It’s tough to not have been overly satisfied with the play of Evan Mobley in his rookie season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks per contest, and for such a young player in his first season, Mobley’s defense for most of the year was terrific.
When watching him play during this recently-concluded season for Cleveland, it was hard to believe the dude was just 20 years old, and again, in his first campaign. Seeing how the guy played at USC in his lone collegiate season, where he was a crucial reason the Trojans made it to the Elite Eight, I guess one could see how he was so good even as a rookie for the Cavaliers.
Now, I’m with our own Corey Casey in the belief that with the consistency for Mobley for most of the season, and with how he was instrumental for the Cavs turning things around this season, that Mobley should’ve won the Rookie of the Year award.
That honor went to Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors, who had a great season himself and Toronto closed really strong. I just personally believe, as Casey noted, that Mobley had the bigger impact for this Cavaliers team. Our own Quinn Minnich, conversely, thought Barnes was the rightful winner of the Rookie of the Year, as an aside.
Even without the ROY hardware, Mobley did have a stellar start to his career, and looks to have superstar-type potential in this league.
It is apparent that one aspect of his game, in particular, though, does need to take positive strides forward in his second season, and I’m veering away from the catch-and-shoot stuff here, just for clarification. I’m not discounting that; I just believe this next season, it may be a more immediate improvement area that comes to mind. Mobley’s defensive rebounding is what we’re referring to.
Mobley needs to improve his defensive rebounding positioning in Year 2 for the Cavs, and he should be just fine in doing so with more experience.
Mobley had 8.3 rebounds per contest this season, so I’m not going to completely grill the dude, and he was again, 20 years old. This might be a bit nitpicky, with that in mind, and Mobley is more naturally at the 5, where he was often at the 4 in tandem with Jarrett Allen this season, which looks to often be the move for Cleveland going forward.
Objectively, however, Mobley’s defensive rebounding percentage was 17.4 percent, which wasn’t necessarily horrendous, per se, but among players that are 6-foot-10 or taller, appeared in 10 games or more, and averaged 10 minutes or more, that rate was 57th. Granted, as we expressed, Mobley was often on the floor with Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love, who were far better, and Love, and in Mobley and Allen’s case, they were contesting shots often.
So, that’s part of the reasoning, for context, I’d attest. Mobley and Allen both were the crucial anchors for the Cavaliers defensively as well, and they were why the Cavaliers conceded the lowest field goal percentage in the restricted area in the NBA this season. That was 60.5 percent, per NBA.com’s tracking data, and when Allen and the team was healthier this season, Allen and Mobley’s defensive impact was amplified.
Post-All-Star break unfortunately, Cleveland was largely hampered of course, and the team stumbled.
Nonetheless, while it’s a bit critical, and Mobley, who is listed at a thinner 215 pounds, needs to get stronger this offseason, which he assuredly will, I’d imagine, defensive rebounding has to be a key improvement area for him in Year 2.
I’m not going to grill the dude for him being inconsistent, though, and he did improve in that area and his positioning as the season progressed. But in his second season, with more experience, I firmly believe he’ll be more impactful in that regard.
It’s something, realistically, that has to be on-point from him, either way, though, to help the team maximize him and Allen together for extended stretches. When Mobley was on the floor, opponents rebounded 4.0 percent more of their own misses against Cleveland, which, in that factor, placed in just the 7th percentile, according to Cleaning The Glass’ metrics.
Now, opponents also had an effective field goal percentage of minus-1.9 percent when Mobley was on the floor, too, which placed in the 81st percentile, per Cleaning The Glass, too. Obviously, his defensive impact was significant, even with the defensive rebounding inconsistencies.
Mobley’s outlet passes in those situations can be a weapon at times for the Wine and Gold, however, so hopefully that plays out more after defensive rebounds next season.
I again, believe it very well will, too. Anyway, the defensive glass cleaning does have to be a key improvement area for Mobley in Year 2, regardless.