criticize Gobert for such an episode.
"On one hand, I'll say he's already a goofy dude. Physically he's kind of goofy coordinating and all that. Leaving him on an isle against guards is just unfair," Josh Hart said. "You've seen it a ton of times. Do I think with him being like this he should be in the Defensive Player of the Year conversations moving forward? No. But it's also unfair to be like, 'OK, go out there and guard these dudes with no help and get stops.' That's going to be tough for anybody."
"You're leaving him on Luka and Kyrie. I don't think there's a person in this planet, like 'Hey, go guard Kyrie, go guard Luka, and good luck.' Does Rudy change the game defensively? Absolutely," Brunson added. "You drive past your defender, and you see Rudy back there, you don't just [lay it in], you're thinking of what I have to do to get this ball into the basket. He does things defensively which makes you think, but to ask him to go out there and switch?"
Gobert's main strength is defending the basket in the paint. If the French big man was to switch against much smaller and quicker defenders constantly, he would even sniff the DPOY, Josh Hart claims.
"If you had him do that for a season, I don't know if he would make 8th [All-]Defensive Team. But that's not why you get him. That's not the situation you try to put him in," Hart said.
"People's hate for Rudy Gobert has grown so much now it's like everything he does is going to be criticized," the forward later said. "I think that's partly unfair. It's because of him because he was an idiot with the COVID stuff."
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