Heading into his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s pretty difficult to not be bullish on Evan Mobley.
In his rookie campaign in 2021-22, Mobley proved to be everything one would’ve anticipated after he was selected No. 3 in last year’s draft by Cleveland.
He was one of the crucial reasons for the Cavaliers’ turnaround in almost making the postseason, and for his efforts, he finished as the runner-up for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award. Mobley finished just behind the Toronto Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, in what was the closest ROY race the league has seen since 2002-03.
On the season, Mobley had 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 blocks per contest, and based on what he demonstrated in Year 1, the guy looks to be just getting started in this league. The Cavaliers got a hell of a player, and his potential is well, through the roof.
Recently, in the Cavs “Player Day” for Monday on their socials, the team gave Mobley his flowers this latest go-round, and one the second stat mentioned in their tweet below especially resonated with me.
Year 2 🔜#CavsPlayerDay x @evanmobley pic.twitter.com/RT4WYXppJL
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) August 22, 2022
The Cavaliers tweet emphasized there how Mobley was one of only four rookies in NBA history to average “at least 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks.”
As the team then pointed out, the others to hit those marks were Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan and Chris Webber. It’s been a roaring start for Mobley.
Mobley’s career is off to a stellar start, as the Cavs expressed.
Mobley’s athleticism, fluidity, defensive instincts, versatility, rim protection, finishing, spacial awareness and passing intuition all led to him having tons of success as a rookie.
His multi-faceted skill set played into him and Jarrett Allen being able to work in tandem as a duo for Cleveland, and over time, that pairing seemed to mesh better with more experience. Those two with Lauri Markkanen in Cleveland’s tall-ball lineup, when the three were healthy, brought a different look for the Cavs, and next season, I’d expect those three to have their share of work together once again, and hopefully with them healthier.
Now, with Mobley, he will need to exhibit more three-point shooting capabilities looking onward, as he connected on only 25.0 percent from three on 1.3 attempts per outing last season. The free throw shooting for him only being 66.3 percent needs to be an area of improvement from here as well.
That said, there were promising shot creation stretches last season for Mobley, and his shot is definitely workable on catch-and-shoot scenarios. His offseason work on mid-range/shot creation and perimeter shooting should lead to optimism about what’s to come, too.
All things considered, however, as the Cavs tweet essentially hit on, Mobley’s career is off to quite the start, and his rookie production essentially being in a similar mold to that of Gasol, Duncan and Webber indicates that he’s pretty damn special.
Duncan and Webber are Hall of Famers, and Gasol looks like on the door step of that honor, and all three were bigs that made plays in a variety of ways, and all were invaluable when it came to affecting winning, of which Mobley did immensely.
By all accounts, the 21-year-old Mobley is off to a stellar start to his career, and moving forward, he has the makings of what could be a perennial All-Star, and he truly has generational traits, particularly on the defensive end. His game will continue to improve as he fills out more/gets stronger, and the shot keeps coming along; offseason work has seemingly been predicated for him on those areas, too, which is great.
Moving forward, the USC product is only going to get better and better with more experience, and Mobley’s humble demeanor to me ensures he’s going to fully maximize his potential in years to come. And goodness, it’s truly something else to think that this kid is just getting started.