If there is any argument for Mobley for ROY is because he's got defensive prowess already that would and have won more games than this team would have ever seen.
The way this team gets away from shooters is such a frustration.
A game like this, a team like this: you just gotta charge it to the game with players like Harden and Embiid. The Cavs don't have anyone on roster that can completely shut either of those guys down, or neutralize what they do. But that doesn't quite address the limitations they display on team defense.
If you want spacing, defense is the cost. If you want defense... spacing is the cost. Doesn't seem to be uncommon in the NBA... unless you're a cheat code team.
This team simply does not value 3pt field goals enough. On either side of the ball.
From day one, the common denominator of our offensive and defensive "identities" has been the proximity of the rim. It's easy to see why – Mobley and Allen were swatting shots right out the gate, and on offense, the Garland/Allen PnR dunks were our bread and butter. On a superficial level, everything revolved around getting to the rim or preventing people from scoring there. For a while, it seemed to be enough.
Unfortunately, as much as the Cavs probably liked to think they had succcesfully turned back the clock, you can't beat the math. Three points is more than two. In the 2nd half of the season, we've kept bringing a knife to a gunfight. When teams move the ball and score on open 3pt looks... we respond with post-ups or pick and rolls. That does not work in the long run.
Before you say "But we don't have the shooters!", that is not true. What IS true is that we have too many
non-shooters, but we do have enough guys who can make shots to run an intelligent offense aimed at creating easier scoring opportunities from the perimeter. Everyone in the NBA has slumps, and everyone misses open shots now and then, but the difference is that we make no consistent effort to create those shots.
On defense, we keep helping off shooters (on many teams, this pretty much means anyone standing on the perimeter), which is just
insane in this age of the NBA. I understand fans hate to see guys getting layups – particularly as we used to have an identity as a team that swats your shit – but they should be absolutely enraged to see us giving up 3's. When teams quickly move the ball, we defend like we're expecting them to drive to the basket at any moment. In reality, they're usually searching for the open outside shooter.
Fixing this is not easy. With the way the offense has been turned over to Garland, running actions for 3pt looks or moving the ball around does not come naturally. Darius is a ball dominant guy who wants to be the one who makes the most important decision of the possession, be it a shot or an assist. There's just not enough trust there. If JBB does not install any kind of a system or even a principle, it's not going to get fixed on its own.
On defense, when you guard teams that move the ball along the perimeter to find shooters, you need to keep in mind what you're trying to prevent, and you also can't have any real weak links. Everyone must be able and willing to close out. A huge problem is that while Love is the best shooter of the team, he's by far the worst perimeter defender. That's just an unfortunate combination for a team like this. It's not always Kevin's guy who takes/makes the shot, but Love is often the one who starts the domino effect when he can't move.