Evan Mobley: 2023 All Defensive 1st Team

That list is silly for Mobley because almost all of the top players are in their third through fifth years. There is a WORLD of difference between a third year player and a rookie who has played just half a year. The rookie year is a transitional year where players get used to the NBA, and they almost always improve vastly over their first few years in the league. If you want to compare Mobley you need to compare him to something like “best rookie years of the last decade”, not a third or fourth year all-NBA player

In that context, him being sixth on the list is actually incredibly high

sixth on the list is incredibly high. aside from lamelo, the top 5 guys have led their teams past the first round of the playoffs. to have this recognition early in his career just shows how much potential evan has.

cavsfever said:

Mobley needs to work on his 3 pointer. He’s 0-7 on 3s in his last 10 games, 1-11 in his last 15 games. He’s not making them and he’s not shooting them (averaging well under one attempt per game). It’s like he’s forgotten it’s an option. He is so long and such a graceful shooter it should be more of a weapon for him, and it would make scoring easier and open things up for him on the offensive end so he doesn’t have to work so hard

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This needs more attention. I said early in the season that Mobley is basically a non-shooter, and was pretty much slammed for it because there was some practice video of him standing on the perimeter and making slow 3s.

Yet nothing we've seen since suggests that he's about to develop a working outside shot. On the contrary, as cavsfever said: he almost seems to be regressing. Sure he might get there at some point, but right now it's just wishful thinking. His range only extends to the FT line, and sometimes he's way off even from there.

The fact remains that both Mobley and Allen are completely unable to make jump shots. It's not a surprise that teams are packing the paint against us more and more when they play together. There's no space, which has dried up the Garland / Allen lobs as well.

Come to think of it, we must be the only team in the league that plays two centers together, neither of whom can shoot. And we still win. It's pretty amazing.

Regressing is not a surprise. You miss a few shots. Fatigue sets in earlier. You start withdrawing your game to more comfortable range. Like most modern 1andD rookiee. Development takes time. Mobley has hit the wall.

Heat Check said:

Yet nothing we've seen since suggests that he's about to develop a working outside shot. On the contrary, as cavsfever said: he almost seems to be regressing. Sure he might get there at some point, but right now it's just wishful thinking. His range only extends to the FT line, and sometimes he's way off even from there.

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That's overly dramatic. Mobley is shooting 58% on turnaround fadeaways and 41% on corner 3s. Those are numbers of a developed jump shot.

He is also missing free throws and isn't rotating as fast as he did on defense during the first ten games. Does that mean he can't shoot free throws or play defense now? No, it means he went too hard and the NBA workload fatigue is now catching up to him. Shooting works the same way.

with how intense the schedule has been for the last few weeks I would also imagine that Mobley and the coaching staff hasn't had a ton of opportunities to practice and work on implementing new facets into the game plan. With the schedule softening up and with longer pauses between games there's going to be more time to work on that stuff and I'd expect him and the team to start emphasizing those looks going forward.

Think this was mentioned in one of the game threads, but Mobley is getting really good at setting up Lauri threes. He's passing it right where Lauri wants it (seemingly).

Feels like we're good for at least one made Lauri three off a Mobley pass every game.

Futuredome said:

Regressing is not a surprise. You miss a few shots. Fatigue sets in earlier. You start withdrawing your game to more comfortable range. Like most modern 1andD rookiee. Development takes time. Mobley has hit the wall.

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Pretty sure you were hacked...

So sup hacker... welcome to the forum.

Futuredome said:

Regressing is not a surprise. You miss a few shots. Fatigue sets in earlier. You start withdrawing your game to more comfortable range. Like most modern 1andD rookiee. Development takes time. Mobley has hit the wall.

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I’ll happily take his “regression” for his rookie season.
Another way of looking at it is he’s not selfishly taking shot after shot and is looking for the open man. There’s a reason so many Cavs score in double digits.
His offensive game has barely scratched the surface, and that’s the beautiful part of his development to come.

The obvious comparison here is the one most pundits are making: a young Hideo Nomo.

As many will recall, 17 year old Hideki was lighting up the Japan Pacific League with upstart Kintetsu throwing a wide range of pitches. We all recall the nickname he shares with Mobley due to their unorthodox deliveries:
竜巻 Tatsumaki or The Tornado in English.

Nomo came into the MLB at 19 and won the pitching triple crown, was voted an Allstar and even won the MVP award. All unprecedented for a rookie pitcher. Similarly, Mobley will likely be rewarded for his efforts with an Allstar berth and a handful of MVP votes this year. Similarly, unprecedented for a rookie big.

The parallels between the two are so striking that Nike is looking at releasing a line called the NoMobley brand which features a two headed gaiju with Mobley and Hideo’s heads on it.

Evan’s retired NBA superstar father Cuttino Mobley stated that he felt the combination was natural and looked forward to seeing it.

The Oi said:

Evan’s retired NBA superstar father Cuttino Mobley

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There's a certain broadcaster in Washington taking notes on this nugget as we type.

Heat Check said:

There's literally nothing stopping him from quickly kicking it out to the perimeter when the D collapses on him like it did in the Spurs game. The math still applies – an open 3pt shot is better than a forced post-up. Every single time.

Also, our perimeter guys are willing passers. If Mobley kicks it out and quickly re-seals his defender, it's likely he'll get the ball back right away. But he's got to have more trust.

For a guy who's obviously a very talented passer, Mobley has developed some black hole tendencies with his post-ups. Not sure why – he was much more inclined to play inside-out early in the season.

You have to be a GREAT post-up player to justify that being a large part of your team's offense. Mobley is far from great in the low block at this point. Really, he's not even good. He has one move, a difficult turnaround fadeaway that defenses see coming every time.

Just pass the ball, youngin

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That comes with learning the game! I’m hoping the Cavs have Love working with him on that. If not in the off season they need to bring in somebody like Daugherty, Duncan, Bosh etc to work with him on his low post game.

cavsfever said:

Mobley needs to work on his 3 pointer. He’s 0-7 on 3s in his last 10 games, 1-11 in his last 15 games. He’s not making them and he’s not shooting them (averaging well under one attempt per game). It’s like he’s forgotten it’s an option. He is so long and such a graceful shooter it should be more of a weapon for him, and it would make scoring easier and open things up for him on the offensive end so he doesn’t have to work so hard

Might be something that needs to wait for the off season, as he’s got his hands full with his current burden it seems like.

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I could care less about our 7 footer “working on his 3 pointer”! Right now the game the Cavs need him to continue to work on his mid range and low post game!

Mowie666 said:

Would love to watch the 'behind-the-lines' 30 for 30 where Koby is in the office late July 2021 with the whiteboard explaining to his inner circle why Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen will work perfectly together. Xs and Os on the whiteboard, he brings in take-out and the whole thing takes hours. Then when everyone has finally convinced him it is time to call it for the night he says "tomorrow's topic: Lauri Markkanen!" and just cackles as the lights go out.

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Actual image of Koby diagramming everything-

Ohioplayer00 said:

I could care less about our 7 footer “working on his 3 pointer”! Right now the game the Cavs need him to continue to work on his mid range and low post game!

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LOL you can always trust Ohioplayer for the old school, circa 1975 perspective. Never change!