EXTENSION: Gobert signs 5yr/$205M w/ UTA | DAL "significant interest" if available

[SleepingHero]

You can make a very strong argument that Gobert is better than Mutombo was. 

Gobert is NOT as good as Bill Russell was (SO DO NOT MISQUOTE ME), but Bill Russell is the blueprint of sorts of what you hope you get from Gobert.

So if Mutombo is the floor of Gobert, and Russell is the ceiling, where does Gobert lie on that scale? Further, how do we even accurately value that kind of player? Mutombo was one of the best paint protectors to ever play, and he played in an era where paint protection was paramount. 

His highest paid contract was a 5 year 70 mil deal signed by the Hawks. At the highest point during his contract, Mutumbo accounted for 40% of his teams cap space  which was 16.1 mil (basically 22 mil now adjusted for inflation) in 2002. The 40% number is scarily similar to Gobert's new extension and how much he's going to take up the Jazz space (Gobert will eventually pass that in the final year of his deal with his 49 mil player option but it depends on cap growth, which is hard to predict). 

The only issue is Mutumbo was bought out by the Nets after he was traded to them, as he was seen as an aging albatross by Philly who made the Finals with him in 2001. Now their situations aren't 1 to 1 AT ALL. So please don't misunderstand me (I'm not trying to throw a subtle shade at Gobert here at all). I just found it interesting that when Mutumbo, who just literally made the finals a year prior, who had a massive impact on Philly, and when he was at his most highest paid, was seen as a ballast not an asset. Of course his age played a significant role in his diminishing play which needs to be pointed out as well, but I think it's interesting to see Philly decide to pivot away from Dikembe instead of just keeping him for a bench role (which he went on to play for Houston and NYK for another 6 years). 

Russell doesn't even need an introduction on his impact in winning. If he played today he'd get a contract probably even bigger than Gobert's. So I'm curious to see where you think Gobert lies on this scale because Mutombo was at one point paid relatively the same pay as Gobert at their highpoints of their career.