Do the Cavs have the best center rotation in the NBA?

Do the Cavs have the best center rotation in the NBA? Evan Mobley

Evan Mobley came into the league last season a bit light in the shorts, 7-feet tall but listed at just 215 pounds. It’s likely he would have started out at power forward even if the Cavs didn’t have a top-10 center starting beside him, but the presence of Allen and Love certainly meant Mobley played fewer minutes at the 5 than many expected.

Even so, he was very effective when he did man the middle. Cleaning the Glass estimated that Mobley played 23 percent of his non-garbage time minutes at center, and the Cavs were 3.6 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents in those minutes. The Cavs’ offense in particular took off, scoring in the 81st percentile when Mobley was the primary big man.

The makeup of the Cavs’ roster generally meant that swapping in another wing meant adding a defensively-challenged player, so the defense understandably took a step back; trading someone like Jarrett Allen for Cedi Osman isn’t the recipe for defensive success. It certainly wasn’t Mobley’s fault, however; on that aforementioned list of rim protectors, where Allen led the league? Mobley ranked ninth, an insane reality given that Mobley was just a teenager.

Mobley had a block percentage of 4.4, which ranked eighth in the entire league. He can defend in space, at the rim and everywhere in between. He’s a truly special defensive player already at 19; the sky is the limit for the future Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

The offense is more of a work in progress, but he has already flashed some ball-handling and playmaking ability. He is already a top-60 player in the league, easily, and perhaps higher than that. It won’t take long for him to be in the top-30. Are there 10 better power forwards than him? Perhaps not, and his minutes at center will only get better as he gains muscle mass and strength.