Cavs: Evan Mobley is off to outstanding start defensively

Cavs: Mobley’s made a difference for the team defense

Mobley’s team defense has been just as impressive thus far for the Cavaliers. I get that Lauri Markkanen at the 3 is going to get in compromised positions at times, and the same goes for others; having a defender such as Mobley and Jarrett Allen at the 4/5 for stretches helps, though.

Mobley’s verticality and shot contests will likely aid Cleveland from here as he continues to get more experience, and for now, he leads the NBA in shot contests per game, per NBA.com’s hustle data.

Some of it has had to do with Cleveland deploying Mobley up top in zone at times; either way, Mobley as a help defender will clearly make a difference for the Cavaliers team defense looking onward. And his timing/feel should help the Cavs be more aggressive defensively.

He’s again had 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals per game so far, and his presence has seemingly already deterred shooters, to an extent, on pull-ups. Or the threat of him on other occasions has clearly affected those looks.

So, to drive it home, Mobley’s defense has exceeded expectations, factoring in both the individual and team aspect, and with him being billed as a defensive difference-maker coming into the year, that’s a pretty big deal to me.

Hopefully we see the rook continue to shine there, and steadily show further growth game-to-game offensively as a scoring presence. His incredible IQ there and passing vision has already popped.