Zach Lowe's 10 NBA things - Ignore Rudy Gobert at your peril, and one critical ingredient in Boston's juggernaut rise

With just six weeks left in the regular season, here are 10 more things I like and dislike from across the NBA. This week we highlight ongoing (and mystifying!) Rudy Gobert disrespect, an underrated Celtic and one young guard, Nashing it.

Has there ever been a star — a likely future Hall of Famer — who draws more unprompted disrespect from peers than Gobert? The NBA may as well name the final spot in the All-Star draft the Rudy Gobert Memorial Last Pick.

A good chunk of this is Gobert having not shown much ball skill. You can't throw it to him and ask him to create an artful shot. He's tall, and awkward, and his rare post-up chances often end in flailing line-drive hooks. He doesn't shoot jumpers, or facilitate much from the elbows. There's a reason the Utah Jazz Propaganda Machine pushed the «screen assist» stat: They need some way to quantify Gobert's (very real) impact on offense. (He is also an elite offensive rebounder, with soft touch on tips and lob redirects.)

Those shortcomings are real, no matter how loudly Jazz Nation shouts «SCREEN ASSISTS!» to drown out debate. They are magnified in the postseason, when elite defenses chip away at Utah's pick-and-roll brilliance. You need more scoring tools, and «toss the ball to your Hall of Fame center» is not in Utah's toolbox. Gobert's usage rate and free throw attempts have typically dropped a tick in the postseason.

But Gobert is freaking awesome. He is a one-man defense — the best rim-protector in modern history. It's selling Gobert short to call him a «rim» protector. That label implies shot-blocking, and Gobert's impact goes well beyond blocked shots — even beyond spooking players from shooting in the first place.

Gobert is a paint protector. When he spreads his