Evan Mobley Named All-Defensive FIRST TEAM! Cleveland Cavaliers news
[Music] Every video and episode of the Its Cavalere podcast is made possible by my supporters over on Patreon. If you enjoy the show here today, consider signing up. You’ll get early access, exclusive videos, podcast, member shoutouts, and more. And as always, thank you for watching. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Welcome to another edition of the It’s Cavalular Podcast. It’s your boy Mac and today we get the opportunity to discuss yet another accolade that’s been handed out to our guy Evan Mobley. That’s right. As I’m sure you guys are well aware of by now, Evan Mobley has been named to the first team all defense alongside a number of many other deserving candidates. Now, when you really look at the season as a whole that Evan Mobley had, it’s hard to be truly disappointed about the growth that he showcased out there. I mean, seriously, you look at what he was able to do on both ends of the floor and it’s hard to really be disappointed at what we got out of him. Yes, the season ended in a very, very disappointing fashion. It ended in the worst way imaginable for this Cleveland Cavaliers team. But from an individual standard, I guess individual basis, Evan Mobley had about as good of a fourth year as you could assume, right? And he joins a first team all defense that includes Dyson Daniels, a very deserving candidate within himself who was, man, just swiping the ball left and right from people. Lou Dort, who we already know is giving massive, massive thanks to that Oklahoma City Thunder team over there out in the West. You got Draymond Green, who was a heavy contender for the defensive player of the year award prior to Eva Mobley finally clinching it away from him. And we got Amin Thompson, another very deserving person as well to be named to this same team. That’s a hell of a first team. And the the second team was even, you know, even better. in my opinion in terms of recognizing some of the guys that were actually performing at a high level on that end of the floor because defense is always somewhat harder to determine uh in in terms of how uh how you grade it than than offense is. It truly is because there’s not nearly as many metrics to point to or at least past basic stats. And people they have this whole discussion center around what advanced analytics means in terms of valuation. But at the end of the day, determining how effective or how impactful a defender is can be a very, very difficult thing. And I was very pleased with what we got in terms of the people who were named to these teams. I mean, seriously. And it starts with Evan Mobley. And I’ll tell you what, right now, had Victor Wimpyama not gotten injured, he would have been right on this team. He probably finishes ahead of Evan Mobley. And uh I that should just tell you about the state of the league in terms of where it is on that side of the ball. But Evan, you’re talking about a guy who was very very effective, very impactive, not only in terms of rim deterrence, but his ability to switch out into the perimeter as well. Now overall from the field, he held his opposition to 44.5% from the field. That is over,18 shots defended. all very very high volume. Wasn’t necessarily nearly as uh effective on the from a purely statistical standpoint in the playoffs as he uh limited his opponents to 48.7% on 119 field goals defended. But man, you cannot really debate how impactful he was on that end of the floor. It was something that I think people could see coming from a mile away heading into the season cuz his man is already he entered the league as a very very versatile defender just raw offensively and then you combine that together with what he was able to put fourth on the the offensive end especially from a three-point shooting perspective and shooting above 40 something% in the playoffs this year and above 37% from three-point range during the course of the regular season. This is serious growth from Evan Mobley, but as we all know, he is not a finished product. Uh, I think the one thing that we want to see from Evan Mobley moving forward above all else is assertiveness, aggression, uh, just being vocal out there and calling for additional touches. I think that honestly is what pissed me off the most about this series. Not necessarily Evan being quiet, but the Cavaliers refusal or just inability to get him more looks, get him more opportunities when he clearly had it going on in that Indiana Pacers series. Now, on the regular season as a whole, Evan Moley achieved 12.8 field goal attempts per game. That was a careerhigh for him by point8. I would hope, but that’s the key word, hope. I would hope that that trend continues to go up as we see him trend towards I don’t know 15 to 18 field goal attempts per game next season. That is where I’m hoping that he finishes. Now I think we can all agree that the the Cavs are at their best when everybody is getting opportunities at least during the regular season. But come the playoffs, you tend to lean on your stars, your most talented players, your guys right out there making a lot of money. That is Evan. That is Donovan. That is Darius. You’re hoping to get more from the the secondary pieces. Donovan Mitchell basically is the 1A here. But there is nothing holding the Mo League back from becoming that 1B player out there and hopefully one day the 1A, the best player on this team. And I truly do not believe that that is far off. Now again, this is all hope. This is all something that we want to see play out on the court rather than hypothetically. But I think that based off the growth that we have seen from him in these last couple of seasons, that is perfectly reasonable assumption that he continues to get more looks, more opportunities, and