Would you rather have Jabari or Mobley in 2026-2030?

I have always thought Mobley was overrated. A lot of his hype was falsely cultivated by the guys at the Ringer, mainly because Simmons hated the Rockets and Fertita so they wanted to raise up Mobley whom the Rockets passed up on. IIRC Mobley won DPOY cuz the Ringer had lots of voters, and when they all moved to the next hotness Mobley got forgotten.

My opinion on Mobley is he is actually a very good role player, IMO a lot better than Jabari. However his salary is more than 2x Jabari and that makes him a lot worse than Jabari. You dont pay role players superstar money. Honestly although 2021 class has so many good players, it also has so many overpaid players its kinda funny. Only Cade and Sengun should be making the max in that class IMO.

In the new CBA, Salary is king. Jabari at 25M is so much better than Mobley it isnt even funny.

 

Mobley needs to be an all-star consistently to be worth his salary.

Salary aside, he is a better basketballer than Jabari Smith right now. If I was a betting man, I'd wager he will be for 5 years.

But I still don't like Mobley's salary...

 

Evan Mobley is a dork.

 

When factoring in salaries, Bari.

 

Admittedly, I only watch the Cavs when they are playing the Rockets and based on that, I have never been impressed with Mobley. He seems dispassionate, soft, and full of empty stats. Give me Jabari, who I know is good for at least a couple of tough rebounds each game, shoots contested shots better, and will bow up on dudes.

Jabari is not perfect by any means, but he continues to improve and I have yet to see him get bullied in a way that changes his mentality.

 

Jabari has nice perks but this reads more like a Rocket ad ......

The Cavs and Mobley have a down year and Jabari should have his best year with the perfect mentor in Durant yet Reed Sheppard has been the guy that got more out of the 37 year old's tutelage, being more at the receiving end. (Relatively speaking as a sophomore vs a 4th yr guy)

 

I'd rather have Mobley all else being equal, but given their respective contracts Jabari is a much better value per cap dollar.

 

Neither, I think their best use-case is as a giant trade piece to a team with goals other than winning a championship.

Can do it with them theoretically and make for good for regular season juggernauts but their value in a playoff series won’t outpace their trade value opportunities cost.

That looks like 2 guys you can attack and 2 guys you can hide a reasonably weak defender on and not worry about them getting their own or forcing you to double and start rotating to the best teams in the league.

Wouldn’t be good ultimate frisbee players. The game is evolving.

 

I guess it's the passion in which Rockets fans are clearly divided over Jabari. There is no world where I would take Mobley over Jabari (unless you're talking about my guy Cuttino )

I'm on the team that thinks Jabari is one of the most important pieces on our team, along with a ceiling comparable to Amen . Bari's ability and willingness to adapt, learn and affirm his presence on the court improves each game.

His relationship with KD has already done wonders for his decision making and understanding how to use his height and skills more efficiently. As he develops his handling more and more, he's going to become a progression of a Durant-lite.

Defensively, he is a workhorse and doesn't shut down after making mistakes.

Obviously there is room for him to develop his shot from the bow to the 3, but he's starting to put it all together, including being a force on the boards.

He should be untouchable unless the offer is a guarantee to the finals. I'll take a player who is consistently improving, coachable and bonded to the Goat in KD over a non-intimidating, inconsistent center who doesn't have nearly the diverse skill set as our JSJ.

It's not close.

 

Mobley is definitely the better player, but when you factor in their contracts, Jabari is the better value.

 

Look at our main iso guys KD and Sengun

Would you be more comfortable with them attacking 1 on 1 an Evan Mobley/Jabari Smith Jr type

or an Alex Caruso/Dillon Brooks type?

now.. are you more comfortable with Sengun or KD guarding a Mobley/Smith Jr type 1 v 1 on perimeter or a Caruso/Brooks type?

These team concept guys worked in the 90s and work in the regular season, then stop working in the conference finals.

 

The Ringer had 5 votes outa the 100. Out of those 5, he got 1 1st place vote, 2 2nd place votes, 1 3rd place, and 1 didn't have him at all. I don't get why you just make up random crap constantly, what's the point?

 

As frustrating as Jabari can be with his inconsistent shooting, one thing I'll give him is that always looks like he legitimately cares about winning when he's on the court. There are times when Mobley looks really disinterested out there. Not what you want from your 54 mil/yr franchise player

 

Factoring in contracts, definitely Jabari...
10+ year starter at the 4 on a bargain deal.

 

I go back and forth on Bari. On one hand I am convinced of his limitations instinctually, athletically, and as a processor. I don’t think the handles will get there, and in year 4 he should be shooting better than 36%. On the other hand, his length, switchability, work ethic, and shooting potential are valuable. He’s also still extremely young and in my experience it always takes big a little longer; have to be patient with them.

But I’d have to take Mobley and here’s why:
size, elite defense and rim protection, and I can project a good mid-range game. Bari isn’t elite at anything and you have to believe he’s gonna end up as a 40% shooter to really pay off. I’m not convinced Bari gets to that level. Maybe if he finishes at 38% this yr I’ll start to believe again, but since he can’t put the ball on the floor he needs to be an elite shooter to be in the conversation with Mobley.

I haven’t looked at Mobley’s contract, but I think he’s worth what Sengun is making.

 

Mobley makes between 30-32% of the cap the next 5 seasons. They got hosed really badly when wemby got injured and Mobley got dpoy. It’s why the jdub injury sucks so much, he’s 5% cheaper because he won’t make all nba.

 

Your last sentence is wild.

 

I like Jabari a lot and I think he's got room for more growth, but I think this is overrating him a little bit (to say it's not even close). That said Mobley at max dollars is a bad value and Jabari at around half of that is a good one.

 

When taking contracts into account? Jabari.

When not taking contracts into account? Jabari.