How did Evan Mobley fall to Cavs in NBA Draft, not get taken at #1?

He can’t shoot outside of 15 feet. His play in the post won’t be good enough in the league. He needs to put on weight. He isn’t strong enough to play against other NBA big men. Those were all the things people were saying about a then-19-year-old Evan Mobley who was still playing at USC.

Now, I’m not going to come out and say that he’s far and away the best rookie, or the Rookie of the Year Award is a one man race for the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ promising big. However, from everything we’ve seen thus far from the young big man, how was he not the first overall selection last July in the 2021 NBA Draft?

I believed, and still do think that Cade Cunningham will be a star in the league, so his choice by the Detroit Pistons was pretty simple. They already had Isaiah Stewart as a promising young big, and they need wing scoring. Conversely, the Houston Rockets really have no excuse for missing on Mobley.

Jalen Green started slow but has picked up his play recently. He’s averaging 14 points per game. However, he is doing that while shooting 38 percent from the field, and under 30 percent from three. In contrast, Mobley is averaging 14.6 points, while shooting 49 percent from the field and an impressive 35 percent from deep, albeit on not many attempts. Still, he’s showing growth there, and not to mention he was recently named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in October/November.

He’s already shown that he has the ability to make a much stronger impact on the Cavs, than Green will on the Rockets. On top of that his defensive play (1.9 blocks per game) has been stellar so far this season. He still has a lot of time to grow and improve, but you can’t tell me the Rockets aren’t kicking themselves for passing on Mobley.

So with that in mind, let’s play a little fact or fiction on Evan Mobley’s pre-draft criticism.