Kenny Atinson, his arrival in Cleveland kind of signaled the the progression that Moley was going to take, especially as a ball handler. It’s something that we had seen him struggle with in years past. And this is not necessarily something that Evan Mobley has perfected just yet, but he did look a lot more comfortable with the ball in his hands this year, at least in my opinion. Like the turnovers, they’ll still happen. The clumsy basketball dribbling off your foot or taking too long to dribble up from the half court. Yeah, that stuff will happen at times, but I don’t fear Evan Mobley bringing the ball up the court nearly as much as I used to. And I certainly appreciate anytime I I I just I get so so hopeful, so gleeful whenever I see Evan Mobley given the rock and attempting to drive inside and just in invite that contact because I think that aggression, that assertiveness, that’s something that frankly we need to see from him day in and day out and not just when he picks and chooses to because there are points during that Indiana series where frankly Indiana had no answer for his assaults and and drives inside where whether he was working in the post or literally just trying to drive through the bodies of Miles Turner or Pascal Seakum or Thomas Roberts or whoever else was defending him out there just they had no real answer for him. And when he gets it into his head that hey nobody can stop me that is when I think he is at his most dangerous. Now, for anybody that’s questioning his abilities out there, that should tell you everything you need to know because that the talent is not something that needs to be questioned. It’s just the mentality. It’s just the mentality. And I think a lot of people are equating that to softness or just not being tough out there. I don’t necessarily lump Evan into that group. I don’t think Evan is not tough. I don’t think he is not solve or I don’t think he is soft rather. I guess better way to put it. I just think that he needs to be more vocal. I think he needs to be more assertive. Give me the damn ball. Give me the ball when I have it going on. You need to let Donovan Mitchell, you need to let Darius Garland each know, hey, I am capable of being a scorer, too. I am capable of carrying this team at times, too, like we have seen Donovan Mitchell do. We need Evan Mobley to be that guy to step up and say, “Hey, I can get this done. I am I am the future here.” That is the type of mentality that Evan Mobley needs to have moving forward. And I think that is what we’re going to end up seeing. But today, today is all about celebrating his defense. Just such a wonderful presence out there on the defensive end. He covers up for so much. And we already know the issues that this team has in defending in the back court at times because of how undersized they are, frankly. And you can lump Max Stresus in there, although he is technically part of the front court at the three. The amount of things that Evan Mobley is able to make up for, the amount of things that he is able to cover up for, frankly, is just astounding because he is truly one of the best backline defenders in basketball. Now, again, had Wimby never gotten hurt. Wimby very likely wins. And now, I’m not even going to say very likely. He does win the defensive player of the year award had he not gotten injured. But I still think Mobly would have made first or second team all defense either way. And that is exactly what happened. So he gets to add to his treasure uh his trophy case all likely second team. I think he gets to add defensive player of the year. He gets to add an all-star birth. He gets to add all defense. It’s just been a phenomenal all-around season for Evan Mobley. So this is just a step in the right direction. And I’m very very excited about where this could lead him next. And I I don’t know about you guys, but I still have a lot of optimism. I still have a lot of hope for the future. Now, whe whatever side of the fence that you fall on in terms of can this core 4 win a title, the one thing that you should not question is how bright of a future that Evan Moley has. And that even goes for the people out there that want to go ahead and explore trades for Giannis. And believe me, I get it. top five player, top three player, depending upon how you look at it, depending upon the day of the week in terms of including Mobley in those trades. You guys already know how I feel. I think that the Cavaliers should stay the course, but I certainly understand why people would want to go out there and try to acquire a top five player and Giannis because we have we have seen how short windows open and close here. But I think that Evan Mobley is already solidly a top 15 player. And I think by the 2025 26 season, the end of that year, I think we could be potentially looking at Evan Mobley as a top 10 player. I know that, you know, there will be people out there that doubt that. There will be people that agree with that, but at the end of the day, I think that he has shown you enough growth that if you stick with him, he will continue to reward you for that. The question is, will it be enough to carry the Cavaliers to a title? That is the ultimate goal. But man, this is just another thing that uh that we can be proud of on a season that was phenomenal, at least during the regular season. And I’m trying to contextualize what we saw in the playoffs because that was shitty a shitty way to end in that in that series against the Pacers. But at the end of the day, I’m not going to throw out entirely what we saw from these guys on an individual level because there was a lot of growth out there from a number of Cavaliers. Evan Mobley is not the only one, but at the end of the day, Evan still has the most pure potential of any player on this roster, and