The Evan Mobley buzz isn’t going away
Mobley continues to impress at camp.
Kenny Atkinson has mentioned a few times that he wants at least a ten-man rotation. He doesn’t know who those players are yet. Let’s get into what happened on day two of the Cleveland Cavaliers training camp.
The rotation is a work in progress
Depth wasn’t the issue for the Cavs last season. It was the fit between their four best players. This, and presumably the injuries that have caught up to the Cavs at the end of the last few seasons, has caused Atkinson to want to go to a larger rotation this year.
“Part of our identity is our depth,” Atkinson said after practice Tuesday. The issue is getting that down to 10 or 11 which is the max that he believes you can play although he doesn’t know which guys it will be.
Atkinson was an assistant coach for the French national team in the Olympics. They played at least 12 players throughout the tournament and even the gold medal game. It seems as if Atkinson wishes he could take that kind of approach with him into this team.
“They try to optimize minutes in FIBA,” Atkinson said. “You play four minutes, but you’re just playing super, super hard. The NBA has a little different culture than that.”
Atkinson confirmed that 10 would be ideal for this group. Especially early on.
“Playing more guys is more of an opportunity for development,” Atkinson said. “It’s better for development, better for chemistry, and I just think for performance in the long run.”
The second day of camp included more scrimmages
The Cavs brought in refs for practice Wednesday in an attempt to make a game-like atmosphere. The scrimmages ended with Isaac Okoro hitting a three to give his team the win.
“Yesterday was a little light first day,” Atkinson said. “We eased into it. Today was a super hard day. We competed a lot. The guys enjoyed that. So it was good.”
Longtime White Sox fan didn’t like being asked about the White Sox
Max Strus walked out of the interview scrum when asked about the White Sox’s historic losing season. Apparently, Strus didn’t get much enjoyment out of the 41 games they somehow managed to win.
The Evan Mobley buzz isn’t going away
Mobley was impressive again in camp on Wednesday. He’s reportedly more assertive and decisive in how he’s playing with the ball which is what the Cavs need if they’re going to make this core work.
“Evan can make plays with the ball in his hands,” Strus said. “He’s a really willing and able passer. That’s an added dimension.”
One of the ways it seems the Cavs are doing that is by having Mobley handle on the perimeter a lot more. Yesterday, Jarrett Allen talked about being in the dunker spot with Mobley on the perimeter. Today, Mobley brought that up.
“[The offense] changes a lot with me attacking with the ball in my hands,” Mobley said. “Jarrett can be down in the dunker spot. It creates space for our offense to really run and do what we want to.”
This includes situations where Mobley has a teammate screen for him. He says it’s going to be “fun” to get that going. How much of that carries over to the regular season remains to be seen.
Mobley hasn’t consistently shown in games that he’s comfortable operating with the ball in his hands on the perimeter. Last season, he would often dive to the basket off-ball from the corner effectively taking away a possible three-point look. It seems he’s now operating more above the break.
“[I’m] gradually getting used to NBA spacing,” Mobley said. “The three-point line is further, and stuff like that. So, I’ve been working on my three-point shot so anywhere on the floor, inside, outside, I’m pretty comfortable.”
Mobley has been hesitant to go away from what he’s used to doing in the past. He’s had success as a mostly rim-attacking center since his rookie season. But he will need to round out his game if he and the team are going to make the jump from good to great. As of right now, it seems like Mobley and the staff are on the same page.