Projecting how much Cavs’ 3 two-way signings might play this season
By Dan Gilinsky
For the Cleveland Cavaliers, they won’t receive much attention really going into next season, but Cleveland’s three two-way signings in Isaiah Mobley, Emoni Bates and Craig Porter Jr. all could be developmental success stories in the near future.
All three of those players made their share of contributions in Cleveland’s Las Vegas Summer League title run, and in time, they could prove to be steals for the Cavaliers.
Now, it will take time, particularly for Bates and Porter, to likely have their chances with the Cavaliers, in that sense. In the 2023-24 campaign, it’s not realistic to project these two-way guys to be slated for a bunch of minutes with the Cavs; Cleveland is on the verge of contender status in the Eastern Conference, and there’s a ton of players involved.
Even with those caveats, though, it’s intriguing to look into how these players could possibly factor into the Cavs’ rotation, theoretically, with next season around the corner, beginning next month.
On that subject, here, we’ll dive into how much each Cavs’ two-way guy could potentially play with them this coming season.
To that point, we’ll begin with Mobley.
Isaiah Mobley’s outlook
Isaiah Mobley is set to enter next season on a two-way contract once again, similarly to last season, when he was going into his rookie year.
Mobley didn’t play much last season with the Cavaliers, as he appeared in 12 games with them, in which he had 2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in 7.0 minutes per contest. The opportunities just come for him with the Cavaliers in his first year.
Mobley was one of the Charge’s standout players last season, though, as he had 21.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 blocks per game in 22 outings. For his efforts, he was named All-NBA G League Third Team.
Additionally, Mobley was great for the Cavaliers in Vegas, and was the MVP of the Vegas Summer League Championship Game over the Houston Rockets. In Cleveland’s exhibitions, Mobley had 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per contest, and was a driving force in the Cavs’ undefeated run in Vegas.
Mobley is probably on the outside looking in as it pertains to Cleveland’s big man rotation going into next season, objectively, but based on his Charge output last season, this past Summer League and his basketball intellect, he could help the Cavs.
Mobley’s two-way play, feel, passing skill set and catch-and-shoot flashes could aid his case for minutes off the bench at the 4 and 5, and his 7-foot-3 wingspan could make a difference for the Cavaliers defensively in spurts.
All things considered, it’ll likely take time into next season for possible minutes for him in meaningful action with the Cavaliers, however, Mobley could be a sensible candidate for his deal to be converted to a standard one at some point. If that occurs, he could have more looks with his brother Evan Mobley and others, and maybe as the season moves along, Isaiah could be in the rotation fairly regularly.
In fairness, for now, this projection below seems pretty reasonable.