What does the next leap look like for Mobley?
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley set two goals for himself at media day last year: Make an All-Star team and win Defensive Player of the Year. He checked both of those boxes off en route to his best season as a professional.
So, what does he want to accomplish individually this year?
“My individual goal is to definitely be an All-Star again, hopefully keep the Defensive Player of the Year as well,” Mobley said. “And then from there… I’m going to keep that a secret for now.”
We don’t know what exactly that unspoken goal for this upcoming season is, but I’d guess getting into the MVP conversation would be it. And honestly, that isn’t too unrealistic a target. Mobley is that good.
It’s easy to see Mobley’s quiet demeanor and think that he lacks confidence. In truth, he’s mostly just honest. Mobley doesn’t over exaggerate his own talent or overhype his abilities. When he says things, he means them. That’s why we should take him at his word when he said last All-Star break that he could be the best player in the league in five years.
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. Mobley does have areas of his game he needs to improve if he’s going to take the next leap. Ballhandling is chief among them. He’s more than serviceable for his size, but hasn’t proven to have a tight enough handle to be the self-creating scorer he will need to be if he’s going to become a superstar.
Fortunately for Mobley, he seems to know this. That’s what his focus has been throughout the offseason.
“It’s grown a lot,” Mobley said about his ballhandling. “Did a lot of those drills in the off-season. This year, you’re definitely going to see me with the ball in my hands a lot more. And I think with the offense and how it’s going to change a little bit, you’re going to see me doing that.”
We saw Mobley get iced out of games last season, particularly in the second half of Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers. The guards need to do a better job of finding Mobley, but at the same time, he needs to be more assertive in making sure that doesn’t happen. This led him to correctly say that he can’t go “nonexistent” at times during his exit interviews last spring.
That part is just as important as becoming more skilled.
“That’s definitely going to be on me,” Mobley said when asked about becoming more assertive. “I gotta take that upon myself and not let that happen and always just stay engaged and stay aggressive.”
Mobley proved that he could be among the elite players in the league because of his skill on both ends of the court. This was rewarded by being named to the All-NBA Second Team last season. That is a major accomplishment and not guaranteed for someone even as skilled as Mobley.
That level of individual success this early in a career can lead players down different paths. Some become content maintaining their status as a premier player. Others become hungrier for more success after getting their first real taste of it.
Time will tell which one Mobley takes.
Media day quotes aren’t indicative of how a season will go. At the same time, we know that Mobley is one of the few players who can reach his lofty goals if he puts his mind to it. And by all accounts, it seems like he’s doing everything in his power to make sure he reaches them.
“You can just feel it,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said about Mobley’s approach last week. “You just sense that he’s ready to make another jump. The seriousness in which he approached his offseason from a body perspective. And then from a basketball perspective, he’s different. I don’t know how to exactly define that, but I feel like there’s confidence growing here that maybe we haven’t seen before.”
Category: General Sports
