Cavs: Evan Mobley will get his share of chances to create from elbows

It was anything outside the box, but I was satisfied when the Cleveland Cavaliers ended up selecting Evan Mobley in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Does Mobley need to prove himself more as a shooter from three-point range? Yes. Does he need to gain functional weight in coming years? Yes; he’s currently listed at only 215 pounds, and he’ll have to fill out more in the near future.

I do believe that he can and will put gradually add weight though, and with help the Cavs player development staff, I do think that Mobley can become respectable as a catch-and-shoot player and pick-and-pop presence.

He’s shown flashes in that realm, also in his high school/AAU days, and while he did only 12-of-40 from three (30.0 percent)e in his lone collegiate season at USC, he has shown great touch in other areas. It’s workable, and overall, with his passing feel for a big (which could be key in transition, too), guard-like qualities and individual and team defensive prowess, he could very well be a star in the near future.

In relation to the offensive end next season/perhaps just in general, in set offense, I do believe we’ll see him get some rolling work, some catch-and-shoot looks still, and he should be involved plenty off-ball. That could lead to baseline looks, shots off cuts and he again I’d think could be a notable secondary playmaker.

But in the scoring/passing sense some, it is apparent that he’ll likely get his share of opportunities at the elbows.

Cavs: Mobley will get his share of opportunities to create from the elbows.

Of course, I acknowledge that Mobley will get rolling and cutting/off-ball looks, where I’d imagine he should receive some high percentage shots to get going from Darius Garland and Ricky Rubio, for example.

That said, against opposing 4s and some stretches feasibly against 5s, his fluidity, nice ball handling and feel for hitting push shots and with him being able to rise up over guys, he should get his share of elbow touches.

From there, Mobley could get to rhythm shots, use subtle jabs to create space to rise up over primary matchups, get to fadeaways here and there, or get to the basket some via quick drives. His smooth game and 7-foot-4 wingspan should aid him in that sense, too.

And though he’ll need to get stronger in coming years, as a driving/cutting presence, Mobley has the ability to finish with either hand, and at times can finish over people, potentially after quick decisions following mid-clock elbow touches. For further context, he did place in the 90th percentile as a shooter at the rim in the halfcourt in his lone collegiate season at USC, per Synergy Sports.

Plus, with his ability to hit cutters on the weak side, such as Isaac Okoro, and even some big-to-big feeds to Jarrett Allen and/or Kevin Love after movement, Mobley’s passing vision/timing from the elbows could lead to productive offense, also.

2.8 assists per-40 with the Trojans didn’t necessarily illuminate it, but even as a 7-footer, Mobley is a more than capable secondary playmaker, and at the elbows, he could manipulate rotators to open up shooters as well. The likes of Garland, Collin Sexton and seemingly Lauri Markkanen, Dylan Windler and/or others come to mind in that regard, too.

Moreover, while he’ll again need to further prove the deep shooting abilities and get stronger in the near future to fully take advantage at the NBA level as a finisher night-in, night-out, Mobley can create meaningful offense regularly at the elbows.

Both in the scoring sense to some degree, and with his playmaking feel/vision, that could get him and, to an extent, the team and/or shooters going in stretches. That’s even more so from movement off-ball in response to his touches there initially.

And I’d hope to see some of this in preseason. We’ll have to see on that, though.