Cavs believe Evan Mobley has ‘changed the trajectory’ for them from jump

Ever since LeBron James took his talents to the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s been tough sledding for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their rebuild. The Cavs had some pretty bad lottery luck from 2018-2020. In 2018 they failed to move up, while in 2019 and 2020 they fell all the way to five after finishing with the second-worst record. Cleveland general manager Koby Altman did a very good job drafting and made the most of his picks adding the likes of Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro, though.

That all changed this past June when the Cavaliers got lucky in the lottery then and jumped up two spots netting them the third overall pick. The other pieces on the roster are promising, but none of them are as talented as the potential franchise talent Evan Mobley is.

And Mobley is reportedly already making that impact. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required) the Cavs believe Mobley has “changed the trajectory” of their team, even this early.

Cavs: It’s really early, but Mobley could very well be the real deal and a franchise-type talent.

It didn’t take long at all for Mobley to impact the Cavs. The Wine and Gold lost a close one to a really good Memphis Grizzlies team on the road, however, his all-around effect on the game was immediate with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, a steal and a block. Mobley all night protected the rim very well as a rotator, altered shots, ate up space on defense and more than held his own switching out on the perimeter defending guys.

On the offensive end he showed a lot of his potential as well, hitting some mid-range shots, did at least hit 1-of-2 from three, and beat guys off the dribble at times. Plus, he was able to facilitate the offense and was really good as a playmaker, while also showing his share of touch around the rim.

The biggest weakness with Mobley right now is his lack of strength, which is not surprising given his age, though. He’ll have struggles sometimes at the rim against bigger bodies, but once he does continue to get stronger in the near future and maintains that with more functional strength, the sky is the limit for the USC product.

It’s not surprising the Cavaliers believe that Mobley has already changed the trajectory of this rebuild. This is what the Cavs have been missing in their rebuild the last few years. Mobley is a special talent and has the ability to end up as a franchise player.

And often times in the draft, the third and the fifth pick in that can be a enormous gap, and the Cavs have witnessed that up close the last few years. You can obviously get good players in that range of the draft, but in terms of landing a franchise talent, picking at fifth can be a huge difference sometimes.

A year ago it was fair to wonder about this rebuild long term and be skeptic about the upside, because they didn’t have their clear potential franchise player that they could build around like other teams landing the likes of a Trae Young, Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, or a LaMelo Ball.

Fortunately, the Cavaliers were able to get lucky in the lottery again, as was the case on other occasions prior to the second LeBron free agency departure, and having that guy they reportedly believe they can build around completely changed the outlook of this rebuild.