It has been rumored for the last couple of weeks that the Cleveland Cavaliers were taking Evan Mobley with the third overall pick in the NBA Draft, and they did just that last night.
Mobley, 7’0″, 215 pounds has tremendous skills, and is a shot blocker. Our concern with him is his weight. Can he withstand the pounding playing interior defense or if an opponent can get into him, could he be pinned to the floor.
We assume the Cavs want to retain Jarrett Allen, making a qualifying offer to the restricted free agent, so can Mobley and Allen play together?
Mobley has talent, but can he be an impact player next season? Because that’s what the wine and gold need, not another developmental piece. If he and Ricky Rubio (more on him later) are the only significant moves for Cleveland, our fear is another season of 25 wins or less might be the result.
Again, not categorizing Mobley as a bad pick, it’s just hard to see him being a guy who can play 30 minutes a game effectively next season. In three years? He could be a stud. If you want to tag on another two seasons among the bottom of the league, then we would guess you are okay with this.
GM Koby Altman has still assembled an odd roster. He has Darius Garland, who looks like he can be a good point guard in the league, but he has also drafted an undersized #2 guard in Collin Sexton and is using player who has #2 guard size at small forward in Isaac Okoro.
Now he has the twin towers in Allen and Mobley. Can this group win together? Maybe, we never rule anything out, but the general history of professional basketball says they would face an uphill battle.
One would assume the addition of Mobley also means the end of Kevin Love in Cleveland, probably as the result of buyout, meaning Altman gets no return for a key piece of the 2016 title team.
And it wouldn’t be a draft day without Altman getting another guard, this time trading Taurean Prince to Minnesota for Rubio and a second round pick. Rubio, who will turn 31 in October, will take over the Matthew Dellavedova guard mentoring role, except the Spaniard is a better player.
Rubio has been a starter for the majority of his seven year NBA career, and knows how to the play the game. He averages 7.6 assists per night for his career. He’s an excellent free throw shooter at 86.7%, but not a three threat from beyond the arc, just 32.5% lifetime.
There is still a long time between now and training camps opening in September, but it still feels like the Cavaliers need to retool their roster. They appear to have some rim protectors, which they will probably really need because the defense out front isn’t very good. Remember, J.B. Bickerstaff used Okoro on virtually every opponent’s best scorer, which created mismatches in other places.
Hopefully, more moves to change the roster will be coming with the free agent period starts, which is another time the league sees a lot of deals. They still need a legitimate scorer at small forward. They need more size in the backcourt or the ability to use Okoro there.
Said it all along, collecting talent is fine, putting talent together that fits and leads to wins? That’s a tough job.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 