Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley against the Los Angeles Lakers. ESPN Cleveland/Rob Lorenzo
The evolution of Evan Mobley
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and TheLandOnDemand.com
Evan Mobley doesn’t have the loudest voice in the room or the most explosive demeanor on the court. In a basketball landscape where so many guys are outspoken and boisterous, Mobley stands out with a stoic and reserved demeanor. The 21-year-old is still figuring out the NBA, both as a player and as a leader.
Mobley isn’t going to have the NBA totally figured out anytime soon. Very few guys at his level of experience have in the history of the game. What Mobley has started to do is figure out how good he can be. His game isn’t anywhere close to what many believe it will be, but it’s starting to show up in longer stretches at a time than it has before.
There are now moments in games when Mobley takes over. It doesn’t matter who he’s sharing the floor with – which often includes All-Star guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland – there are times when Mobley is the best player on it. Those moments aren’t as consistent or as frequent as they might be one day, but they are happening more often than they had in the past.
It's difficult to judge by numbers, even if there are statistics to prove it. It’s more telling when it’s seen in action rather than in the box score. Sometimes, Mobley’s growth looks more like him corralling a rebound, taking it the length of the court, euro stepping around a defender and finishing with a two-handed dunk.
Other times, that growth looks like Mobley setting a screen on the perimeter for Garland or Mitchell and popping out beyond the 3-point arc to let an open shot fly with no hesitation.
This growth is what can help take the Cavaliers to the next level as a team. Their ceiling for this year may be more dependent on Garland, Mitchell, and Jarrett Allen; but long term, Mobley’s ceiling is as high as he can push it.
The change in Mobley is notable not just from his rookie season, but even from the start of this season. There were times early on this season when he looked tentative on the floor and lacked confidence in his outside shot. Over the past few weeks, that has changed.
“He's being way more decisive,” Mitchell said. “This is the Evan that I know, not saying that I didn’t know him before. But just being decisive, like coming out getting to his spots, finishing, even on rebounds you look at early in the season he kind of looked at me or DG, kind of should I pass it, should I take it. He’s just taking it up the floor.
“Like he's working nonstop trying to find ways to get better. And even his voice, he's being loud. He's communicating more. So, there's a lot of things he's doing really well for us.”
Mitchell isn’t the only one that’s complimented what Mobley has done behind the scenes. That’s been a constant message from head coach J.B. Bickerstaff throughout the season. Bickerstaff has mentioned that there are things behind the scenes that Mobley shows in practice that haven’t quite made their way to game action yet. It looks like that’s changing.
“The sky is the limit for Evan, I think we’ve seen that multiple times,” Bickerstaff said following the game against Philadelphia in late-November. “There’s not a lot on the floor that he’s not capable of. The more and more you watch him, and I think we’ve seen it, he’s been so much more assertive.”
The two latest examples for Mobley are the exploits in transition as well as the expanded range in the halfcourt. It’s clear that he’s growing more comfortable in both aspects of his offensive game.
“I'm getting more and more comfortable every game and definitely been working on it all summer and coming into this year,” Mobley told TheLandOnDemand.com.
That comfort is showing more in his jump shot, too. It’s something that Mobley constantly works on. After nearly every practice or shootaround, Mobley can be found at Cleveland Clinic Courts working with assistant coach Luke Walton launching 3-pointers from various spots around the arc. That work, however, didn’t translate right away.
Why it didn’t translate right away is up for debate. Multiple sources have indicated to TheLandonDemand.com that Mobley’s preseason ankle injury was a major factor in his slow start this season.
After taking three 3-pointers on opening night in Toronto, Mobley attempted just 10 total 3-pointers in his next 18 games. It clearly wasn’t something that he was comfortable doing yet. Even the 3-pointers that he was getting up weren’t coming with conviction. They looked like shots that were put up because they had to be, rather than because it was what Mobley was comfortable with.
Now, both the eye test and those within the organization see Mobley’s level of comfort and aggression growing, even if his demeanor doesn’t change on the court.
There are detractors that think Mobley is too timid. They think because he doesn’t display a Kevin Garnett-like intensity featuring screams and scowls at opponents means he isn’t enough of a competitor or doesn’t want it enough. That’s a claim various members of the Cavs have refuted both publicly and privately.
As long as Mobley’s communication with his teammates is sufficient, he doesn’t need to act like a person he isn’t. His ability, growth, and demeanor are enough for the Cavs.
“I know what I can do, I know what I'm capable of. Everyone is telling me, and believing in me,” Mobley said. I just gotta go out there, stay consistent, keep working, and everything is going to fall into place eventually.
“I wanna show that. All that work, I don't want it to go to waste.”
