This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Monday's inaugural NBA awards show went as expected for Rudy Gobert as the Utah Jazz center, a finalist for two individual awards, came up empty on both.

The NBA's Most Improved Player award went to Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who went from a project taken in the 2013 draft to arguably one of the top 10 players in the league. Gobert finished a distant third behind Antetokounmpo and Denver's Nikola Jokic.

The Defensive Player of the Year award went to Golden State's Draymond Green, the versatile power forward who was a critical piece to the Warriors' championship run. Gobert finished second ahead of San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard, but Green ran away with the award, finishing with almost 200 more points than Gobert.

Jazz coach Quin Snyder finished sixth in voting for Coach of the Year. The award went to Houston's Mike D'Antoni, who guided the Rockets to a third-place finish in the Western Conference. Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey finished third in Executive of the Year voting.

Monday's show capped the season for Gobert, who broke through in his fourth season as a pro by averaging 14.0 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game.

Gobert led the league in defensive plus-minus, defensive rating and defensive win shares. He led the league in blocked shots. He allowed opponents to shoot 42 percent with him as the primary defender. He was first in blocks percentage.

Gobert turned 25 on Monday, and began the day by making the NBA's first team all-defense, his first such league honor. By making all-defense, he earned bonuses factored into the contract extension he agreed to last October that kicks in on Friday.

tjones@sltrib.com

Twitter: @tribjazz