Many of you are selling Evan Mobley short

Mobley is the pick the Rockets should/are going take at number #2

 

This cannot be stressed enough.

Other teams are praying for Rockets to pass on Mobley so this Unicorn can fall to them.

Just how many subversives are on CF facilitating this?

 

Because that's been where the best US prospects go.... But that's not the point. The point is comparing Green's G League play to Mobley's NCAA play....

All you keep doing is showing me the NCAA is still where most of the top prospects go, but what about most of the rest of the NCAA? Again, we are comparing older professionals to younger non professionals.

And? The G League average player is still better than your average NCAA. The PAC12 would get blown out by the G League if they were two separate conferences.

Well sure. But we still have to compare the NCAA to the Euroleague or wherever else.

Probably at the top, but not overall considering the G League is increasingly a NBA coach development pipeline. However, most players won't be coached by the top coaches in the NCAA. What about the USC bball coach? The G League Ignite coach is Brian Shaw....

Brian Shaw vs Andy Enfield when looking at Ignite vs USC.

"Heavily" is subjective.

You seem legitimately surprised that a top high school recruit choose the G League route for the first time and we are having to compare the G League to the NCAA.....

 

I know using this as a gauge on how Mobley will pan out is too basic but, since 2007 (the earliest ESPN is showing me), most centers ranked in the Top 5 of the ESPN 100 High School player ranking has panned out either as a decent role player or an All Star (bolded)

2007: Kevin Love (ranked #1 overall in country)
2008: Samardo Samuels (2) and BJ Mullens (5)
2009: Derrick Favors (2) and Demarcus Cousins (4)
2010: Jared Sullinger (2)
2011: Anthony Davis (1) and Andre Drummond (2)
2012: Nerlens Noel (1), Isaiah Austin (3), Kaleb Tarczewski (5)
2013: Julius Randle (4) and Aaron Gordon (5)
2014: Jahlil Okafor (1), Myles Turner (2), and Cliff Alexander (3)
2015: Ben Simmons (1), Skal Labissiere (2), and Henry Ellenson (5)
2016: Harry Giles (1) and Bam Adebayo (5)
2017: Marvin Bagley III (1), DeAndre Ayton (3), Mo Bamba (4) and Wendell Carter (5)
2018: Zion Williamson (2) and Bol Bol (4)
2019: James Wiseman (1) and Isiah Stewart (3)
2020: Evan Mobley (3)

Of the players that actually got to the NBA I think the biggest busts (relative to where they were drafted) are Jahlil Okafor, Bagley and Noel (though Nerlens has proven to be a quality vet/role player). Injuries to Giles more or less derailed his career. So in terms of bust potential....I guess I'm feeling a bit better just based on this list lol

 

AD was concidered very raw offensivley when he came out of Kentucky, its a misconception that people projected him to have this kind of impact offensivley.

Mobley is being considered as the #1 pick and if Cade came out in that draft he might have been #1. the 3 picks after him where MKG, Beale and Waiters so that shows you the draft was not that deep.

AD jumper and ballhandling were also still developing which is my point. Green is very skinny as well and as a 2 or a wing he will have to worry about that.

Mobley is ultra athletic as well, so why does Green get props for that but not Mobley?

These are the things said about AD leading to the draft.

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/anthony-davis/

The number one drawback on Davis is his overall strength, or lack thereof .
Offensive canvas is raw, with obvious enormous room for improvement … Doesn’t yet have a feel for his jump shot, often rushing the attempt and shooting a flat shot … There are times where he displays extreme comfort handling the ball, but face-up/dribble-drive maneuvers are few and far between …

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-predictions-for-hornets-rookie-anthony-davis
As good as Davis is with his body, he still lacks enough of one to be effective on the low block and as a defensive rebounder in the NBA.

Rookie Year Projections

Davis won't likely be the focal point of the Hornets offense, especially with shooters like Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and fellow rookie Austin Rivers patrolling the perimeter. Even so, he'll see plenty of action as a lob target and as a cutter, especially in screen-and-roll situations, if only because Robin Lopez is the only other semi-credible threat in the paint on the New Orleans roster.

https://www.nba.com/hornets/draft12_anthony_davis.html

STRENGTHS
Long and athletic
Excellent rebounder and shot blocker
Big man who can handle the ball
Can take defenders off the dribble
Can defend multiple positions

http://www.mynbadraft.com/NBA-Draft-Profiles-2012/Anthony-Davis

The negatives for Anthony will start with size and strength. Even though his length and athleticism is ideal he is too light for an NBA big at around 225lbs. Anthony will probably never be a player who uses a lot of muscle or looked at as an explosive player but it is his wiry strength and agility that wins down low. Anthony doesn’t have many go to moves in the post, and has not showed a lot of go to scoring ability. His size will bring durability concerns. Anthony Davis is the 2nd coming of Marcus Camby,




This is a false narrative that AD was thought to be a much better prospect than Mobley or that he had a more polished offensive game.

His projections are almost identical to Mobley.

 

There are 350 schools that are members the D1...... of course the overall quality of coaching and players will be watered down compared to the 29 G League teams in spite of the top prospects being in the NCAA.

This is what happens when you have to compare players across different leagues.

 

Mobley is doing everything AD is and showing more post up moves.

 

It will definitely be interesting to find out how Rafa has the top three ranked and the direction the team wants to go.

With the traditional big man fading away I see the appeal of a KPJ/Green or KPJ/Cade combination depending on what happens after 1.

On the flip, if the plan is to keep Wood as part of core I wouldn’t be mad if they drafted Mobley.

