Despite the huge loss that Gordon Hayward's departure has represented for the Utah Jazz, team talisman Rudy Gobert is most excited about his new teammates, which are bound to give the team a different dynamic moving forward.
The Jazz notably traded for Ricky Rubio prior to Hayward's exit in hopes of having a pass-first floor general to lead the team, a change that has had the big man salivating for some action.
“I’m very excited,” Gobert told Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype. “He’s one of the best passers in the league and he’s a very unselfish guy. I really like the way he plays and he’s going to get you open looks. I know if I’m open or if I get good positioning under the rim, I have someone who’s going to find me.”
“We’ve talked a lot. He’s a great guy. I’ve played against him for a long time, we had that French-Spanish rivalry. I knew he was a great competitor and now I know he’s a great guy. I’m excited we’re no longer competitors and I can have him on my team because he’s been getting better and better. He was way better last year and I believe he’ll only keep getting better.”
The NBA Draft has also brought Utah a bona fide competitor in shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, a three-and-D type of player that will prove valuable and has already shown his skills in the Summer League.
“I didn’t know anything about him when he got drafted, but I watched him at Summer League and I was impressed,” Gobert said of Mitchell. “He can score – it’s clear he can score – but it was his competitiveness, the chip on his shoulder and the way he takes every match-up seriously that I really liked to see. I think he can be a really good defensive player in this league. I’m going to push him every day to try to make him [reach his full potential] on that end.”
Gobert and the Jazz will take yet another crack at making the playoffs this season with a re-assembled roster, one which he can't wait to put to the test come October.
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