It was nice to see Evan Mobley back over the weekend in the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ win over the Orlando Magic. No, beating the Magic does not qualify as a quality win, but the Cavaliers did get the job done. After how they were finding a way to be competitive in their games leading into that, often very shorthanded, even in five straight games they lost prior to that one, it was meaningful for the team to get back in the win column.
Mobley’s defense, following his four-game absence because of a right elbow sprain, in particular, made a difference for the Cavaliers then, and when he has been available, for the most part, that has.
His shot contests as a rotator in the paint have helped the Cavs, and he does an admirable job when needed a fair amount of the time when switched out onto smaller players, too. Mobley’s team defensive instincts usually lead to him being in the right spots as well, and his rim protection has affected games frequently for Cleveland, even for such a young player and one that needs to get stronger.
On the offensive end, though Mobley does have some rookie moments at times, as all first-year players do, especially bigs, he’s done a solid job, also. Even while playing often with two other bigs in Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen, Mobley has found ways to make plays in settled offense, thanks to awareness off-ball, passing vision/timing, finishing abilities and his athleticism.
But one thing recently has been really promising from him, regarding the past seven or so appearances for him, dating back to before him being sidelined. And that’s involving the catch-and-shoot game.
Mobley has been more willing to shoot threes of late, and it’s paid off in his recent appearances from an off-ball standpoint. That’s something he can build on.
He’s not going to do it on a high volume necessarily, early on in his career, or this season at least, however, Mobley has shown more propensity to take threes. He was 0-for-2 from three in the Cavaliers’ rout of the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, and had a rookie game, to some extent offensively, as he had five turnovers.
Factoring in games prior to his four-game absence due to an elbow sprain, though, Mobley has shown less hesitation on catch-and-shoot opportunities, which is promising, given what he’s shown already in other areas offensively.
It’s not as if there’s been a significant amount of triples taken from him, but compared to his first nine games, Mobley has attempted 2.8 threes per game in his last eight contests, and connected on 36.4 percent of those looks. In those first nine games for him, he attempted 1.1 per game, shooting 20.0 percent.
The vast majority of his deep shots are off-the-catch, clearly, which is fine for a young big. On those, it’s been meaningful that on a 20.0 percent frequency in his last eight appearances, Mobley has knocked in 40.0 percent from there, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data.
Just taking those looks at the rate he’s been doing in this recent stretch, over time, will only help him inside the arc. That’s for him as a driving presence, secondary playmaker with the passing willingness he’s demonstrated already, and it would help him generate more opportunities for his floater/finishing game.
Granted, I know Mobley is not going to have the three-point rate of Lauri Markkanen, for instance, nor should he for a while it seems. Mobley’s progress in regards to his confidence on catch-and-shoots has been an encouraging sign, though, and hopefully he continues to build on that in the second quarter of the season here for the Wine and Gold.
And it’s been great to see Mobley not look at all limited, when it comes to him coming off that prior elbow sprain.
The shooting growth is seemingly coming along for the impressive rookie big, who has already been able to affect games in countless ways.