Rudy Gobert isn’t a stranger to criticism from his peers. His defense in the past season has received a lot of flak, especially after it was honored with a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award. Former All-Defensive Team member, Josh Smith, took shots at Gobert’s defensive abilities as well ahead of the 2024-25 season.
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Smith joined the ‘Knuckleheads Podcast’, hosted by former NBA players, Quinten Richardson and Darius Miles, where they talked about the upcoming NBA season. Almost an hour into the conversation, the three proceeded to talk about Gobert’s qualification for the DPOY award.
Smith said,
“No disrespect to Rudy Gobert but he shouldn’t have won this year. I don’t care how long [Victor Wembanyama] played, you only got half of his blocks.”
The former Hawks star contended that Wembanyama deserved the award over Gobert because of the difference in blocks per game between the two. He said that the award should be decided on which player is locking up the opposition in the most effective way and preventing them from scoring.
It shouldn’t depend on rebounding or team performance.
Wemby led the NBA with an absurd 3.6 blocks per game. Gobert, on the other hand, averaged 2.1 blocks per game. The disparity is very apparent.
Gobert received the benefit of the doubt from the selection committee due to the Timberwolves securing the top defensive rating. However, the Spurs’ entire defense depended on Wembanyama.
The difference in standings between Gobert and Wemby’s teams sealed the deal for the veteran defender. Gobert also secured the best defensive rating last season.
However, Smith was adamant that poor decisions like this have made people lose respect the award. He also pointed out Aaron Gordon not winning a single dunk contest award to claim that the NBA are turning people off with these questionable decisions.
