Cavs’ Evan Mobley back atop Ladder due to his truly rare effect on winning
Mobley’s effect on winning is already on a prestigious level
There have been numerous rookie seasons that have been great. Michael Jordan averaged over 28 points per game during his rookie season, while shooting over 50 percent from the field! Oscar Robertson’s rookie year with the then-Cincinnati Royals, he nearly averaged a triple-double. However, very few rookies have had a big effect wins and losses, which is exactly what Mobley has done this season.
The Cavs have won 34 games this season, the most they’ve won in a season without LeBron James in over two decades. So while his point totals were nothing to write home about last week, he flourished in other ways.
Against the Pelicans, Mobley finished with only four points, but he also blocked three shots and had a steal. In the win over the Hornets, he only scored eight points on 4-of-13 shooting. However, he also dished out five assists, and had two steals. Against the Pacers he only had nine points on 3-for-9 shooting, but he also blocked three shots, and finished with a positive plus-minus ratio. The point of these examples, is to show that Mobley doesn’t have to be scoring to have a huge effect on winning and losing.
He leads all rookies in blocked shots, shots contested, and field goal percentage (50.4 percent). Now, the question I have, who was the last rookie to have this big of an effect on winning and losing?
If you’re answer was Shaquille O’Neal, you would have been wrong. The correct answer is Carmelo Anthony on the 2003-04 Denver Nuggets. Before drafting Carmelo with the third overall pick, the Nuggets finished 17-65 at the end of the 2002-03 season. Anthony averaged 21 points per game, while grabbing over six rebounds, and dishing out nearly three assists per game. The man from Syracuse also snatching over a steal per game.
The Nuggets would go on the lose in the first round of the playoffs, which hopefully isn’t the outcome of the Cavaliers season. However, Anthony was superb in his rookie season on offense, and even on times on defense. But, outside of the scoring, which is obviously important in the NBA, he didn’t have a better season than Mobley has, thus far into the season.
If you look around, Donovan Mitchell, Ben Simmons, and even Larry Bird led their teams to the playoffs in their rookie season. With that being said, Mobley has an opportunity to help the Cavaliers go further than just the first round in the 2022 NBA Playoffs. On another note, Mobley got back into the scoring column in a big way last night versus the Spurs. He scored 18 points, while also grabbing 12 rebounds.