This is storyline to watch from Evan Mobley in Cavs preseason action

We still have roughly two-plus months until the 2022-23 campaign tips off for the NBA, and there’s still some time left before training camps open. The upcoming season is approaching, though, and I’m getting pumped for the Cleveland Cavaliers to be back once again.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Cavaliers released their preseason schedule, which will feature a home and home with the Philadelphia 76ers first on the road, a home tilt versus the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland will wrap up at the Orlando Magic. The Philly games are on Oct. 5 and Oct. 10, the Atlanta contest is on Oct. 12 and the preseason finale in Orlando is on Oct. 14; all of the four contests start at 7 PM Eastern.

It’s only preseason play, so one has to take the games with a grain of salt, obviously, but it will be fun to see the Wine and Gold back in game action, or something along those lines.

The Cavaliers had a very promising season in 2021-22, as the group went 44-38 on the year, and was better than realistically anybody could’ve anticipated.

Injuries, some youthful stretches and lack of cohesion it seemed at times played some into the group sliding post-All-Star break, unfortunately, but it was still a year where showed marketed improvement. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen made their first All-Star appearances, the group was often stingy defensively, Evan Mobley was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year and Kevin Love excelled in a move to a bench role, to hit on some of the highlights.

Circling back to earlier, though, while we were only discussing preseason before, those are still meaningful games for guys to get into a rhythm a bit, and in those outings, I’d look to see Mobley get his opportunities. Rookie first-round pick Ochai Agbaji could be another player of note, to some extent, also.

But with Mobley, one key storyline I’ll be looking for in preseason.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Cavs run some offense through Mobley for stretches in preseason and/or allow him to get more of his share of playmaking opportunities.

Mobley was phenomenal in his first season with Cleveland, amassing 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks per contest. The defensive impact he had and the skill set he already has there is unreal, and for a rookie, that was so special. His switchability, length, fluidity/agility, rim protection and defensive IQ make it seem more than likely that at some point, he’ll be a Defensive Player of the Year in this league.

Similarly to other KJG guys, though, on the offensive end, I do think this upcoming season, he’s primed for a second year leap. Plus, personally, while the shot creation should take a step forward, I’d imagine in Year 2, we could see him utilized a bunch as a secondary playmaking presence, based on the encouraging signs last season.

There were a number of times in his rookie year where that was the case, in fairness, but I think we could see him initiating things more from the wings and/or high post, and allowing Darius Garland/others to have more off-ball or movement looks off that.

And in those aforementioned preseason games for the Cavaliers above in October, the Cavs running offense through him a bit more at least for stretches is a storyline I’ll be looking to see, especially.

There were plenty of flashes last season, and in his lone collegiate season at USC where Mobley was making plays via big-to-big feeds, for example, and he has impressive timing/feel for hitting cutters.

Also, I’ll be watching to see if the Cavs use him more to initiate plays out of the mid-post, perhaps early in contests, to see if his full offseason to round out his game can maybe lead to some early success. From there, maybe then feeds over the top to shooters can come more off that, as we saw at times last season after his scoring success from fadeaways/baseline drives, and a full offseason to get stronger will make a difference.

Anyway, though it’s again just preseason to come in what we’re alluding to from that Cavs team release on Wednesday, there could realistically be two-to-three games for Mobley to get some meaningful playmaking reps, for spurts feasibly.

And that sort of threat, generally, for fairly consistent secondary playmaking feasibly, could pay dividends for his own scoring capabilities and alleviate some pressure on Darius Garland, and help make the Cavs more versatile.