Cavs’ Evan Mobley holds strong atop Rookie Ladder, but what about #2?

On Monday afternoon the Cleveland Cavaliers took on one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets, and beat them at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. That win was the Cavaliers’ fifth straight, and going into Wednesday night, they could have solidified themselves as being a real contender in the East. Unfortunately, that win did not happen, as the Cavs took their first loss in five games in Chicago to the Bulls.

DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 30 points, while Darius Garland poured in 20 for the Cavaliers. Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley also had a solid game, scoring 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-1 from three. The Cavaliers cannot dwell on the loss, as they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

Now that we’ve covered the Cavs loss, we can finally take a deeper look at the latest Rookie Ladder. This is Mobley’s second straight week atop the ladder. Over his last 12 games he’s averaging over 17 points per game, over seven rebounds, and almost a block-and-a half per game. There’s a case to be made that Mobley deserves to be in the All-Star Game this year, too.

Following behind Mobley is Cade Cunningham, which was a bit of a surprise, as Scottie Barnes had that spot locked down for the majority of the season. Speaking of Barnes, he drops to third, with Franz Wagner and Josh Giddey behind him. Now, it’s pretty clear to most people, including me, that Evan Mobley is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year Award.

However, the battle for the second rung could go down to the wire. With that being said I’m going to point out a couple things Mobley needs to improve on, and then get into who really should be in the second spot.