NBA 2018-19: 5 Preseason Picks for Defensive Player of the Year

#3 Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz

Rudy Gobert wants to win back-to-back awards

As the reigning DPOY, Rudy Gobert earns an automatic place on this list. In the 35 years that followed the award's inaugural season, the previous year's winner didn’t crack that year's top 5 just 8 times. That includes the year Alonzo Mourning missed five months due to a kidney disease, and Ron Artest's 86 game suspension in the wake of the infamous "Malice at the Palace".

But Gobert's numbers speak loud enough for him as well.

The Frenchman averaged over two blocks per game in four of his first five years in the league. He is only the second born-and-raised European to do so, together with Andrei Kirilenko. With him as Utah's starting center and arrival of coach Quin Snyder, the team became one of the best defensive teams in the league. They ranked top 2 in the NBA in opponents' points per game in each of the last four years.

As he said in his acceptance speech and later interviews, we can expect Rudy to continue his hard work and dedication this year in a perfectly fitting Jazz system.