The Cleveland Cavaliers are reportedly expected to get Evan Mobley back on Saturday against the Orlando Magic, which was great news from Friday. Mobley has missed the past four games because of a right elbow sprain he initially sustained on Nov. 15 in a loss versus the Boston Celtics, and from that time, Mobley was expected to miss two to potentially up to four weeks.
So, him returning earlier than was first expected for clearly a positive bit of news for a Cleveland team that has found ways to stick and/or claw their way back in recent games, but the Cavs have lost five straight games. Again, injuries/illness hasn’t aided their cause, and the team is still getting used to playing without Collin Sexton, who will be out for the rest of the season.
The Cavaliers have had chances to win virtually all of these Mobley-less games, though, and them likely to have him back on Saturday against Orlando, and for upcoming games following that, is a real lift.
Mobley, who has had 14.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 blocks per contest in 15 appearances, has looked to be a home run selection. And while he is still so young, he’s been outstanding, for the most part, so far, and to me, a key benefit from his likely return is how he can help out others, and especially Darius Garland.
Mobley likely being back for the Cavs takes some burden off Garland.
Garland, who leads Cleveland in scoring this season with 18.2 points per outing, has still had some of an adjustment with Sexton out. He’s essentially been the top scoring option, and there have been ups and downs from three-point range for him, as he’s now at 34.7 percent from deep on the year.
I’m going cut to Garland some slack with the offensive workload he’s had in recent games, but to me, Mobley back, combined with Lauri Markkanen being back in the fold too, should lessen the burden for Garland as an on-ball scoring presence. That’s to some degree, at least.
Of course, the Cavaliers need Garland to still be aggressive, given his all-around shooting capabilities, and I’d expect Ricky Rubio to be as well. The Cavs do need both to be active as playmakers, still, though, and that won’t change.
With Mobley likely to be back, however, his off-ball/cutting presence, both in settled situations and at times in transition, should make for some easy offense for Cleveland, with his timing, and chemistry with both Garland and Rubio already.
That’s not to take away from Markkanen, but Mobley’s above-rim and cutting abilities have been something, from a rim pressure perspective, that the Cavs have missed in recent games. That was with Jarrett Allen last week out, too, in particular; he has been back in the past two outings, though, and has been very productive.
Even still, Allen is not nearly the scoring presence and offensive hub-type of player that Mobley is, with Evan being able to create more for himself as a driver at times, mid-post presence, and as a guy that can knock down some looks in the mid-range via pull-ups and fadeaways. Not to mention, Mobley’s floater touch has helped Cleveland, also.
Lastly, though it’s not always utilized a ton of the time, Mobley’s secondary playmaking awareness and timing passing out of the high and mid-post, along with the short roll, should help Cleveland’s offense and Garland, too.
For only a 20-year-old big, that part of his game has been on display pretty regularly, and his precision from passing has been on-point when passing out of double teams, or when he’s caused help to come to him via drives. Garland, Isaac Okoro, Markkanen, Cedi Osman and/or Dylan Windler I’d imagine in upcoming games should benefit from Mobley’s passing vision and willingness.
And overall, Mobley’s return I believe should provide Cleveland with another playmaking presence that could help Garland get some more off-ball shooting looks, which shouldn’t be discounted.
Moreover, with his on and off-ball acumen, and unselfishness/heady passing, Mobley likely back in the lineup could enable Garland to balance looking to initiate for others and searching for his own better throughout games, and allow him to pick his spots more.
There could be some rust for Evan early on in his return, but I think with his IQ, offensive feel and defensive contributions, he’ll still provide quite a notable impact from the jump when he’s back on the floor.