Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert a unanimous All-NBA Defensive first team selection
Honor comes on the heels of the center’s third NBA Defensive Player of the Year award; Royce O’Neale, Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell also get votes
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) receives the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award for the third time in his career before Game 2 of the Westen COnference Semifinals against the LA Clippers at Vivint Arena, on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Both Utah’s Rudy Gobert and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons were unanimously selected to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team, the NBA announced Monday afternoon.
Gobert and Simmons both earned the maximum total of 100 first-team votes from the media. They join Golden State’s Draymond Green and Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo on the first-team.
The second team features Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, L.A.’s Kawhi Leonard, along with Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Matisse Thybulle.
Three other Jazz players received votes to make the NBA’s All-Defensive teams, but none came particularly close to the award. Guard Mike Conley received a first-team vote, while Royce O’Neale received two second-team votes. Donovan Mitchell also received one second-team vote.
Gobert, who led the NBA in plus-minus, defensive rating, and total blocks, won his third Defensive Player of the Year trophy last week. This is the fifth consecutive year he has been on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team.
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