[Poll] The Higher Ceiling: Mobley or Jabari?

Mobley averaged almost 3 asst a game he definitely can playmake.

He has a way more advanced dribble game.

 

Jabari.

Jabari is capable of being a great defender just like Mobley but maybe won't ever be the rim protector he is.

But his offense, even without a great handle, is miles better than anything Mobley has going on.

Imo, all three of the top big men prospects in this draft have higher ceilings than Mobley. Not a knock on Mobley, but I think this worked out better for the Rockets.

 

Jabari Smith > Mobley all day everyday!

 

I think Mobley has the higher ceiling (whether or not he gets there who knows?)... but i think Jabari will probably have the longer more productive career.

 

How is his offense better when all he has is a jumpshot?

So now being a good 3-point shooter makes you better on offense?

So JJ Reddick was a better offensive player than DeRozan?

Y'all really need to stop disrespecting Mobley.

 

I don't even want to vote in this because it's unnecessary. Mobley is awesome and will continue to be awesome. I hope Jabari will do the same.

 

I think if they took mobely last year they would have taken Ivey so it's going to be green vs Ivey and Davis vs mobely

 

Like the attitude

 

Anyone with access have the top 5 order?

 

Agree, for the time being

The ceiling isn’t a fixed measure. It does depend on the present and will change with time, especially when we have vastly more data on one player over the other.

The chances of Smith developing a great handle is probably almost zero. But if he does…

Mobley developing a 42% 3 pt shot is probably not almost zero. And if he does…

We have one NBA season of Mobley to judge while we have none for Smith… so it’s not a fair question to be honest. But hey, it’s fun to guess.


Ps. I had Mobley over Green and it wasn’t even that close to me. Glad I was wrong.

 

1. Cade Cunningham
2. Scottie Barnes
3. Evan Mobley

Mobley was my top rookie for a large portion of the season until Barnes caught him at the end. Why? In a word: defense. Mobley had a legitimate case for All-Defense as a rookie, carrying Cleveland to a top-seven defense with center Jarrett Allen. He fell just short of that level for me because the team’s defense struggled a bit when Allen missed the latter portion of the season, thus showcasing that he was a bit more of a driver of the Cavs’ elite defense than Mobley. By the time Mobley is 23 years old, he is going to be a perennial member of the NBA’s All-Defense team, and I would be surprised if he doesn’t end up winning a Defensive Player of the Year award in his career. He’s so much of what the modern NBA is looking for from its bigs: He’s switchable, he’s incredibly intelligent as a help defender, and he’s a terrific shot blocker whose 1.7 blocks per game was sixth-best in the league.

He falls a level below Cunningham and Barnes as a building block for me because I need to see a little bit more from him as a shot creator and as a shooter. He averaged 15 points and eight rebounds, but most of that offense came out of traditional actions for bigs: as a cutter or dunker-spot guy, as a roller toward the rim, as a transition trailer and as a traditional spot-up shooter. This year, the shooting was a particular worry. Mobley made just 29 percent of his catch-and-shoot attempts and 38 percent of his pull-up shots, per Synergy. That’s the next step in his development; he needs to be able to make shots. But at the end of the day, Mobley is a future All-NBA guy, much like Cunningham and Barnes. It’s picking nits to choose between the three.

4. Jalen Green

I had Green No. 4 on my pre-draft board, and he stays there following a rookie season filled with some struggles early, then some spectacular play late as he adjusted to the speed of the game as a shot maker. Most shot creators and shot makers like Green tend to struggle early on. It’s exceptionally hard to be 20 years old and responsible for operating out of ball screens and out of isolation to get clean looks. Green always has had the athleticism to get loose from defenders in addition to terrific touch — his explosiveness in regard to his first step is real, and he has incredible body control — but he hasn’t really had that final level of polish and craft as a shooter or finisher. This season, Green shot just 51 percent at the rim in half-court settings. Per Synergy, among the 209 players leaguewide to take at least 100 attempts at the basket in those settings, Green finished 170th in terms of efficiency. On top of that, up until Jan. 31, Green was one of the more inefficient pull-up shooters in the league. Among the 122 players in the NBA to take at least 100 pull-up jumpers prior to Jan. 31, Green’s 36.4 effective field-goal percentage was 112th-best. Additionally, he was really rough defensively early on.

