Evan Mobley’s playmaking development is coming along nicely for Cavs

For a considerable chunk of games here, Evan Mobley has been stepping up for the Cleveland Cavaliers on the offensive end. This isn’t to suggest that his defense has taken a step back or anything, either.

On that end of the floor, Mobley’s wide-ranging abilities as a switchable player, with incredible instincts, length and range continue to make him a difference-maker, even just a second-year big. His rim protection speaks for itself as well, as is the case for Jarrett Allen, too, as an aside.

As we hinted at earlier though, Mobley has turned a corner it seems on offense for the Cavaliers. He still has had some bumps in the road, which is understandable, and in the first half of the season, really, he had some inconsistencies finding his way there.

That said, especially since the turn of the calendar to 2023, the second-year big has picked it up offensively. In his last 10 games, he’s had 19.4 points per contest, to go with 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per outing, and since the start of 2023, he’s had 18.0 points per game. On the season, he’s posted 16.0 points per game after elevating his offensive game, thanks largely to him seemingly being more aggressive.

Mobley still has a ways to go as a three-point shooter, but him being more assertive recently has paid dividends inside the arc. He’s finished so well on the interior as a roller and diver off-ball, and on-ball, he’s been an active driver, has gotten to advantegous spots as a post-up player, and he’s found ways to finish over the top with clean looks and at times fadeaways.

In addition, Mobley’s playmaking strides have been encouraging. Darius Garland gave Mobley and Allen as well, to that point, credit for their contributions as passers and in making quality decisions following Cleveland’s decisive win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday evening.

Mobley’s playmaking development is coming along nicely for the Cavs, as Garland alluded to.

Mobley has steadily shown more and more growth as a passer over the course of his first two seasons, and that was after a nice display in that area in his first season, for what it’s worth.

Granted, it’s not as if the Cavaliers are running a ton of offense through him to begin possessions, per se, but his handoffs have been more impactful in this recent stretch in enabling others to penetrate or get to jumpers, and off that, he’s been an active roller. One should anticipate to see more of that from him moving forward as well, and Allen is a nice player for him to learn from with his timing in that aspect.

Piggybacking off of Garland’s comments above, though, Mobley and Allen, to that point, have been making quality decisions for the Cavs in plenty of games in recent weeks. As it pertains to Mobley, in this case, he’s often shown he has the requisite feel to make sound extra passes, such as to Allen on the interior after he evades double teams, or with skip passes to corners after slot drives.

To reiterate, there’s not necessarily going to be a boatload of offense initiated from Mobley, but as the season has worn on, he’s appeared to have grown much more comfortable making plays for others off of drives, and there’s been promising signs from him in transition.

Furthermore, that sort of development will pay off to help Cleveland have more versatility with their offense. And Mobley’s great vision for a 21-year-old big can aid others around him on the perimeter more as defenses start to expect him to put more pressure on the rim from his own creation, of which we’ve seen more of in the past month-plus.

In the past 17 games, he’s had 10 games of having three or so assists, in a stretch where he’s averaged 19.6 points per contest, and has had a plus-minus of plus-10.5.

The playmaking development is coming along really nicely for Mobley, and the Cavs will reap those benefits more and more in time to come.