Portland Trail Blazers: 3 dream sidekicks to pair with Damian Lillard

The Portland Trail Blazers could have Rudy Gobert behind Damian Lillard

There’s very few interior defenders in the NBA capable of singlehandedly turning their team into a top-tier defense. Among these elite erasers are: Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Bam Adebayo, and of course, Rudy Gobert.

Gobert is a three time defensive player of the year, having just snagged his third this season. The Stifle Tower deserves all the recognition he’s received for his work on defense.

Since becoming a full-time starter, the Utah Jazz have yet to finish lower than 13th in defensive rating with Gobert patrolling the paint. They’ve placed top-5 four times and top-3 three times.

This is an incredible feat considering the rest of Utah’s roster isn’t loaded with strong defenders.

Gobert could instantly transform Portland’s defense into a formidable force, taking pressure off of Damian Lillard and allowing him to focus his energy more on offense.

But that’s not all Gobert would bring to the table for the Blazers.

There aren’t many players in the league who can drop from a pick-and-roll like that and block a shot against a top-tier athlete and slippery guard like Ja Morant. The group narrows even further if you filter players who can also do this:

Here, Gobert slips a screen for Donovan Mitchell while the defense is still setting up. His decisive move catches the defense off-guard and he winds up catching the ball in space on the roll. Kyle Anderson does his best to contest, but Gobert makes it look easy as he rises over him and puts Slow Mo on a poster.

A true rim runner is another asset that Damian Lillard has been lacking for much of his career. While Jusuf Nurkic is a versatile center who can do a little bit of everything, he lacks the athleticism to finish over and through defenders and create vertical spacing on his rolls.

While Gobert is a zero in the jump shooting department, his ability to rise over defenders gives him an offensive gravity that forces defenders to check him as soon as he touches the paint. If a teammate can find him in the dunker’s spot, it’s almost a guaranteed two points every time.

His threat to catch and finish lobs would also make Lillard’s life blissfully easy when navigating a screen. The defense would be forced to either switch a smaller player on Gobert and a slower player on Dame, go under and risk Lillard bombing away from deep, or blitz the ballhandler and create a lane for Gobert to roll through.

There’s an exclusive group of players capable of making both of the plays shown above, let alone in the same game as Gobert did. Rudy’s status as a one-man defensive force though, makes him a perfect enforcer for Damian Lillard.