Evan Mobley attempts a jumpshot vs. the Charlotte Hornets during the 2022-23 season/Rob Lorenzo ESPN Cleveland
The Cavs ceiling will go as high as Evan Mobley can push it
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.When the Cavaliers selected Evan Mobley with the third pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, there was a feeling that the team could be the biggest winners of the night, despite missing out on the top overall selection in the NBA Draft Lottery that took place a month earlier.
Even though that draft was only 14 months ago, Mobley is already regarded as the player who will not only one day be the face of the franchise, but also the one who can take the organization to a higher level than what anyone else may be capable of. That’s saying quite a bit, not only because Mobley just turned 21 years old in June, but also because the Cavaliers have three other players that are 26-or-under that have made at least one All-Star team.
Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and the newly acquired Donovan Mitchell all have already made their marks on the NBA, while none of them have theoretically reached the prime of their careers, but it’s Mobley that’s just scratching the surface of what he can be.
“Without trying to put too much on him, he is the guy who can help take us to the next level. We understand the value of the guys that have done it. Darius has been an All-Star, Jarrett was an All-Star, Donovan has been an All-Star, Vert, Kevin, like we understand and have an appreciate for those guys,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said on Thursday. “His skillset and his tools can help take us to the level where we want to go. The expectation that it happens over night? Probably not. But I expect from a year-to-year and month-to-month, you’re gonna see improvements from him because that’s who he is.”
That’s quite a bit of pressure for a 21-year-old in just his second year in the NBA. It’s the type of pressure that most younger players would struggle with and could cause a disaster. Mobley is not like most players.
“It’s extremely rare,” Bickerstaff said of how Mobley handles himself at his age. “So many guys who come into this league at that age have so many different agendas. Right? It’s the nature of it. It’s the brand, it’s the social media, it’s all this other stuff. It’s fighting and working for a contract. There’s so many outside factors that guys are thinking about. He is singular in his mindset that whatever happens is gonna happen, but we have to win this game and I have to do whatever I can to help my team.”
How Mobley continues to develop will be the biggest thing to watch for the Cavs over the next several years. It’s unwise to think he will reach the peak of his powers until a few years down the road, but with how good he was as just a rookie, and what’s expected of him this year, dreaming about just how good Mobley can be is a fun exercise for the Cavs. This is a player who finished fifth amongst forwards in All-Defense voting as a rookie and looked the part from the moment he stepped on the floor.
What may be scary for other teams, is that Mobley is only going to get better on that end of the floor as he grows more comfortable in his role and the defensive system the Cavaliers operate. What’s even scarier is that what steps Mobley takes to improve offensively may be the real thing that pushes this Cavs team to its full potential. To date in training camp, Mobley has taken on a bit more of a creator role than in the past. If he’s going to be able to handle that role while both Mitchell and Garland are on the floor with him, it makes the Cavaliers much harder to defend.
“You think about what you're able to do with the ball in his hands and now those guys are coming off of different screens and different actions. They're hard to guard with the ball in their hand, they're harder to guard when they're off the move and you have to chase them,” Bickerstaff said of the type of weapon Mobley can be. “So, I think it opens it up for that. It also allows you to work both sides of the floor. He can be the big guy in the middle of the floor with the ball. They've gotta guard him and then you've got dynamic players all around him on both sides of the floor, which is going to space the floor out for you to get your actions.”
Seeing how the Cavs operate with a facilitating version of Mobley will be one of the things many observers will have their eyes on early in the season. If that can be paired with a potentially improved shot from beyond the arc, the Cavaliers could take an even bigger step than anticipated offensively.
It’s fair to say that through the first week of training camp, almost everyone is expecting to see an even better version of Mobley in year two.
“It’s been part fun playing against him in scrimmages and part just terror because he gets a full head of steam headed down the floor and he either pull up for that midrange jump shot or he attacks the rim like a bulldog,” veteran big man Robin Lopez said on Friday. “It’s so difficult to guard.”
