{"id":238819,"date":"2025-10-20T15:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238819\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:02:08","slug":"cavaliers-ready-to-ride-evan-mobley-on-deep-playoff-run-news-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/238819\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers ready to ride Evan Mobley on deep playoff run \u2013 News-Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, the NBA draft lottery unfolded favorably for the Cavaliers in June 2021. After that, the waiting began.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers finished 13th of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference with a record of 22-50 in 2020-21. The NBA shortened the season from the normal 82 games to 72 because of the fallout from COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Orlando (21-51) and Detroit (20-52) finished behind Cleveland in the East. Only the Houston Rockets (17-52) had an inferior record in the West. The Oklahoma Thunder matched the Cavs record of 22-50.<\/p>\n

The three worst teams from 2020-21 \u2014 the Magic, Pistons and Rockets \u2014 each had a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery. The Thunder and Magic each had an 11.5 percent chance of being awarded the first pick. According to the odds calculated by Tankathon, the highest odds for the Cavaliers (25.5) had them seventh on the lottery ladder, followed by sixth (18.2).<\/p>\n

The Pistons won the lottery. The Rockets were second. The odds the ping pong balls would pop showing the Cavaliers with the third pick were only 10.6 percent, but that is exactly what happened. And that is when the waiting began. The first part of the waiting.<\/p>\n

The 2021 draft was held on July 29 \u2014 five weeks after the lottery. Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman expected the Pistons to draft Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State first and the Rockets to take Jalen Green from G-League Ignite with the second pick. But he had to wait until that happened before he could pick 7-foot Evan Mobley from USC with the third pick. Mobley was the player Altman targeted all along.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight we were able to draft a transformative talent whose versatility, athleticism and physical gifts are qualities we covet in a player,\u201d Altman said on draft night. \u201cEvan Mobley checks each of those boxes. We are committed to establishing a sustainable and winning culture in Cleveland and we couldn\u2019t be more excited about Evan being part of our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is when the second part of the waiting began. Mobley was named Rookie of the Month in November 2021, a sign of things to come, for sure. But he was far from a finished product in his first season in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Mobley turned 20 just 41 days before he was drafted. He was a slender 7-footer as a rookie \u2014 not exactly timid under the rim, but neither did he assert himself. The first time he really went toe to toe with some of the NBA\u2019s best big men was in the 2024 playoffs against the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics in his third NBA season.<\/p>\n

Mobley still is slender, but his muscles are more defined, particularly in his upper torso and shoulders. He was an All-Star and was voted Defensive Player of the Year in the 2024-25 season. He wants to build on that in the season ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy individual goals for this year is definitely All-Star again, hopefully Defensive Player of the Year, and from there \u2014 I\u2019ll keep that a secret for now,\u201d Mobley said on media day at Rocket Arena to kick off training camp.<\/p>\n

Mobley\u2019s goal to be part of a championship team trumps his personal goals. The Cavaliers finished with the best record in the East last year at 64-18, but they were wiped out by the Indiana Pacers in five games in the conference semifinals. That stinging defeat stuck with Mobley much longer than the glow he felt from any personal honors.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s goal is to go further than we did last year,\u201d Mobley said. \u201cTo do that, we have to learn from what we did last year and build on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve watched a lot of film and talked with each other about what we could do and what we need to do. That\u2019s on the coaches\u2019 level and players\u2019 level. Everyone has done their research and knows what we need to do to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024-25 season was the first for Kenny Atkinson as head coach of the Cavaliers. He knew going into the season he wanted to make Mobley a focal point of the offense and encouraged him to attempt more 3-point shots than in previous years.<\/p>\n

Mobley responded. After attempting an average of 1.2 3s in 2023-24, he attempted an average of 3.2 3s last season. Significantly, his confidence grew with success. He attempted 36 3s in January, 40 in February and 50 in March He attempted 25 3s in April, but keep in mind the regular season ended on April 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just sense that Evan is ready to make another jump,\u201d Atkinson said earlier this month. \u201cThe seriousness in which he approached the offseason from a body perspective and from a basketball perspective \u2014 he\u2019s different. I don\u2019t know how to exactly define that, but I feel like there\u2019s a confidence brewing here that maybe we haven\u2019t seen before. And he was a confident player last year because he affects winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows he can win in this league, but I feel like there\u2019s another kind of level coming. And I love that it started with his body. He had to get stronger. And I think you\u2019re going to see that kind of when the season starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Point-guard Darius Garland on June 9 underwent surgery on his left big toe to repair an injury that hampered him in the playoffs. The Cavs announced Garland would be sidelined \u201cfour to five months,\u201d which means he won\u2019t be ready for the start of the season Oct. 22 against the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Garland is working hard to beat that timetable.<\/p>\n

Atkinson wants Mobley to be more involved in dribbling the ball up the court. Mobley has the ball-handling skills to do it even when Garland is cleared to play. Plus, letting Mobley handle the ball occasionally to set up the offense will take that burden from Garland and Donovan Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw his growth offensively last year,\u201d Altman said. \u201cWith Darius being out for a little bit, we don\u2019t know what that looks like. We\u2019re going to see Evan handle the ball a little bit more. We\u2019re going to see him bring the ball up, initiate play through him out of the elbows. He\u2019ll be an offensive hub of sorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been locked in. He is really serious about taking that leap to being a top-five player in the league. His work ethic, his character \u2014 Kenny spent a lot of time with him out there in L.A.. His leadership, too. He hosted a player-led minicamp in L.A. where most of his teammates were outworking out with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still 24 years old, but now he\u2019s becoming a grown man in terms of his body, his emotions, his maturity level, although he\u2019s always been super mature for his age.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mobley is under contract with the Cavaliers through the 2029-30 season. He is making $46,394,100 this season.<\/p>\n

\"EvanEvan Mobley poses during Cavaliers’ media day on Sept. 29. (Tim Phillis – For The News-Herald)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First, the NBA draft lottery unfolded favorably for the Cavaliers in June 2021. After that, the waiting began.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[8174,2558,355,99],"class_list":["post-238819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}