It’s been all about the luck here in Northeast Ohio, at least for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The rumors started flying after the Cavs landed the number one pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. Was the lottery fixed? Was this another cold envelope situation? Well we may never know the answer to that, but nearly 20 years later the Cavs can consider themselves lucky. The ping pong balls once again gave the Cavs a pick in the top three, when they were supposed to be picking outside the top five.
However, the best bit of luck came when the Houston Rockets took Jalen Green with the second pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Personally, I was very upset. I loved Green, and thought he would make the Cavaliers a lot more fun to watch. But, they ended up with Evan Mobley, who I didn’t love at the time. Well, now I think it’s safe to assume the Cavs got at least one of the two best players in the 2021 NBA Draft in Mobley.
I will also point out that I’m sure the Cavs front office did some great scouting work in the build-up to draft night. With that being said, it’s safe to say the Cavaliers were extra lucky in this particular offseason; although, in fairness, Cleveland did have tough luck in recent prior draft lotteries. So, we’ll take it. Evan Mobley has been a revelation for the Cavaliers.
But before we get into Mobley, we also need to point out that the Cavs made a great signing of Jarrett Allen over the summer. That deal is looking more and more of a steal every day. They also brought in Lauri Markkanen and Ricky Rubio to help with some scoring, and even with some ups and downs, Markkanen has proven to be a valuable offensive piece; Rubio unfortunately was playing really well, and then tore his ACL.
Even in the loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, though, Markkanen had a season-high 28 points on a very efficient 9-of-14 shooting, and has been playing really well of late. Along with him, Isaac Okoro has also made a nice leap in his second year, too. He’s looking for his shot more often, and he’s been excellent in fastbreak opportunities. With all that aside, Mobley has been a huge factor in the Cavaliers success this season.
He’s averaging 15 points per game, while grabbing nearly eight rebounds, and even dishing out 2.6 assists per game. He’s been superb on defense as well. It’s not only his work in the paint defensively that is great, but his closeouts are terrific for a player his age.
Swept up in the excitement around Mobley, the Cavs are actually one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season. Before the loss to the Bulls on Wednesday night, they were only a game-and-a-half back of the top seed, who is still unfortunately the Bulls. The Cavaliers can’t just rest on the success they’ve already had, they need to keep contending. And to keep contending, Mobley must improve in three areas, in particular, for Cleveland in the second half of the season.
Don’t get me wrong, the rookie has been fantastic. Even having said that, there’s no harm in working on his rebounding, strength, and of course his shooting arsenal. So let’s take a look at what the young man can improve upon, and hopefully it will play into Cleveland having a lot more wins in the second half of the season.
Rebounding, rebounding, and more rebounding
Coming out of college, I picked up early that Mobley is not the best rebounder. He wasn’t at the college level at USC, where he was often the tallest guy on the court. But rebounding is not just about who the tallest team is, even though if that was the case, the Cavs would be set up just fine. It’s also about positioning and instincts.
In his only year at the college level, Mobley only averaged 8.7 rebounds per game. While part of that issue is related to his strength, which I’ll touch on later, even more of it is related to positioning. He’s often found too far underneath the basket to make any real attempt to rebound the ball. Some of that will come with time, considering he’s still only 20 years old, but he should be watching film on plays like that, where he can learn from his mistakes of the past.
Like I said, it’s not like rebounding is a major flaw in Mobley’s game, but it’s an area where he can improve. It’s also very good for him to have a guy like Jarrett Allen around. Allen averages nearly 11 rebounds per game, which is good for eighth in the NBA. The Cavaliers did the right thing bringing back Allen, and his game should start to rub off on Mobley.
If a shooter takes a shot from the corner, the ball is more likely to go to the other side of the basket than anything else. So using his basketball instincts, which are already spectacular, to move to areas where the ball should be, could add a rebound or two to his average.
Other than positioning on rebounding, Mobley still needs to gain some weight, which will help him go toe-to-toe with some of the biggest players in the NBA. However, putting on muscle is not as easy as it looks for a guy like Mobley.
