Evan Mobley should be a player that’s just getting started with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and likely is. In his first season, he narrowly missed out on Rookie of the Year honors, and in his second year, he was one of the key cogs for Cleveland having the No. 1 defense in the NBA in the regular season.
As Mobley’s second year progressed, he had an uptick in offensive production as well, and in the last 40 games of the regular season, had 18.1 points per contest on 55.8 percent shooting. He tacked on 9.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 blocks per game in that span as well.
Now, Mobley and the Cavaliers didn’t have the postseason success they were hoping for, as Cleveland was bounced by the New York Knicks in only five games in a No. 4-No. 5 matchup where Cleveland was the higher seed. In the series, Mobley did do a solid job on defense, as he so often does, which shouldn’t be glossed over. Although offensively, he was limited to some extent.
He had two single-digit performances, and at times, he seemed deterred from getting to his go-to looks by New York’s physicality, and him appearing to be out of rhythm.
Granted, Mobley made strides to get stronger, even reportedly over the second half of the regular season, but he’ll have to continue to make progress there over the offseason/years to come. For the playoffs, that’d be significant.
That being said, it is still apparent he needs to shore up one area looking onward, regarding free throw shooting and capitalizing there, and ideally, it’d be big for him to make shooting strides in other areas.
Shoring up free throws is a reasonable expectation, but other shooting strides are also key for Mobley.
Mobley’s finishing was top-notch in his second season for the Cavaliers leading into the playoffs, of course. His footwork, timing as a roller/cutter and his hook and push shot touch all factored into his polish near the basket, and as Mobley gets stronger, he should continue to get better inside of 10 feet.
Having said that, his free throw shooting has to take a step forward in his third season, for him to fully capitalize as an interior scorer and to take advantage of cross-matching situations, either in set or transition offense.
Mobley has shot 66.3 and 67.4 percent from the foul line in his first two seasons, on a near-identical 3.7 and then 3.8 attempts per contest in the regular season. It’s fair to express how he needs to get those attempts up as well, for one, and if he can improve his handle, that’d hopefully aid him in that area, too.
But, to drive the point home, while everybody wants to see Mobley establish himself next season and from there as a viable shooter from beyond the arc, he at least needs to be more competent as a free throw shooter.
While it’s not suggesting he’s going to be Kevin Love as a deep shooting presence, if Mobley can increase his free throw shooting percentage by eight to 10 percentage points, that would definitely be a positive indicator of shooting strides. It would could definitely make a difference in the playoffs, too, involving him being able to knock down those looks more consistently.
In his last 29 appearances of the regular season, he shot 64.2 percent from the stripe. He deserves his flowers for his close to the regular season; it was just one blemish from that time which did jump out from then is all. Further, in the postseason, he was five-of-eight (62.5 percent), and obviously, just eight foul shot attempts was hardly enough, from an aggression perspective.
If Mobley has another productive offseason to work extensively to progress offensively, though, to pair with his already elite defense, IQ and impressive playmaking abilities, the results next season should follow in rounding out his scoring skill set.
This isn’t to say he’s not been a significant reason for the Cavaliers turnaround in the past two seasons. The dude’s defense is otherwordly for a still-21-year-old, and he’s such an intelligent player.
However, next season, he needs to shore up his free throw shooting, and the progress in other areas, such as continually in the mid-range, mixed in with some catch-and-shoot threes, has to be there.