But in the back half of the season — you can pinpoint his final 32 games — Green was outstanding and showed exactly why the Rockets drafted him at No. 2. He averaged 20.7 points and 3.1 assists per game over that time while shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 39 percent from 3. He got more comfortable attacking and driving for fouls, and he played more at his own pace. He slowed down and, instead of recklessly attacking, developed a plan for how to get to his spots. These are the strides that all great scoring guards need to make early in their careers, and it’s a testament to Green that he was able to do it so quickly. I like the two-way prowess of the three players ahead of him a bit more in regard to being an impact playoff player, but Green is the fourth guy here I would expect to make an All-NBA team at some point.

5. Franz Wagner
6. Josh Giddey
7. Jonathan Kuminga
8. Jalen Suggs
9. Davion Mitchell
10. Trey Murphy
11. Herb Jones
12. Moses Moody
13. Ziaire Williams
14. Alperen Sengun

Sengun was incredibly productive this season, averaging roughly 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes per game. Realistically, he has upside offensively, simply because of his dexterity with the ball in his hands. He sees angles in a rare way that allows him to make plays both on the block and out on the perimeter out of dribble-handoffs. He can handle the ball for a big. He’s physical inside and holds his ground well despite being a bit undersized for the center position.

So why is he here? I have some significant concerns about how his defense is going to translate to playing high-leverage playoff minutes. While Jalen Green got better defensively throughout the year, I thought Sengun was a mess the whole season on that end. I think Stephen Silas probably should have just played him more and dealt with the growing pains, but I also understand to an extent why Silas felt like he couldn’t trust Sengun to execute. His lateral foot speed is bad, and his overall footwork needs improvement. He’s active with his hands, but I think his positioning is subpar. There is a long way to go for Sengun to reach any sort of reasonable level on the defensive end to where he wouldn’t be a liability in a playoff series. It’s a testament to how good I think his offense is that he still rates this highly on the board.

I maintain some real questions regarding how Sengun will translate in the moments that matter most, and when drafting, I tend to value guys whom I see as “16-game players” more than “82-game players.” Maybe Sengun can develop into the former — he’s extremely young and very skilled — but he’s much more on his way to the latter right now.

15. Chris Duarte
16. Corey Kispert
17. Tre Mann
18. Bones Hyland
19. Isaiah Jackson
20. Ayo Dosunmu

Others
James Bouknight, Charlotte Hornets | Original Selection: No. 11
Joshua Primo, San Antonio Spurs | Original Selection: No. 12
Kai Jones, Charlotte Hornets | Original Selection: No. 18
Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks | Original Selection: No. 20
Quentin Grimes, New York Knicks | Original Selection: No. 25
Josh Christopher, Houston Rockets | Original Selection: No. 24: I liked a lot of what I saw from Christopher this season as an athletic wing who plays hard on both ends. He’s a bit more energy than skill right now, but he can handle and get into the lane in advantage situations. He also plays pretty hard as an on-ball defender. He needs to improve as a shooter and off-ball defender.

Cam Thomas, Brooklyn Nets | Original Selection: No. 27
Isaiah Livers, Detroit Pistons | Original Selection: No. 42
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Oklahoma City Thunder: No. 32
Kessler Edwards, Brooklyn Nets | Original Selection: No. 44
Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers and Jose Alvarado, New Orleans Pelicans | Original Selection: Undrafted

 

Jabari makes Mobley look like a Jabroni

 

One is Bosh the other is KD. Easy choice

 

Smith. Mobley isn't particularly dangerous offensively in the last 2 minutes while Smith is amongst the most dangerous weapons you can have in that position. Jabari also has that Klay-ish can catch fire and reduce your team to ash in a single quarter thing that Mobley will never have. And he's a fantastic defender.

Mobley has played in the league though so if you take that into account then Mobley is the answer. Obviously. But if we're talking ceilings? Smith for sure.

 

the ultimate @D-rock wetdream

 

Once KPJ is gone, sign Mobley (and his brother) to the Rockets.

Green
Smith
Mobley
Sengun

 

Dosunmu at #20 is a joke.

Suggs in top 10 was also funny.

 

Future tip. If you have an iPhone just use reader mode the aA on left side of the url which displays the whole article.

 

Because of his height and length, he can arguably get his great jump shot off against anyone. Very few players with a deadly jumper can make that claim.

The potential for that is pretty rare.

 

Mobley is fantastic but Smith is a Rocket so gonna go Jabari.

Green will be the best player out of that historical 21 draft that will feature multiple hall of famers.