Hit the gym! Drink some protein shakes!
Mobley is a tall, tall guy, standing at 7-foot. A lot of times, guys with that height have trouble gaining weight, though. Mobley’s metabolism and work rate are often very high, so building muscle is going to be an upward slope. However, if Zion Williamson can put weight onto his frame, which was already 250 pounds, there’s no reason to believe Mobley can’t. As a matter of fact I think it might be a good idea for Mobley and Allen to hit the gym together, as they both could use to add a little bulk to their frame; Allen has, but could use some more still.
When you are trying to put on weight, it’s very important to realize what foods you put into your body. I’m no trainer, but a guy like Mobley doesn’t need to be gulping down four Big Mac’s per day, as I’m sure he never was. With that being said, reporter Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid posted an interesting tweet early on in September from Mobley’s media availability then.
Evan Mobley shares he has no problem gaining weight. His issue is maintaining it.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) September 28, 2021
I don’t think this is very surprising whatsoever. I’ve had friends and family members that can lose weight in a week, but they can never retain that weight. So this is not surprising from Mobley’s camp. So again, I’m not a trainer, but things like eating protein before bed, not snacking as much, and even getting more sleep, can all help with maintaining weight. On top of that, the Cavs have one of the best training staffs in all of the NBA, with the Cleveland Clinic right in their back yard.
So in the second half of the season, I expect a Mobley with more muscle mass, at least by the end of the year. Then in the offseason he will really have to work to put on, and keep that weight. We’ve seen multiple athletes develop their own ways of doing things. Tom Brady has the TB12-method, and even Cade Cunningham went vegan.
I’m sure Mobley will have a team of people around him this offseason, dedicated to helping him gain some mass. This would also help him become more of an offensive presence down low. But, shooting from 10 feet isn’t really where he needs the most improvement.
Take your shots, and make your shots
Going into the second half of the season, I would expect to see a boost in Mobley’s play. Up to this point, the big Californian has converted on over 51 percent of his field goals. That number is on the lower side for a big man, but Mobley has already shown the ability to pull up with conviction from further out on the floor.
He is hitting nearly 70 percent of his shots in the paint, while also hitting on over 50 percent of his shots from the 10-15 foot range. Finally, the big man is hitting almost 30 percent of his three-point attempts, while shooting a decent 71 percent from the charity stripe.
As you can see, Mobley is shooting pretty efficiently so far in his rookie season. However, if there was ever a time for him to be more aggressive, it will come in the second half of the season. That’s not to say that in recent weeks, he hasn’t been, as he’s had a production uptick. We need to see that more consistently from him, though, as Mobley is more than capable of filling it up.
And with Darius Garland playing like a young Kyrie Irving, teams will try and shut him down in the second half of the season as he is clearly the leader and floor general. Mobley will also get more shot attempts as defenses look to shut down Jarrett Allen. I expect Mobley to raise his three-point percentage to at least 35 percent at the end of the year, and would love to see him shooting more shots from 15-20 feet. Finally, I think the goal for Mobley when it comes to free throws should be at least over 75 percent.
That’s only a five percent rise, but I have a feeling teams are going to try and out-muscle Mobley, so he should get to the line more. Overall, Mobley just needs to continue to look for his shot, while also shooting efficiently in the second half of the season, as he has in recent weeks. He just needs to build on those further from here.
There are more than a couple things to look forward to in the NBA for the next couple of months. In about a month, the best players, and biggest celebrities in the world will convene in Cleveland for the 71st playing of the NBA All-Star Game. On top of that, if the Cavaliers can keep up their winning ways, a playoff appearance for the first time since 2018 should be an attainable goal.
So on top of increasing his shots, and working on defensive rebounding, the rookie should be in a playoff series come spring. When it really comes down to it at crunch time in a couple of months, we just have to hope the Cavs are contending for a playoff spot.
And regarding that, if Mobley can work on the three things I mentioned, it’s going to be very disappointing if the Cavs don’t make the playoffs for the first time since 2018.