Does Cavs’ Evan Mobley have another gear left to reach in rookie season?

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley has been fantastic to say the very least to begin his debut season. He has sat atop the Rookie of the Year leaderboard (including the latest Rookie Ladder) since the beginning of the season and has even pushed himself forward into the Defensive Player of the Year conversation.

Personally, I think he is the best prospect the NBA has seen since Luka Doncic in 2018-19, who is the best since LeBron James’ debut (also for the Cavaliers) in 2003.

So far, the only holes in his game through the coveted eye test have been his lack of strength (give him a year or two), and his three-point shot/shot IQ (once again, give him a year or two.) Mobley has been above average if not exemplary at every other area of the game, even down to the timing and placement. Incredible.

Recently though, the Cavs have been decimated by injuries, as Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, Rajon Rondo, and Collin Sexton (for the season) are all sidelined at the moment.

For Cleveland, currently holding onto the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, this seems daunting. Especially with their All-Star point guard being one of those names. Shoutout to Darius Garland.

This leaves the door open for new incoming 10-Day contract players who play point guard and for the future of the team, Evan Mobley, to take on a higher usage rate. As a brief side note, Tim Frazier was signed to a 10-day by the team, but it’s tough to project much as far as contributions from him.

In Mobley’s case, as of right now he has a 20% usage rate (way too low), which means he shoots, assists, or turns the ball over on only 20% of the Cavaliers possessions. Admittedly, he does find a way to be involved in every play on both sides of the court.

Mobley needs to be more assertive for the Cavs, and he’s more than capable of taking on a larger workload.

With Garland (24.1 USG%) taking a while longer to recover from his injury than many of us expected, Mobley should, and hopefully will, play more aggressively.

Even head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated recently (via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid) that Mobley needs to be more aggressive on offense with both his scoring and playmaking, both of which have already been great for a 7-foot-tall rookie.

It’s scary to think that a player in multiple end-of-season award conversations might have yet another level of excellence to reach above where he is right now.

A more aggressive Mobley may look to post up more as he shoots at just under 68% from within five feet (per NBA.com’s shooting data), and then he sees an immediate drop. His second-best spot would be 10-14 feet shooting around 49% from that range.

Mobley may even look to try to get to his spots a little more often. Those being anywhere within 5-8 feet, the elbow jumper, and a right corner three.

Evan Mobley can also pass out of the post at a higher level, many of his assists seem to come from the post (based purely on the eye test).

He has already shown that he can get to his hot spots at a decent level, but if Bickerstaff chooses to make that a focus, Mobley may just go off to end the season.

Assuming he is given the keys to the offense during Garland’s absence (I really hope so) and/or in stretches without Darius on the floor in games he’s in, Mobley could take yet another step forward and take home that Rookie of the Year hardware.