There is no questioning the hierarchy in Cleveland anymore. Donovan Mitchell will lead the show, James Harden will be the best 1A in basketball, and Evan Mobley can be the clear No. 3 option behind two elite scoring guards. When Darius Garland was in the fold, he and Mobley were both kind of vying for the second-fiddle role. It wasn't a "competition," and both guys produced plenty, but I believe that clearly defining roles helps a team more than we give it credit for.
Can Mobley dominate that role? If he can, then this might just be crazy enough to work. Mobley doesn't have to be the dominant offensive option that he has the talent to be. If he can break out and become that demon every once in a while, awesome.
But with Harden's gravity, Mobley will get plenty of easy looks around the hoop and from the midrange. If he can be a hyper-efficient rim finisher who occasionally gets a couple buckets of his own creation, who completely shuts teams down on the defensive end, that might give the Cavs the best chance of breaking through where they haven't been able to.
Evan Mobley should play the Chet Holmgren role for the Cavaliers
Please don't get mad at me for putting Mobley and Holmgren in the same sentence. I think Mobley is a better player, but look back at last year's NBA Playoffs, in which the Thunder rolled to a title. Holmgren's numbers aren't staggering — he averaged about 16 & 9 per game.
But it's not a stretch to say the Thunder would not have won that ring without Holmgren. He was as valuable as a 30-point per game scorer because he was basically erasing 30 points per game for the other team. He was an impenetrable forcefield around the rim, completely shutting teams out when they tried to attack.
Evan Mobley is the reigning DPOY. He should be able to do that same thing! If Evan Mobley can play the Chet Holmgren role, where the brunt of his responsibilities come on the defensive end, would that allow him to be the most effective version of himself?
I'm not asking for Kenny to turn Evan Mobley into Robert Williams or anything, for the record. He'll still need to score, and sometimes that will have to be by creating his own offense. But James Harden will improve this offense which is already ranked No. 6, and taking some offensive load away from Mobley could let him fully get back to his DPOY form, which could feasibly vault this defense back into "best in the league" conversations. Then we might be cooking.