If Wood continues to get better we can always look to trade him for a wing down the road.

As they say, always draft best player and worry about the rest later!

 

Just let Mobley go through a couple of heartbreaks, and that will toughen him up

I said the same thing about my cousin

 

8/29 based on that list, so a 27% hit rate.

 

I'm 100% with you D-rock on this one lol! Most of these poster never saw how fast Ralph Sampson was or ever got a chance to witness him play. Not saying that Mobley won't be great but people saying he'll be a better ball handler than Ralph or that his defense will be on Hakeem's level is just basketball blasphemy. Good post though bro!

 

I don't have a clear favorite among the three prospects but I wouldn't be mad if they drafted Mobley. You put him at the 3, have Wood at the 4 and bring in a defensive presence like Nerlens Noel or Richaun Holmes at the 5 and build a huge ass front line. Mobley has the agility, quickness, length and wingspan to man today's SF position IMO.

 

So what has Green proven?

Mobley has proven skills that translate to the NBA, if you used that same thinking neither AD or Embid would have been drafted # 1.

Wut?

No one was suggesting AD was the next Hakeem as well, this makes zero sense.

 

Of the prospects that were actually drafted in the Top 5:

2007: Kevin Love
2009: Derrick Favors and Demarcus Cousins
2011: Anthony Davis
2013: Aaron Gordon
2014: Jahlil Okafor
2015: Ben Simmons
2017: Marvin Bagley III and DeAndre Ayton
2018: Zion Williamson
2019: James Wiseman

5 out of 11 turned in at least one All-Star season. If you remove Wiseman because he was a rookie this past season you get a hit rate of 50%. Ayton still has time to become an All-Star and is pretty damn good in his own right as of today.

 

Played under NBA rules with professional players and still was able to score efficiently from all 3 levels.

 

If you take the all-american team from any year it beats the all-gleague team. Hell, if you take ANY all-american NCAA team and make an all-time gleauge team it still crushes that team.

We can keep focusing on 'The average gleague player is better than the average NCAA player" but how much does that mean when the best gleague player would be lucky to start on an NBA team?

If you are arguing that the talent in the gleague is that much greater...I'm not sure I see it. We're not comparing the gleague to every college, we're comparing it to power conferences and teams that matter. The current MVP of the gleague was only 2nd team Big East...which is why he's in the gleague.

Euroleague is LEVELS above the NCAA and LEVELS above the Gleague, it took years to get that way though, at first we were drafting busts out of Europe...and even still you can come from a bad league and still be a great prospect, hence why I say it really doesn't matter.

Using this argument of yours you'd have Jalen Green over Yao Ming, the Chinese league has improved but it was even worse then. Didn't matter did it? NBA Scouts looked at his skillset and phyiscal toolset and deemed him a top 3 pick. That's why I keep saying Green could have completely not played basketball the year and still be a top 3 pick.

This point I bolded not to scream or anything but to emphasize the point. These guys are top 3 picks because of their phyiscals builds and their skillsets. This is how Lamelo could go play in a lesser league, not even really dominate it, and still be a top 5 pick and of course still (as we saw) project just fine into the NBA.

That's why I'm not making any deal about what Green has done in the gleague, it's nice, it's cool, but the gleague is SEVERAL levels below the NBA. So many levels that people should not project much of anything from it.

I'm not surprised Green chose to go the gleague either. According to him the pandemic played a role in that decision (didn't know if there would be college games...) and he got paid, makes sense to me...and also we're comparing the gleague to the NCAA because that's the discussion being had.

I think I've proved the point that the NCAA is the better pipeline undoubtedly. You can argue the gleague could be 5,10,15 years from now...but right now, the pick we have in 2021, the NCAA is a great pipeline and has produced many all time players and thus using that against Mobley in any way isn't correct.

 

I'd probably make Ayton bolded at this point. That definitely changes the math by focusing only top 5.

I won't be upset if we draft Mobley but I still think he's the biggest variance and will need the most work to get his body and skills to the NBA level. Mobley is the classic, highest upside pick.

I still think there's enough of chance that Mobley doesn't physically grow into the body we hope he will. Hopefully Stone and Co will measure how broad Mobley's frame is. I don't see the type of shoulders/frame that AD and JJ Jr have but that is best left determined to GMs.

 

My main concern is Mobley's drive. Listening to the kid do interviews he sounds very intelligent and very poised. The one thing that keeps a big man with skills from getting to that next step and taking the leap is the drive. Looking at the list I made that's what has kept Okafor from being better than he is. Gordon and Favors have been solid players throughout their careers. At worst you end up busting with Mobley not because of his size or skillset but probably because of his drive/determination. Of course I don't know the kid nor have watched him but that's the one intangible I would focus on because Cade, Jalen and Evan are all very skilled.

 

And in the end, you need a team.

I feel like people are devaluing big man so much these days it's getting to extreme levels. People will say "Trey young is carrying the Hawks" and they literally just won a game without him...and at the same time they ignore that Giannis is the best player on the Bucks and has his team in the ECF...

Yeah AD needed Lebron...and Lebron needed AD too, Lebron knows that, otherwise he wouldn't have been tampering to get him to LA.

Hawks are also where they are at because of Huerter and Collins and Capela and Gallo...like they didn't make it to the ECF playing only guards and forwards lol.

But you are right, it's been some time since a SG has led a team to the finals. Kobe and Iverson were the last ones basically.

 

I’ve always been a firm believer that Defense wins championships. I don’t care what sport it is

-Roc Paint