here<\/a>. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n***<\/p>\n
TORONTO \u2014 It took LeVelle Moten only a few moments to understand Evan Mobley\u2019s greatness. He just had to walk into Team USA\u2019s training camp ahead of the 2019 Under-19 World Cup and watch Mobley work, even as he was coming back from a knee injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018That\u2019s what it had to look like when Wilt (Chamberlain) played,\u2019\u201d said Moten, an assistant coach on that team, recalling the camp in Colorado Springs, Colo. \u201cThat\u2019s how dominant he was.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took until the final game of the tournament for Moten to fully appreciate Scottie Barnes. Moten had put together the game plan, which included a note to not let Mali\u2019s Abdoul Coulibaly go to his left. The starters didn\u2019t follow instruction, so Barnes, who had offered to come off the bench in training camp, got the next crack at the assignment. Barnes immediately let Coulibaly go left, but knocked the ball out of bounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI yelled at Scottie, \u2018Damn it, didn\u2019t I say (to) make the boy go left?\u2019\u201d Moten recalled. \u201cAnd Scottie said, \u2018Coach, don\u2019t even worry about it, because this MFer ain\u2019t gonna score no more.\u2019 And he was talking to me \u2014 but he was saying it right in the boy\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Americans ended up winning Barnes\u2019 29 minutes by 27 points in a 14-point win, securing the gold medal. Even on a team with the first five picks of the 2021 NBA Draft, plus Tyrese Haliburton, Mobley and Barnes\u2019 gifts could not be hidden. It\u2019s important to remember that, as they continue to nose in front of each other during their intertwined careers, including in the first-round series between their Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors, these were hyped-up players who stood out on All-Star teams of their peers. That they exist on the periphery of the NBA\u2019s power structure shows you how special you have to be to get to the inter sanctum of the league\u2019s transactional machinations.<\/p>\n
Even in this series, they have not been the fulcrums, as Cleveland guards Donovan Mitchell (62 points, including 8 3s) and James Harden (50 points and 14 assists) have orchestrated a Cavaliers attack that the Raptors have been unable to stop. Most of Cleveland\u2019s defensive attention, meanwhile, has gone toward slowing Brandon Ingram, not Barnes.<\/p>\n
But Mobley has been a key cog in the Cavaliers taking a 2-0 lead, with Game 3 going on Thursday in Toronto. When the Raptors benched starting big man Jakob Poeltl and went to a smaller, switch-heavy lineup in the second half of Game 2, Mobley dominated. He had 11 points in the third quarter alone, using his size advantage to neutralize the Raptors\u2019 swarming, pesky defense. He\u2019s averaging 21 points on 77.3 percent shooting through two games.<\/p>\n
Calf strains interrupted Mobley\u2019s season a few times during the regular season, part of the reason the Cavaliers didn\u2019t back up their 64-win season a year ago with another six-month waltz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say development is not linear. It just doesn\u2019t keep going like this,\u201d said Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, miming an undeterred ascent with his arm, before Game 2. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t. There are going to be some downs, and I think Evan has kind of got out of that dip and is trending back to improving before our eyes and at the right.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the Raptors didn\u2019t wilt in Game 2, and Barnes was the main reason why. He had 17 points in the second half, and was in the middle of the Raptors finally able to push the pace in transition more frequently, a necessity if the Raptors are to make this a series. On a couple possessions, he went right into Mobley and fellow Cleveland big man Jarrett Allen, pushing them under the basket in the paint for buckets. That type of force is necessary for a limited offensive team.<\/p>\n
Barnes\u2019 12-to-9 assist-to-turnover ratio hasn\u2019t been sharp enough, and puts a spotlight on what he has to address in the offseason \u2014 one of his handle or his jumper has to improve measurably \u2014 and the Raptors\u2019 overall spacing limitations, exacerbated without injured guard Immanuel Quickley.<\/p>\n
Both, though, have highlighted the promise that they have shown since they came into the league. Can they be the beating hearts of championship contenders? That\u2019s a different question, one both franchises will have to grapple with on different timelines.<\/p>\n
Their careers, dating back to the draft in 2021, have lined up nicely. Mobley went third in the draft, while Barnes went fourth. Barnes edged out Mobley for Rookie of the Year in one of the closest votes for the award ever. And while Cade Cunningham has surpassed both as the guy from that draft who you\u2019d build a team around, both are clearly good enough to be part of a solid franchise\u2019s foundation. There are times when Barnes has seemed like the better player and others when Mobley has seemed like the bigger difference-maker, but neither has ever put the other way behind him.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the tricky part of all of this, though. Barnes came into the league as the guy surrounded by veterans, joining the Pascal Siakam\/Fred VanVleet\/OG Anunoby core. One by one, those players left, with the Raptors trying to rebuild more in Barnes\u2019 image: frenetic and versatile.<\/p>\n
