Reason #2: Safe and secure
It makes a difference when a team and its players and coaches know they have a very talented player like Mobley on the team now.
I know it’s not the same level of play when I coached middle school basketball teams, but I always reference this one team I had almost two decades ago. If you’ve done any basketball coaching, especially at the middle school level, you know if you have a good guard, ball handler and quarterback of the team plus a capable post player and big man then you are half way home to the championship every season.
That’s what happened one season I had a group of seventh graders. We had those ingredients and we won the league championship. I knew, as did the players on that team that we had the talent needed to win games.
The Cavs now have that same level of talent with the addition of Mobley. They can now rely on a player that they know will fill up the paint and swat shots away, even as an added player with Jarrett Allen in that realm, too.
From there, they know they have a player on offense that isn’t going to shy away from his opponent or the basket and instead will become more relentless as he plays games. Other teams know this now or soon will as the season gets started and that’s another win for the Cavs and their growth as a team.
The Cavaliers have had big men in the past three seasons and Allen is a good player, but now adding in another talent next to him in that frontcourt will only make his game improve and make opposing teams more willing to stay out of the paint in fear of Cleveland’s rim protectors.