The Defensive Player of the Year race is very intense every season, and it gets way more spicy than the MVP competition. Defensive specialists are often outspoken and they don’t hesitate to make a case for themselves if they feel something is odd.
Rudy Gobert has won the prize in three of the last four seasons, which has raised plenty of eyebrows around the league. This time, Gobert is once again a favorite to take the award home, but the attacks have come earlier than usual.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Patrick Beverley recently took a shot at Rudy Gobert, claiming he always takes on the best offensive player of the rival, while the Frenchman has a different approach when defending.
“If I’m Defensive Player of the Year, I’m always guarding the best player no matter what. I’m not roaming. It’s no discredit to Royce O’Neale or any of the others on their team, but if I’m Defensive Player of the Year, I’m not guarding Royce O’Neale. I’m guarding Mike Conley, I’m guarding Donovan Mitchell, I’m guarding Bogdanovic. You got Rudy Gobert out there guarding Vanderbilt. And every time I hear he’s Defensive Player of the Year. So, uh, whatever.”
Patrick Beverley on Rudy Gobert, the Defensive Player of the Year, not taking the challenge of guarding the Timberwolves best player, Karl-Anthony Towns: pic.twitter.com/HKlPUna8cu
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) December 9, 2021
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter who Gobert defended because the Jazz still outscored the Timberwolves during his time on the court.
The Jazz only outscored the Timberwolves by 25 in Rudy Gobert's 31 minutes, so it was definitely a reasonable time to criticize Utah's defensive strategy tonight. https://t.co/aHj8bYs0N8
— Tim MacMahon (@BannedMacMahon) December 9, 2021
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Rudy gets a lot of criticism for not guarding the most dangerous weapon on the other team. This happened to Giannis Antetokounmpo when he won the DPOY in 2020, but the Milwaukee Bucks superstar demonstrated he didn’t need to do all of that to win with his team.
Now, if you’re a defensive specialist, 3x DPOY winner, many people will hope you go against Karl-Anthony Towns, who plays the same position you play.
