Jazz center Rudy Gobert, one of the very few players in the NBA whose defensive work rises to the level of nightly spectacle, has suffered his second knee injury of the season, and will now be out another three to four weeks. This blows:
Last time it was a reckless Dion Waiters launching himself into Gobert’s right knee, causing a bone bruise and costing Gobert a month of action. This time, it was teammate Derrick Favors toppling over in the paint and rolling backwards into Gobert’s left knee:
I know they play in friggin’ Utah, and I know they no longer have dashing NBA heartthrob Gordon Hayward, but the Jazz play a telegenic brand of basketball, and have managed to stay frisky in the competitive West despite Gobert’s earlier injury, and while incorporating into their rotation an aggressive rookie and bizarro Ricky Rubio. They might be able to weather this, especially while none of the Pelicans, Nuggets, Thunder, or Blazers seem all that interested in leaping up out of the conference’s middle class, but this blows, all the same.
Well, anyway, at least we should get some more Ekpe Udoh out of it.