3 reasons why Cavs’ Evan Mobley was robbed of the Rookie of the Year
By Corey Casey
#2: Mobley is more valuable to the Cavs than other rookies
Evan Mobley is more valuable, was more important to the Cavaliers, and impacted winning more and meant more to the Cavs than any other rookie meant to their team. The Cavs have built one of the better young cores in the league in Garland, Mobley and Jarrett Allen. I believe Garland, who is already a star, and Mobley, are future superstars. These three were able to lead the Cavs to a 44-win season, but the Cavaliers still have some flaws and Koby Altman knows they aren’t a finished project and he still has to finish building out the rest of the roster.
The Cavs don’t have a ton of depth, as they need to add more shooting, and another playmaking guard who can create on the perimeter, so everything isn’t all on Garland and a two-way wing that can score. Evan Mobley is a huge reason how the Cavs for most of the season were a top-3 defensive team and the Wine and Gold could defensively get away with Lauri Markkanen playing the 3. No question, Jarrett Allen completes it, as he improved his lateral quickness from a year ago to the point where he could defend guys out on switches really well. Still, Mobley is the gravitational force that makes it all work.
Garland is the Cavs’ most valuable player, but Mobley is right behind him as the Cavs’ next most important player. Mobley was the second-most important player on a team that won 44 games. Even offensively, Mobley was really good and made a major impact, whereas Barnes is surrounded with a bunch of good defenders and shooting around him.
This isn’t to take away from Scottie Barnes at all, as he’s a huge reason the Raptors got to where they got to, and they made it tough on the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round and he was absolutely deserving of the award. I understand why voters looked at the way the end of the season went and looked at Barnes’ versatility being able to play multiple positions and what he did as a playmaker, I just don’t think it should’ve been enough to overtake Mobley.
As good of a job J.B Bickerstaff has done in helping turning this around and starting a culture, he isn’t the caliber of coach or the creative mind that a Nick Nurse is. The Raptors are just a more established team from the Cavaliers. The Raptors still have key core veteran All-Star pieces left over from their championship team and guys that were a part of other Raptor playoff runs in Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam.
Barnes is surrounded with more shooting and a bunch of good defenders, and again this isn’t to discredit Barnes. The Raptors absolutely nailed that pick and more. Barnes I believe will be one of the better two-way players in the game and has raised the Raptors’ ceiling for the forseeable future. I just think Mobley, all-in-all, is more valuable to the Cavs success than the Raptors’ success this year.