Brad Rock: Is the cost of keeping Rudy Gobert worth it?

SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Durant wouldn't know Tooele from Tremonton. Kyrie Irving would have trouble finding Utah on Google Maps. Surely Kawhi Leonard couldn't care less.

The Jazz won't land a top-level free agent this offseason because they never do. Besides, they have their own free-agent worries on the horizon. Rudy Gobert's contract is looming like, yes, the Eiffel Tower.

Donovan Mitchell says he'll recruit players to Utah, which should help this summer. But he can't warm winter temperatures by 25 degrees, or grow the market by 150 percent. As one former NBA coach once said, good free agents will come to Utah, but not transcendent ones.

History agrees. The team's best free agents were Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer. Both were fine players, but not hall of famers. Dennis Lindsey, the Jazz executive VP, cites Joe Johnson as proof the team can attract top free agents. But Johnson was in the waning hours of his career.

That's not acquiring a top free agent, it's catching the fumes.

This is why the Jazz must sign Gobert to a "super max" contract extension when the opportunity arrives next year. Making the All-NBA third team this year, and earning Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, made him eligible.

Now the Jazz must decide whether to commit to a ferocious defensive player whose offensive contribution is limited to dunking. The price tag: $247 million over five years. That would put Gobert's annual salary at roughly the same as the Jazz's entire payroll at the end of the Stockton-Malone era.

Can the Jazz afford him? They're selling out every game, so presumably yes. The fan base has remained loyal and loud — a nice accomplishment for a middlin' team in the Western Conference. A HoopsHype story last November said the Jazz had only paid the luxury tax twice in their history — the most recent during the Al Jefferson/Andrei Kirilenko era. Should the team pay the highest salary in its history to keep Gobert?

Of course it should.

Suppose the team didn't retain him. What level of free agent would the Jazz get if they didn't? And who wants to play in Utah without him?

Probably someone less valuable than Gobert.

Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Utah's Rudy Gobert stretches during a pre-game practice before taking on the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of a first-round basketball playoff series in Houston on Wednesday, April 24, 2019.

The Jazz center's limitations are obvious. He doesn't create his own shots, though he is a good post passer. His superior defense can be compromised by versatile, athletic big men. But he routinely changes opposing team's game preparation and execution.

Planning for Gobert is like prepping for afternoon gridlock.

There's no avoiding the jam-up.

Gobert's leadership is a bonus. It's not easy rallying a team without making it seem staged, but his confidence is palpable. Teammates love him for it. He didn't weep when Gordon Hayward left; he figuratively rolled his eyes.

Gobert significantly improved his offensive presence this year. He runs the court well and has become a threat, flashing to the rim. So the team would be keeping a player whose best NBA years are quickly approaching.

The Jazz have never been known for free agency heists; they've been about developing draftees and trading for others. Even Tobias Harris — considered no higher than the sixth-best free agent available this summer — is only given a 10-1 shot at playing in Utah, according to BetOnline.ag.

Gobert is a two-time All-NBA player and the league's most imposing defensive force. He gives the Jazz a unique place in a league obsessed with outside shooters. By letting him get away, the Jazz would be losing a player more valuable than Wesley Matthews or even Hayward. Traditionally the Jazz have fared better in trades (Jeff Hornacek, Jefferson, Deron Williams, Derrick Favors, Mitchell and Gobert) than free agency.

Meanwhile, the window of opportunity may not be open long enough to develop a new draftee. So they need to lock up Gobert long term. Combined with an eventual Donovan Mitchell contract extension, a Gobert deal would tie up the lion's share of the salary cap money. Fine. That's what it's for — to pay top players.

It's possible the Jazz have reached their potential with this core. But without Gobert, they would be missing a component that has made them a perennially tough draw. He believes the Jazz have much left to share.

How much the ownership is willing to share is an entirely different issue.

from Deseret News http://bit.ly/2EK8kPu