Losers Of The Rudy Gobert Bidding War Could Find A Decent Plan B In Spain

Two things are certain going into this NBA offseason. Firstly, there will be at least a partial overhaul of a stagnated Utah Jazz team that, in its current incarnation, seems to have run its course. And secondly, there will be a bidding war for their centre, Rudy Gobert.

This is not to say that Gobert will be the one traded. It seems likely that someone will, and, to be sure, if there does need to be a divorce between him and Donovan Mitchell, the consensus view borne out of all observable evidence is that Gobert will be the one to go. Mitchell, after all, is the team’s ceiling-raiser. But it is not a guarantee.

What is a guarantee is that other teams will want Gobert as a player. Either only one of them get him, or no one does. In either event, though, those who lose the bidding war might want a Plan B.

A loose but accurate-enough definition of Gobert’s game would start by mentioning his sheer size. A giant in a sport of giants, Gobert – rightly – takes his greatest natural advantage and uses it to park himself around the basket, on both ends. On offense, he is around the basket, looking for lobs, put-backs, and (if he is playing for France, at least) some catches in the post; if he is not around the basket, he is setting a screen and rolling to it. And on defense, he usually stays in the back, shutting down the paint and anchoring the back line, where he is as good as anyone.

In an era of switching, stretch bigs and multi-positional defenders, there are very few others like him any longer. But there might be one to be found outside the box, in the EuroLeague.

Since being waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers just before the start of the 2017-18 season and ending a two-year NBA career that in all probability began too soon, Walter “Edy” Tavares has spent five seasons in Spain and the EuroLeague with Real Madrid. In 35 games this season in Europe’s premier intra-continental competition, he averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 points and a competition-leading 1.7 blocks per game. From an advanced stats point of view, that represented a colossal 5.4 win share and +28 net rating, numbers in line with his previous four seasons, as well as in his 75 games in the 2021-22 season to date across all competitions.

Although prevented from winning his third consecutive EuroLeague Defensive Player of the Year award by the slightly more versatile Kyle Hines (himself now a three-time winner), Tavares has undoubtedly made himself into the Gobert of the competition. The same is true in Spain’s domestic league, the ACB, where the only reason Tavares has not won the equivalent of the DPOY award is because one is not awarded. If it was, it would be his.

European basketball does not feature the same volume of shot-blocking and highlight-reel defensive plays as its American counterpart, simply because the NBA tends to gobble up the best athletes. It is not a coincidence that near-enough all the best shot-blockers in premier European competitions have had NBA attention, and usually at least one NBA contract (or, in the case of Victor Wembanyama types, will do when eligible). With this in mind, the aesthetics of what Tavares does are perhaps further enhanced by how distinctly different he is to his immediate peers. Yet as evidenced in the metrics, it is not merely optics, and even if it was, the obvious deterrent his very presence speaks to how readily he looks like an NBA defender out there.

Standing 7’3, Tavares is every bit as big as Gobert, if not bigger, with a 7’10 wingspan that distinctly outstretches those of fellow behemoths such as Joel Embiid. He plays accordingly, too, with every description and adjective of Gobert’s playing style used above applying to Tavares as well. The limitations are the same, too – Tavares has no offensive usage outside the lane other than to screen, needs everything setting up for him, and as substantial of a presence as he is defensively in the paint, he is loathe to leave it, and exploitable when he does. Nevertheless, he alters shots and changes games on the interior to a level that only really Wembanyama can currently rival.

A style of play comparison is not the same as a level of play comparison, and to say that Tavares could do instead of Gobert would be madness. What makes Gobert so great is precisely how good he is at the few things that he does, to a degree that no one else can. But the Tavares of today is not the rawer player he was during his previous two NBA years, and, as a backup in a smaller role where likely high foul rates would not be too big of a problem, he could make an impact.

Earning approximately $2 million a year from Real Madrid – a net salary, rather than gross – Tavares is one of the better-paid players on the continent, commensurate with being one of the best. His deal does however contain NBA-out clauses, which it surely would not do if he did not harbour some desire to potentially get back there one day. The NBA’s small-ball evolution has seen the bar for pure paint players and old-school centres set higher than it has ever been. Yet the Walter Tavares of the last few years clears that bar. And if the comparison to Rudy Gobert used as a narrative device in this article does not do it for you, remember that Bismack Biyombo has kept on getting better with age, too.