Cavs need Evan Mobley to keep it going offensively on upcoming road trip

After some rough moments in the first few games of the 2022-23 season, Cleveland Cavaliers big Evan Mobley is starting to find his rhythm again.

Mobley has done plenty fine, anyway, as he’s had 15.7 points per outing through seven games thus far, and has converted on 58.9 percent of his shot attempts. In the last four games, he’s had 17.5 points per outing on 60.4 percent shooting, also, and we saw his connection with Darius Garland back on Wednesday night in Cleveland’s entertaining overtime win over the Boston Celtics.

Now, after returning from his five-game absence from an eye injury, Garland is questionable for Friday’s game at the Detroit Pistons because of a knee sprain. Furthermore, Donovan Mitchell is questionable for that contest, due to an ankle sprain, so the Cavaliers are going to need to have a collective effort offensively, even more so, in upcoming games.

But, whether or not those two miss any of these games ahead, I’d look for Mobley to get his share of looks, and for him to keep being assertive, as we’ve seen for stretches of late. He struggled with foul trouble in the first half of that last Boston game, which didn’t lead to much production, as he played just eight minutes in that half, but he was particularly active off-ball in the second half, and that proved fruitful.

As he’s had in other stretches in prior games, Mobley had 13 of his 15 points in the game in the second half then, on six-of-seven shooting. He had some issues it appeared getting looks on-ball, though there some plays where he took advantage, however, as we’ve seen a bunch from him, he was making impactful cuts, and I’d imagine we’ll continue to see that.

Generally, this upcoming five-game road trip, starting with Detroit, and featuring the four California teams, is one where the Cavaliers have to be stressing for him to stay aggressive, in any case.

It’s imperative that Mobley keeps it going offensively on this upcoming Cavs roadie, and keeps building more confidence looking onward.

As we touched on, Mobley’s been able to find ways to get looks to go, albeit with a bit less shots per contest. He’s currently taking 10.4 shots per outing, whereas that number was 12.0 in his rookie year.

With Mitchell in the fold, it was reasonable to expect Mobley to likely take some time to find his spots, objectively, and in these last four games, he’s averaged 12.0 shots. And as we’ve demonstrated, he’s been efficient in that slate of contests, thanks some to him having second half binges on that end.

The finishing from Mobley has been impressive on a number of occasions, and of late, he’s been able to get dunks from being in opportune spots, and on this road trip ahead, I’d look for more of that. There’s still some instances where Mobley’s still thinner frame (though he gained muscle this offseason) makes it tougher get to advantageous spots for him, but, he can still shoot over the opposition and his passing instincts still help him make plays.

All in all, even with some clunky moments, Mobley has converted on 86.7 percent of his shots (26-of-30) inside of five feet so far, per NBA.com’s shooting data. From five-to-nine feet, he’s hit 45.5 percent (10-of-22), which could be better, but is improved from last season early on.

From there, Mobley has flashed his in-between abilities at times when opponents are anticipating him trying to drive against opposing bigs, and while the volume isn’t high, he’s been able to knock some of a handful of those down. That’s been a clip of 50.0 percent (four-of-eight) from 10-14 feet out, per NBA.com’s shooting data.

Unfortunately, however, Mobley hasn’t been hitting threes, as he’s started the season just two-of-nine from there (22.2 percent) and despite that being a clear point of emphasis in the offseason for him, it hasn’t materialized yet. I do think Garland getting back into the swing of things can aid Mobley in that regard, though, and more experience with Mitchell can help in time. We’ll have to see if Evan can hit some on this upcoming road trip.

Anyways, while there has been some rough moments for Mobley on offense so far early on, and defensively, he’s had some issues with fouling uncharacteristically, the team is still better when he’s been out there, and offensively, he’s finding his groove.

I look for that to be a key for the team on this five road trip, beginning in Detroit on Friday night, and even more so with Garland and Mitchell a bit banged up. After the Pistons, the Cavs will take on the Lakers on Sunday, the LA Clippers on Monday in the second leg of a back-to-back, and then will wrap up at the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday and then the Golden State Warriors on Friday.