Evan Mobley earns Cavs’ first All-Rookie First Team bid in nearly a decade

It’s not breaking news that Evan Mobley turned out to be an awesome selection by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2021 NBA Draft.

It wasn’t a pick at third overall that caught anybody by surprise, but Mobley was even better than one could’ve thought in his first season. He had 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks per outing, and even for a rookie, impacted winning in a huge way.

Mobley, for the most part, was a consistent player on both ends for Cleveland, and looks to be one of the teams’ cornerstones from here.

Now, there’s areas where Mobley needs to make further strides next season, and his defensive rebounding positioning and catch-and-shoot play are two areas that jump out there. Generally, though, he was a heck of a performer for a rookie this season, and with that in mind, it was nice to see Mobley solidified as one of the leagues’ best rookies this season.

I’m of the belief that Mobley should’ve been Rookie of the Year, but either way, it was notable that he was the first Cav named All-Rookie First Team since Dion Waiters in 2012-13, as the team pointed out.

Mobley was arguably the NBA’s best rookie this season, and this was another reminder of his great first season with the Cavs.

The Rookie of the Year was given to Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors, who had 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per outing this season. He was also one of the key reasons for the Raptors’ strong close to the season, when they ended up securing the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto would lose in six games to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, when Barnes was banged up, as an aside.

Now, Barnes had a heck of a start to his career as well this season, and I don’t shortchange his efforts. He’s another young player with a very high ceiling, and often functioned as one of Toronto’s most meaningful playmakers this season, and I’d imagine will continue to do that moving forward, with his guard-type skills.

Nonetheless, with Toronto’s recent history as a quality team, disregarding 2020-21, I thought Mobley being one of the crucial reasons for Cleveland’s 22-game turnaround this season should’ve factored more into the conversation. It was an extremely close voting result, however, as our own Corey Casey highlighted, Mobley just seemed to have more of an impact on winning this year for the Cavaliers.

In any case, that’s not what transpired, and it’s nothing but a motivational point for this coming offseason and into next season for Mobley. And with Evan being the consummate team guy (I’m not suggesting Scottie isn’t), that’s alright.

Anyway, it was again notable that this was the first time the Wine and Gold had a rookie named to the All-Rookie First Team since 2012-13, as the team mentioned above. For that to have been Dion Waiters is well…..something.

Mobley, while he needs to be keep making strides on the offensive end, looks to be one of the teams’ best players going forward, and he looks to have just scratched the surface. Next season, I can’t say it’d seem that far-fetched to believe the soon-to-be-21-year-old could make his first All-Star appearance, either.

This first-team honor was again, yet another reminder of Mobley’s awesome first season. I can’t wait to see what the 7-footer has in-store for Cleveland in 2022-23.