Over the last 10-15 years, the perception of how good NBA players are has changed. Because of Stephen Curry, the three-point shot has become king, and it seems if a player cannot make the long-distance shot, they are overlooked.

Even if the player isn’t efficient from beyond the arc, he is viewed highly. For example, Curry is a career 42.8% shooter from three. Trae Young? Only shoots 35.8% from distance, that’s a big difference.

When Evan Mobley was drafted by the Cavaliers, many people wondered how great he could be when he developed a long-range shot. That hasn’t come yet, so we have heard people being disappointed in the progress of the third-year pro.

The reality is Mobley is developing just fine.

Over the last eight games, the former USC standout has shot 64% from the floor (56 of 88), grabbing 11.6 rebounds per night while scoring 16.6 points. Let’s not forget he is a good passer, averaging over three assists.

All that and he remains one of the best defensive players in the game, and overall, his rebounds are up almost two per game, from 9.0 to 10.9.

Although he’s not a threat from the three-point line (more on that later), he has improved his shooting in the mid-range, which is something we wanted to see before the season commenced.

From 10-16 feet, he has made 39.1% of his shots, up from 36.2 a year ago.

No, he’s not Chris Bosh, but that’s okay. And we would guess Mobley is going to continue to improve in all aspects of his game. After all, he’s still just 22-years-old.

Mobley is aware he’s not a good long-distance shooter, so he doesn’t take them. He’s attempted just nine this season (in 18 games), which is down from his first two seasons in which he took a little over one per game. That’s fine. As former Cleveland hitting coach Charlie Manuel once said, “know thyself”.

This isn’t a big deal to us. Yes, it would be nice if Mobley was a threat from outside, but our thought on this has always been, if you were defending a guy like Joel Embiid, a bruising inside player, or 7’4″ rookie Victor Wembanyama, wouldn’t you rather have them shooting 20-25 foot shots, rather than being around the basket?

We’ve alluded to it earlier, but we like Mobley having the ball in his hands to initiate offense. When team’s play zone against the Cavs, putting the big guy at the foul line with the ability to find the open man is a great weapon.

And he and Jarrett Allen have a great high/low game where they work for lobs.

It seems we have reduced the game of basketball to how people can shoot these days, when there is so much more to the sport: defense, rebounding, passing, being a good teammate.

Evan Mobley is very good in all of these areas and continues to get better. It’s a shame that because he isn’t out there drilling threes, folks overlook the rest of his skills.

The Cavs’ organization knows what a good player they have.