Where does Cavs rookie Evan Mobley stand in the DPOY race?

What about the stats?

Well to be completely honest, the stats that Mobley have already put up this season are incredibly encouraging. Mobley and center Jarrett Allen are both in the top 10 in contested two-point shots per game, per NBA.com’s hustle data.

But, when you take a look further down the article you can see Mobley behind only Jakob Poeltl and Rudy Gobert with 489 total contested shots, as of mid-last week in that case. On top of that, he’s very instinctual on the defensive side of the ball, which hurts and helps Mobley at times.

He’s caught at times out of place, but his long strides, and long arms let him recover more quickly. His great closeouts on shooters have been something he has done since day one in a Cavalier uniform. He’s contesting 3.9 three-point attempts per game, and only four players have contested more per outing. However let’s take a look at his overall contested shots.

Overall, Mobley is contesting 12.6 total shots per game. That puts him behind only Poeltl and Gobert, as  I mentioned earlier. When you look at a PER, or player efficiency rating, you will find Mobley is nowhere near the top. Nor is point guard Darius Garland. The highest PER on the team goes to Jarrett Allen with a rating of 23.5. That’s pretty damn efficient.

But, when looking at a defensive-minded player, you’re better off judging their talent with the defensive rating. Mobley is first among rookies in defensive rating, clocking in with a rating of 102.2, which is well above average for a rookie. Just watching the rookie play, you can see that he knows what he’s doing on the defensive side of the ball.

Mobley is by far the best defensive rookie this season, and probably the best rookie, defensively at least, in the last 3-4 years. So with all of that, I ask you this, does Evan Mobley have a shot to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award?