Mobley’s development will determine Cavs season

The outside shot is just part of Mobley’s growth.

The Cleveland Cavaliers ceiling will be determined by Evan Mobley both now and into the future. He’s one of the best defenders in the league, but his offensive limitations make it difficult for Cleveland’s core to work as currently constructed. According to his teammates, Mobley has shown offensive improvement.

“Evan has taken a step forward,” Caris LeVert said.

“Evan,” Craig Porter Jr. said when asked which teammate has impressed him most. “[He’s] definitely improved his shooting and everything. . . . He’s confident. He’s not hesitant when he catches and he’s not thinking twice. He’s letting it go. So, that’s just gonna help him open up his driving game where he’s most effective.”

Becoming a better and more willing shooter is the easiest way to envision him taking that step forward. That will require changing how he sees his game.

“That’s just a mindset thing as well,” Mobley said. “Just shooting it when you’re open. Shooting it with confidence. I’ve been practicing [it] all summer. . . . Just shooting it with confidence that they’re gonna go in.”

It’s easy to get sucked into thinking that improving the three-point shot is the only way that Mobley can take a step forward. It’s difficult to go from taking just over one three per game during his career to taking and making enough to provide the spacing the two-big lineup needs. He’s not immediately going to become a stretch four overnight. Mobley’s growth will also be determined by taking incremental steps forward in other parts of his game.

“Everyone wants him to shoot a bunch of threes, and I mean, I got no problem with him shooting threes, but he just [has to] continue to grow as a player,” Sam Merrill said. “It doesn’t have to be in that way. I think putting the ball in his hands a lot more this year is going to be good for us.”

The coaching staff agrees with wanting the ball in his hands more. That starts with getting out on the break.

“I think the rebound and push,” Kenny Atkinson said when asked what he wants to see Mobley add to his game first.

This is a way to get him playmaking more and jumping what has historically been a slow offense. The Cavs are also hoping that pushing in transition can translate to the half-court as well in the form of him running inverted pick-and-rolls more consistently.

“We had him handling in the pick-and-roll and had somebody else set the ball screen,” Jarrett Allen said. “It just opened up the floor so much. I’m in the dunker’s [spot], he’s at the top of the key. . . . Now it feels like there’s a lot more room for us to work with.”

These comments are all encouraging as was the Boston Celtics series last season. That said, he still needs to prove he can do this all on a consistent basis. Some of the success against Boston was due to the matchup and having more spacing with Allen out of the lineup. While it showed what Mobley could do in ideal conditions, it’s not necessarily indicative that he’s completely turned a corner.

One thing that could translate over from that Boston series is the aggression he played with. These new skills or different ways of playing are only useful if he’s decisively using them.

Donovan Mitchell knows this and has made it a point to repeatedly challenge Mobley to continue that assertiveness over into the season. His willingness to attack is almost as important as how he’s doing so.

“I make it a point [to challenge Mobely],” Mitchell said. “I think he understands . . . how important he can be to our success. . . . Evan unlocks [us]. I think that’s something he’s starting to understand. Starting to mature and figure [it] out. And it’s not going to just happen right away. There’s going to be success. There’s going to be failures in that process, but that’s what this is for. Just continuing to build and continue to learn and that’s what internal development is.”