that is largely due to the two-way ability that he showcases on a nightly basis. So I’m very very excited that he was able to to uh be recognized once more and being added to the second to the first team rather here. So something else that I thought was very very very very excitable for fans out there is Avita Zubat. I loved him being named to the second team. That is awesome. I love that. I love that I mean, that’s a guy who a lot of people felt that uh would would never make it to these types of conversations. And look where he is now. I mean, Sham’s dropped a tweet here on that second team. You got too many Kamar dating guy for any of my uh 937 people out there. Just like myself, you got Tumani Kamar, Rudy Gobear. Go figure. Rudy remains one of the best defenders, best rent protectors in all of basketball. Jiren Jackson Jr. former defensive player of the year, a award winner himself. Um, so it’s it’s nice to see him. He was in the conversation again this year, but Evan kind of separated himself. You got Jaylen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Another very very capable defender who makes a big impact on a nightly basis for that Thunder team that’s still playing uh and and hoping to compete in the finals here moving forward. And again, Avita Zubot, that’s a awesome inclusion. So, those are really, really two good teams. I think that uh you can make a case for a number of players honestly on that OKC team between Caruso and SGA who was up there in steels and you know, Lou Dort obviously and Jaylen Williams. They’re they they just as a team collectively, they defend so damn well. But Evan Moly, he just he probably in my opinion in my opinion he is the best defender of this bunch. And yes, that includes Draymond. Yes, that includes Jiren. That includes Rudy. I think as of right now, and this is in a Wimilless world where Wimby did not suit up for the rest of the season. Among the players that were mentioned on the first and second team, Evan Mobley is the best in my opinion purely because of his ability to both impact the impact the defensive end out on the perimeter and to protect at an elite level. He is one of the best at what he does out there. And I this is going to be something that he’s perennially looked at being a part of, right? He already made a defensive uh defensive team uh not long ago during the 2022 23 season in which a lot of people felt that he got robbed. I mean Moy has been robbed for a number of awards throughout the course of his career. The rookie of the year is the one that stands out the most. It is nice to see him put together all of this in one season. You got the allstar, you got deploy, you got uh all defensive first team, you got um you got all NBA that’s probably coming as well on that second team. So all these all these different things have been the culmination of a wonderful at least regular season for Evan Mobley. I do not believe that he has done either. A lot of people will probably tell you or want to admit to you that this is probably Evan Mobley’s apex and he is not going to rise to the ranks of one of the 10 best in basketball. And I just frankly I think that’s folly. The the guy is 23 years old. You know there is no sign he he’ll be 24 by the time the 2025 26 season starts. But he has shown no signs of letting up. He has shown no signs of slowing down in terms of his growth. And as long as the Cavaliers continue to feed his confidence, continue to feed him extra touches out there, the sky is the limit for this dude. I can’t say kid anymore. At at 23, 24 years old, he’s grown, man. And I think that um by the time he hits his athletic prime, you know, around the age of 27, 28 years old, man, I can’t imagine what he could potentially be. We’re probably talking about a top five player hopefully. Again, this is all me hoping that this is what he turns out to be. But if this is the type of that we’re getting now, I can’t imagine what he is going to look like a couple of years from now when he is, you know, frankly just a full grown man out there and has come into his own as an offensive player because you see that there is still some rawness to him. He is still not quite adept at that mid-range area. You still like to see him work on his post moves a little bit more, but he improved a lot this year with his handle. He improved a lot this year in terms of that three-point shot. And frankly, his confidence looked like it was at an all-time high. And he only at this point can get better. So, that is where I’m at with Evoli. I’m happy that he has been recognized. Again, another award or at the very least another another thing that goes on basketball reference. Um, I don’t know. Do maybe you guys tell me. Do you actually get a physical like plaque for making these teams? Does anybody know that? Do you actually get a plaque for making all defensive team or all NBA team or did do they get a trophy? I’ve never known that. I would love to know that. I know defensive player of the year, you obviously get a trophy. MVP, you obviously get a trophy. Rookie of the year, yada yada yada, etc., etc. But do you actually get a trophy or a plaque for uh an AllNBA or an alldefensive team? I would love to know. But as always, as I always tell you guys, if you like to reach out to me, you know how you can. It’s cavalary_pod on Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube, and more. If you want to be added to the Cavalary Discord chat, you know what to do. Leave a rating, leave a review, send me a screenshot, I said review to it’s cavalary53gmail.com, and I will send you set invite. Go Cavs.
The NBA has just announced the All-Defensive First Team and Cleveland Cavaliers Big Man Evan Mobley unsurprisingly made the cut! Let’s discuss it.
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