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Cavs’ Evan Mobley ranks sixth on wildly inconsistent PF list

By Josh Cornelissen

Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers and Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors. Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers and Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors. Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images /
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Wendell Carter Jr., Orlando Magic. Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images /

Cavs’ Evan Mobley ranks 6th on PF list: Confusing candidates

First of all, let’s establish that Hoops Hype has a lot of excellent writers and basketball minds who work for the site, and given the amorphous nature of NBA positions, it’s much more difficult to define a basketball player’s specific position than it is in baseball or football.

That being said, the players that Hoops Hype chose to include in their group of power forwards makes very little sense. Whatever criteria they initially started with they didn’t stick to, and it resulted in a collection of players from three different positions.

Were they defining players by where they started last season? That would explain a center like Wendell Carter Jr. showing up on this list, as you could make the case that he started at power forward and Mo Bamba started at the 5 last season for the Orlando Magic. But if that’s the case, why is Lauri Markkanen on this list and not on the small forward list? Where is Al Horford, who started alongside Robert Williams III for the East-champion Boston Celtics? And why is Karl-Anthony Towns not on the center list?

Perhaps it’s where players are expected to play this season? That would explain Towns, who will move to the 4 with the addition of Rudy Gobert. But that doesn’t work for Harrison Barnes, who will start at the 3 for the Sacramento Kings, nor for Markkanen or Tobias Harris, who will do the same. Similarly, Kristaps Porzingis is a full-time center in Washington. And in Dallas that explains why Christian Wood is here but not Dorian Finney-Smith; one of them has to count at a different position by that criteria.

It must be a player’s best position then. Except…it isn’t, as accounted for by Porzingis, Carter Jr. and Christian Wood not being here; all are best deployed at center. The absences of Michael Porter Jr., Brandon Ingram and Kevin Durant also cripple this idea. Also, where is LeBron James? He is absolutely a power forward at this point in his career.

What is the criteria? Clearly, no one knows, and the inconsistency is baffling. Let’s step past that, however, and assume the ranking is of these players, whatever their position. Did Hoops Hype get it right?