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Has Kessler surpassed Gobert?

Has Kessler surpassed Gobert?

  • Yes, Kessler is better now

    Votes: 9 17.3%

  • They are on the same level

    Votes: 7 13.5%

  • No, Gobert is better now

    Votes: 28 53.8%

  • Too early to know for sure

    Votes: 8 15.4%
  • Total voters
    52
Stats obviously don't tell the whole story, but this is what the numbers look like:

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Walker Kessler (2025-2026) vs. Rudy Gobert (2025-2026): Head-to-Head Stats Comparison | Stathead

Compare Players: Check out the head-to-head stats of Walker Kessler (2025-2026) and Rudy Gobert (2025-2026) including their awards, honors, championships, playoff and regular season stats, and much more on Stathead
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Kessler was amazing last night. The hack-a-walker at the end kind of ruined a great, great, dominant night from him. Just crucial rebounds while crowded by three Cavs at times, unstoppable.
 
I do find it kind of funny that we keep comparing two guys with basic stats when we know damn well the basic stats don’t tell the whole story with either.

I think what we’re seeing with Gobert is inconsistency that has come from aging. IMO, he was nowhere close to his standard to begin the year. I know many disagree, but incredibly difficult for me to say he had not dropped off substantially from what he was. Then he had a good run where it looked like his form had returned, and now again he’s struggling.

I just don’t think Rudy can be at that peak level all season. He can still reach higher heights than Kessler has, but not as consistently as his prime years.
 
Tanktastic said:
His form is awful, but it also looks like it's mostly mental. When he gets to the line, he seems like he wants it just to be over asap. - so any "fix" in his form needs to include mental practice to *want* to get to the line.
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When they do the arial shot you can tell the ball shifts a lot in his palm before he releases. I do think he needs to retool his form from the FT line.
 
FWIW, Gobert’s adjusted +\- stuff is still quite good and Kessler’s is terrible. Doesn’t necessarily mean that is gospel, but that’s what the results are.

On paper, it’s still Gobert by a fairly large margin depending on how much you value the +\- stuff versus box score stuff. I think these are two players where the box scores matter the least, but also think Kessler has been very unlucky +\- wise playing for the Jazz. Perhaps that’s homerism…but something about the UTA’s extreme awfulness makes things difficult to evaluate.

Someone has to answer for our defense though.
 
fishonjazz said:
Kesslers 3 years blocks per 36 per game numbers are 3.7, 3.7, and 3.5.
In goberts 12 years his career high in blocks per 36 per game is 3.4. (vast majority of seasons is under 3)
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Yeah but the eye test matters too. Teams straight up stopped going at Gobert. We had lots of discussions about this, how he would lead the league in blocks if teams challenged him in the paint, but more often than not they would veer off rather than go at Gobert. Lots of his blocks were on help defense as a result. A better measure would be Drtg. Or one of the advanced defensive stats.
 
fishonjazz said:
Kesslers 3 years blocks per 36 per game numbers are 3.7, 3.7, and 3.5.
In goberts 12 years his career high in blocks per 36 per game is 3.4. (vast majority of seasons is under 3)
Click to expand...
The one thing is that Gobert in his first three years played on a much better and more physical defense. There were I’m guessing less opportunities for blocks as I’m guessing they were better at keeping other teams out of the paint, but that’s mostly speculation on my part.
 
The main shot blocking skill that Walker has on Gobert is that he's really good at using either hand to block shots.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Yeah but the eye test matters too. Teams straight up stopped going at Gobert. We had lots of discussions about this, how he would lead the league in blocks if teams challenged him in the paint, but more often than not they would veer off rather than go at Gobert. Lots of his blocks were on help defense as a result. A better measure would be Drtg. Or one of the advanced defensive stats.
Click to expand...
That's very true. Could still also be true that Kessler is just better at blocking shots.
 
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