While Barnes\u2019 journey to being \u201cthe guy\u201d in Toronto has been awkward \u2014 he seemed to demur from the off-the-court aspects of the role to start, and his on-court attributes are certainly more Pippen than Jordan \u2014 his personality screams centerpiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cScottie was boisterous. He was talking. He had some of that leadership ability,\u201d said Bruce Weber, the longtime college coach who was the head coach for that Under-19 team. \u201cSometimes, it had to be reeled in a bit, but you\u2019d rather have that. I always talk about, \u2018Do you want to deal with Tigger or Eeyore?\u2019 You want Tigger on your team, because he has energy and is flying around. The successful guys have that energy. That\u2019s why you knew he\u2019d be pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Mobley?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew when Scottie came into the building,\u201d Weber said. \u201cEvan could sneak in, even at 6-10, 6-11. He could sneak in quietly, and you wouldn\u2019t even know he\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps because Mobley\u2019s game was a bit more polished, the Cavaliers decided to accelerate their build right after his rookie year, trading for Mitchell. At times, Mobley has looked like the perfect emerging co-star for Mitchell, a big man who expanded his offensive game last year while winning Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
This season, there has been some disappointment with his development, especially as his shooting has fallen off from the previous two years. Cleveland is so committed to Mitchell now that if the Cavaliers fail to make it to the conference final, you wonder if they might become impatient with Mobley\u2019s growth and move him for a player more obviously in his prime. There\u2019s a guy who has spent his career in Wisconsin who could be available.<\/p>\n
That possibility, although probably slim, is more of a reflection of how precious Mitchell\u2019s peak is to Cleveland than anything Mobley has or hasn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he develops every single year,\u201d Barnes said of Mobley before the series started. \u201cI think he\u2019s grown more into his body. His physicality when he\u2019s driving the ball, being able to create for himself, and defensively, he has all the intangibles. He has super long arms, athletic, he can switch one through five. He\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, even though Barnes was already an All-Star in 2024, this was the year he blossomed. His defensive impact reached new heights and should earn him his first All-Defense spot \u2014 he finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. With the Raptors acquiring Brandon Ingram to take over the biggest share of the half-court offence that Barnes is not best suited to manage, his energy in pushing the pace, distributing the ball and playmaking on defence animated the Raptors\u2019 surprise 46-win season.<\/p>\n
And yet, with Barnes at the middle of things, there will be questions. How do you build a team when your best player is not your most efficient or talented scorer? That becomes a geometry question, one the Raptors are not close to solving. It was exposed during this season, and continues to be in this series.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a really good passer,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cI think he\u2019s the 96th percentile in potential assists. You\u2019ve got to keep your eyes open. When he drives, he\u2019s going to find shooters. I\u2019m really impressed (by) the leap he took this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of that is to suggest the Raptors will consider moving Barnes any time soon. More likely, transaction by transaction, they will attempt to get closer to a roster that makes sense around him, not that it will be easy because of the Raptors\u2019 other financial commitments. The roster-building mistakes the Raptors have around him, especially the contract extension given to Poeltl before this season that doesn\u2019t kick in until 2027-28, make it possible that the Raptors will get stuck in neutral before they can maximize Barnes\u2019 skills. Those mistakes aren\u2019t Barnes\u2019 fault, but they speak to the trickiness of building around him.<\/p>\n
Cleveland\u2019s relationship with Mobley is a little more in question only because of Mitchell\u2019s presence and the increased stakes. Still, generally players who are as good as Mobley don\u2019t go anywhere. The safe call is Mobley will be in Ohio for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to say they surprised me, but neither of them has,\u201d Moten said. \u201cEvan is who I thought he would be. Scottie is who I thought he would be. I thought, before they were 28 years old, they would both be First Team All-NBA guys. And they\u2019re certainly on the trajectory of doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps. Both will turn just 25 this summer. In theory, they still have some evolution ahead of them. But in a league that is trending toward shorter competitive windows, teams won\u2019t always have the time to see their young players\u2019 futures out \u2014 even if those players are as good as Barnes or Mobley. Great young players have never had less time to reach their ceilings.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Eric Koreen<\/a>\u00a0is a senior writer covering the Raptors and the NBA. Previously, he has written for the National Post, Canadian Press, Sportsnet and Complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Round 1 foes Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley can\u2019t escape comparisons, or expectations. Editor\u2019s Note: Read more NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,262054,99],"class_list":["post-602374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-scottie-and-mobley","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602374","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=602374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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