We all know that Rudy Gobert is a defensive juggernaut, a block threat on any defensive possession, and we know how good he is rolling to the rim or helping to set up teammates with the screen assist.
But don’t sleep on Gobert as a passer.
Gobert has long been adept at setting up shooters with a handoff on the perimeter as seen in the video below, but lately, with the faster paced Utah Jazz offense, he has been training himself to be able to find guys in new and different situations.
Gobert is rarely the desired target during an offensive set. The Jazz have made no secret about their desire to get up 3s early and often (there are certainly some pick and rolls that end up with Gobert getting a pocket pass or a lob at the rim. That’s always an option because so much of the Jazz’s half-court offense starts with a high screen from Gobert, but there’s not a ton of offense run specifically for the man in the middle).
That being said, his role in the offense is absolutely integral. The simple act of him calling for the ball or putting up a leading hand can cause the defense to collapse around him and give a lane for Donovan Mitchell or Mike Conley. Likewise, the threat that Gobert poses around the rim is one of the big reasons that the Jazz’s spacing is able to work so effectively, whether in transition or in a half-court set.
The Jazz get a high screen from Gobert and the ballhandler drives, leaving shooters open on the wings, or Gobert streaks through the paint on a break. Meanwhile, the shooters fade to the corners or trail above the arc.
These situations also present a unique opportunity for Gobert to add even more gravity to himself when he has the ball, drawing in the defense and becoming a distributor, and lately he’s been making some really impressive passes.
First let’s look at some of the kick-out passes to the 3-point line that are becoming commonplace for Gobert.
Gobert gets the ball from Joe Ingles on the roll, has the attention of three defenders and then passes out to Royce O’Neale in the right corner.
This season, O’Neale is shooting 71.4% on 3s when assisted by Gobert. That’s an insane percentage, but O’Neale’s not the only one who shoots at a high clip when getting the dime from Gobert. Ingles shoots 51.4% from 3 on passes from Gobert, Georges Niang hits at 45.5% and Mike Conley makes 44.2% of the 3-pointers he takes after passes from Gobert.
In the last six games, Bojan Bogdanovic is shooting 36.8% from 3-point range, but is 3 of 4 on 3-pointers set up by Gobert.
On this one, Gobert has the attention of four defenders, so he has plenty of options and Bogdanovic is ready and hits perfectly.
Even though Gobert is becoming used to collapsing the defense and kicking out to the arc, it hasn’t stopped him from elevating his game. In this clip, from Thursday’s Jazz win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Gobert completely fakes out the defense by passing behind his back from the paint out to the left corner to a wide open Miye Oni. Unfortunately Oni didn’t hit the shot, but that doesn’t make the pass any less impressive.
But it’s not just the 3-point line where Gobert has been sending dimes. He’s had a run lately of finding guys cutting behind the defense right to the rim.
Against Phoenix, Gobert gets the ball from Conley on what looks like is an attempt at a give-and-go, but Conley gets hung up by Chris Paul before he can make a run. On the opposite side of the court though, O’Neale slowly sneaks behind Devin Booker and by the time Booker takes his eyes off Gobert to see where O’Neale is, O’Neale already cut backdoor to get a perfectly on-target lob from Gobert.
And, sometimes it’s just about patience. Like when Niang missed a 3-point shot against the Blazers, Gobert got the offensive board and then just waited for the right time to hit Niang, who cut straight to the rim.
The point is that with the way the Jazz’s offense works, with Gobert at the center of everything, he has a lot of different opportunities with this team to create and is starting to get even more confident as a passer.
He’s not going to become Nikola Jokic and average close to nine assists per game, but he is going to catch the defense giving him a lot of attention and is more than capable of hitting his teammates in a variety of ways.