During the 2023-24 season, Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Rudy Gobert won his fourth Defensive Player of the Year Award, the third player after Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo to win the award four times. However, many prominent NBA voices believe Gobert isn’t worthy of four DPOY honors. Dwight Howard joined the list recently.
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On Gil’s Arena, he declared that the Timberwolves center shouldn’t have received the prestigious award on multiple occasions because he’s simply not an elite defender.
Howard, who won three DPOYs during his NBA career, opined that the 7’2” Center isn’t a great individual defender. As per D-12, Gobert thrives in a more team-centered role where he can clean up other people’s errors and be big in the paint.
But he looks like a deer in the headlight during one-on-one matchups.
“I feel he’s [Gobert is] a great team defender, but for what he did to get those DPOYs, I don’t see it. I don’t see him being an elite defender…So when you 7’2” and playing with athletic guys, you don’t have to do nothing but clean up their mistakes or just be big in the paint,” Howard said.
“It’s really hard to say that he is an elite defender who deserved four defensive player of the year awards,” he added.
According to Howard, Gobert won’t be as effective if he wasn’t surrounded by top-notch athletes.
Dwight Howard shares his thoughts on Rudy Gobert’s DPOYs 👀 pic.twitter.com/eWRSQcGvxD
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) August 30, 2024
However, the former Orlando Magic superstar did give Gobert credit for having a huge defensive impact in pick–and–roll situations during the 2023-24 campaign. He also hailed his communication skills which made the Wolves one of the most impactful defensive teams.
The 3x DPOY believes that Gobert’s first three defensive awards were hand-outs because he was part of terrific defensive set-ups. But his fourth one may have been the result of his improved coverage in PNR actions.
“This year he was actually up in the pick and rolls. He was moving his feet. He was talking more. He was actually being aggressive. But years before that, I think they just gave it to him because of his team defense and how everybody was on the team,” Howard continued.
Earlier in the offseason, Gilbert Arenas argued that Victor Wembanyama deserved the 2024 DPOY over Gobert because when Wemby was benched in the past season, his team fell apart defensively. But the Wolves hung around defensively even without Gobert.
In May, Jeff Teague also took shots at the 7’2” Center’s individual defense as Nikola Jokic continued to dominate him during the playoffs. For Teague, Gobert is only a problem as a help defender, individually elite Centers overwhelm him regularly.
