Defense is about mindset first, effort second. Green is a decent 1v1 defender but he is very poor recognizing switches, rotations or even when to go under or over defending PnR. And expends so much energy and attention on offense, when he gets tired he will rest on defense. You don't become a dog on defense via practice, you need to live and breathe defense. Take absolute pride in it - so much so that even when you have absolutely nothing left you are still able to dig down to your utmost core and find the last remaining erg left in your body to make that 1 critical stop.
Mobley doesn't play half ass. He literally carried USC to the Elite Eight, a program that hasn't sniffed that rarified air for 2 decades.
Wings, not SGs, are the common denominator for recent championships. Green is a SG. Perhaps if Green were positionless, like Durant, Kawhi, Butler, Harden, etc. I would be less concerned. Or perhaps if he could switch on defense worth a damn I would be more excited. Otherwise the Rockets are going nowhere with a core of Porter-Green-Wood who are not good on defense. I dont care if they average 150 if team also giving up 155. And finally, who on Rockets coaching staff is going to instill the DOG in Green to be better defender? Rockets staff talk defense but they do little to teach it or instill pride in it.
USC's best season in FIFTY years, and that team was carried by Mobley. Marinate on that for a second.
Was there another lottery pick player on that USC team that I didnt know about? If anyone was blessed with surrounding talent it was Green and Suggs.
Empty stats, Ignite were not even competitive. Green will be fun to watch and have plenty of ESPN highlights, like Lavine and Beal, but will he bring us WINS? That matters more to me.
That's easy to say, much harder to do. Winning is a culture, not a spigot. Cannot just turn it on/off on schedule or a whim.
USC had a great team obviously bro for making it as far as they did and Evan Mobley having the luxury of having bad games and them still winning. And Jalen Green played on a team of professionals so again pretty obvious he had talent around him. So lottery pick is the barometer for talent? No need to get all riled up my guy.
What does that have to do with what I noted? You said he doesn't work on defense. That doesn't appear to be true. You don't know that for sure, neither do I, but I see that he improved for sure, implying he did. So why were you making stuff up?
More than one scout and analyst has made mention of him not busting ass every play. Go back and watch the Gonzaga game and count how many points Timme scored just by out hustling Mobley down the court. Seriously the way you exalt Mobley he should be a no doubt #1 pick. Its curious.
I've read this as well from multiple sources. Doesn't seem like a high motor guy. Just used to being taller and more skilled than everyone else. Green looks like much more of a gym rat and competitor. But I'm frankly tired of all offense and no defense around these parts after you know who. Give me some winners. Not some stat padders and not some stiffs who get by on their size vs pipsqueaks.
You have previously stated that examples of Mobley's "bad games" were games that he had near double doubles (10/8 & 10/13). The college game is really not at all conducive to big numbers from post players (for example, Joel Embiid averaged 11/8 as a 7 foot, 250 pound center. KAT averaged 10/7 at a similiar size. Even AD's number aren't amazing averaging 14/10). These bad games are pretty much on par with some of the best big's average college game. See below*. AD's freshman year: 32 mpg - 14.2 ppg - .623 fg% - .150 3pt% - 10.4 rebounds - 1.3 assists - 4.7 blocks - 1.3 steals - National champion KAT's freshman year: 21 mpg - 10.3 ppg - .566 fg% - .250 3pt% - 6.7 rebounds - 1.1 assists - 2.3 blocks - .5 steals - National champion Embiid's freshman year: 23 mpg - 11.2 ppg - .626 fg% - .200 3pt% - 8.1 rebounds - 1.4 assists - 2.6 blocks - .9 steals - Elite 8 Ayton's freshman year: 33.5 mpg - 20.1 ppg - .612 fg% - .343 3pt% - 11.6 rebounds - 1.6 assists - 1.9 blocks - .6 steals - Round of 64 Mobley's freshman year: 33.9 mpg - 16.4 ppg - .578 fg% - .300 3pt% - 8.7 rebounds - 2.4 assists - 2.9 blocks - .8 steals - Elite 8 * top 2 are bolded As you can see, Mobley stacks up well with recent big men that warranted top picks. I think everyone will agree that it is probably too much to expect that Mobley is going to be a top scorer in the NBA like Green could easily be. I think there is every reason to believe that he would live up to being the second pick in the draft. Addendum: I am using statistics mostly because I dont want to get caught up in opinions about what play was someone truly hustling or whether a specific highlight was cherrypicked. And, for the record, USC had the 24th most difficult schedule in the NCAA (https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other).
I have a hard time calling someone a high motor player when they give no effort whatsoever on defense like Green. Sure he's an effort guy when it comes to padding his scoring stats, but you don't find that drive anywhere else in his game.
