Threes a charm…Why Year 3 will be a breakout season for Cavs’ Evan Mobley

No. 2 reason: Improved shooting skills from the perimeter

Over his first two seasons, Mobley improved in most statistical categories including his percentage of made baskets. He went from 50 percent on made field goals made to 55 percent. His three-point shooting took a bit of a dip but his two-point shooting increased from 54 percent to 60 percent on makes.

He took an extra 117 shots over his rookie campaign and still increased his shooting mark. That’s a good indication of his growth as a shooter. He took an extra 10 three-pointers too but that number dipped some. I imagine with the team adding a few more excellent shooters through the free agency market including Maz Strus, that will give Mobley more time to make shots from the outside and beyond the arc with more consistency.

He has hesitated in these first two seasons in taking that outside shot, but if he can gain some confidence with it, and knock down a few three-pointers early in the season that will only make his threat on the inside even more deadly because the defense will have to respect his shot if there’s some track record there.

Mobley is really just finding his groove in the league and with time will establish that outside jumper. I think that we will see a big increase in the number of three-point attempts taken by Mobley this season.

Interestingly from looking at the numbers from last season, outside of the shot right at the rim, which Mobley shot at 82 percent, his next-best percentage last season was from shots outside 16 feet at 47 percent. It dropped to 22 percent beyond the three-point line. If he’s been practicing this offseason, then that percentage number beyond the arc will show a big increase this next season.