Cavs’ Evan Mobley is progressing nicely with regular season on horizon

Through two preseason games for the Cleveland Cavaliers, we have not seen Evan Mobley in action for the Wine and Gold.

Mobley sprained his ankle earlier this month by reportedly stepping on Robin Lopez’s foot in a workout, and as of last Monday, he was expected to be sidelined for about 1-2 weeks. Based on that timeline, there’s been uncertainty as to whether or not we’d see him at all in preseason.

To nobody’s Mobley has not been involved in Cleveland’s first two preseason games thus far, both of which were versus the Philadelphia 76ers, with the first on the road and the second at home. In those contests, the Cavaliers had a nice performance in Philly last Wednesday in a close loss, but a dud in Cleveland on Monday where an awful start didn’t aid their chances.

Fortunately, though, it’s a positive that Mobley has been reportedly progressing well in his rehab, and per head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid, Mobley’s been checking off steps in his recovery steadily. Bickerstaff added, via Dammarell, that Mobley is “not ruled out” for some potential preseason play.

This was encouraging news on the Evan Mobley front, with the Cavs regular season set to begin next week. Some preseason run for him would be meaningful, sure, but health is the key here.

It’s of course good to know that Mobley is coming along in his recovery. He is truly invaluable to this Cavs team, and defensively, even for such a young player, he means so much to the Wine and Gold. He and Jarrett Allen are quite the defensive pairing for the Cavaliers, and in tandem, those two are so effective on that end of the floor.

Mobley’s switchability, length, rim protection and IQ all aided the Cavs significantly last season, and his 1.7 blocks per outing demonstrated how active he was as a helper. He was among the league leaders throughout the campaign in contested shots per contest, too, and finished third in that category last season with 12.3 per game, per NBA.com’s hustle data.

Mobley had 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in his first year as well, and this coming season, it’s understandable that many believe that he’ll take a considerable leap forward offensively. Mobley has to progress in the catch-and-shoot game, as that was not much of his offensive repertoire in Year 1, as he connected on only 25.0 percent from three, on 1.3 attempts per outing.

That said, he has worked extensively there, there were flashes earlier on last year, and other playmaking around him this season can aid progression in that area. If he does pull more from deep, that could really pay dividends for his overall game, too, and we should see him apply that point of emphasis this year. Mobley’s stroke has seemingly gotten better, also, and he has worked a ton it appears on his shot creation this offseason.

Additionally, it’s a plus that in the past two days, he’s reportedly been able to put in meaningful shooting work, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweeted out. The first was from Tuesday, and the second clip is from earlier on Wednesday; Fedor is on it there, too, Mobley’s stroke is coming along quite well.

Evan Mobley displayed plenty of promising signs in that regard in his rookie year, and his mid-range touch, handle for a true big, and his cutting and passing instincts all lead me to believe that his Year 2 is going to be outstanding. I don’t think this minor ankle issue is going to prevent him from starting off the 2022-23 season well, either, for what it’s worth.

Granted, again, while some action in one of the two remaining games could be meaningful for Mobley to get some live reps prior to the season in preseason action, it’s crucial that he’s ready to roll next week as the regular season tips off at the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 19. Perhaps we’ll see Evan in there prior to that, though.