Love your sense of humor @ApacheWarrior, do not ever change. None of those guys you listed including Amir Johnson will ever be in same sentence as a Unicorn. That was a lot of typing for nothing.
Shooting is the easiest skill to improve in NBA. Ask Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard. Both known more for their defense during their respective drafts.
The unicorn gets labeled pretty freely nowadays. Durant......Porzingis.......Giannis.......now Mobley. But how many unicorns are there really? Some might say Thor is a unicorn, Europeans are saying Roko Prkacin is a unicorn, Kai Jones may be a unicorn or Garuba? It's becoming the norm. I would take Amir going up against Evan Mobley as a true test of being NBA ready than any of the guys listed. And I would take Stauskas/Gary Payton II as a barometer for whether Jalen Green is ready for the NBA over Alfonso Plummer and Tyger Campbell any day. Easy to exploit guys on a college roster that will never make it into the NBA or just wish they could make it into the G-league vs G-league players who were once college players themselves or former NBA players who have a plethora of knowledge. In time we will see who is right; but not tonight. Take care, and keep going on with your bad self. The world needs more down to earth people like yourself. Life would be boring if all of us were the same. P.S. Curry, Morant, CP3, Westbrook, Fox, and all the NBA point guards will be salivating to mount Evan Mobley's head on their wall as they hear so much of this great 7 footer coming out of college. They all want to take him down, I guarantee you that. And I don't think Embiid, KAT, Vuc, Valanciunas, Brook Lopez, Gobert, D Howard, and all the bigs in the NBA are quaking in their boots at the sight of Evan Mobley. They will look forward on leaning on him all game to wear him down like no one in college or highschool ever could. Welcome to the big leagues young man. He is going to find out it's not like playing against the PAC-12.....everyone can play at that level. Isaiah Mobley isn't going to cover his backside like he did in highschool and college (unless the team drafts both). His NBA team better have some muscle to protect in the game or will be exposed.
Based on an exhaustive study of internet scouting works, I put the Rockets' probability of drafting Mobley at 85%. Except for CF fans who like dribble-drive dunks, and Jalen Green's agent who has put out more smoke screens than game of Spy Hunter, no one else thinks Green is going top 2.
Not to argue the fact , AD shot 15% (3/20) from 3 at Kentucky ..... Mobley 29.8%. But what we have to do is take those numbers in context - Davis lone year at Kentucky was 2011. That's a decade ago .... and the game as well as big men have changed over that period. It wasn't until he was already in the NBA that big men were "required" to develop that skill .... In his first three seasons in the NBA he shot 6 , 9 & 12 3 point shots TOTAL. Then in 2016 he was 35/108 (32.4%). He's only had 1 season where he shot better than 34% from three .... shot only 26% this past year. Mobley is better shooting the three ..... but just about everywhere else , you'd have to give the edge to AD and really its not even close statistically .... Shooting percentage - AD EFG - AD Blocks - AD FT% - AD Rebounds - AD Steals - AD. PER - AD Win shares - AD Anthony Davis College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Evan Mobley College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
So what you are saying here is that you believe an uneven college season (Mobley) has a better chance of translating to the NBA than a standout year in the G-League (Green)? This is further proof of what most informed onlookers already know; a prime reason Mobley is in this conversation relative to Green is the enduring college bias. Currently that is working in the Rockets favor as I believe it is the only reason Green isn't the consensus number 1 pick. I pray we don't screw it up.
Why shouldn't there be a college bias when it's worked this entire time? Why should a bubble gleague season of what...16 games, hold much more weight than a NCAA season? Didn't we just see guys play out of their minds during an NBA bubble and then look rather ordinary out of it?
No , not what I was alluding to at all .... What I was getting at is that despite the fact that Mobley has a better percentage from 20'8" (NCAA 3) , Davis was a much more polished prospect on both ends of the court after his one year at Kentucky. Literally every statistical category , both offensive and defensive proves that point. And lets be honest and put things in context - In that time period (2012-2015), teams weren't running plays to get big men open looks from 3 point land , a big man taking those shots was likely because he had to , late in the shot clock or some other negative. They were bad shots - hence Davis only attempting 27 total 3 point shots in 3 NBA seasons. The biggest difference in Davis shooting .111 over that first 3 years and ~.330 since is that he's getting "Good looks" within a more modern offense ....
It wasn't a standout 15 games. He did alright offensively, but nothing spectacular. He scored about as well as Martin did for the Vipers. Is Green an NBA prospect? Of course, and that's all it takes to do moderately well in the G league. His performance wasn't anything special given the low level of competition.
Not arguing against g league vs college competition per se, but why is this keep popping up against Mobley. Do the Green gang also think Green is better than Cade, since Cade played in college and thus Cade's College stats means less? The rebrand has done wonders, if we go back to the old name and call it the d-league instead of g-league. Then as a bullet point, it all of sudden wouldn't sound that great.
https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2021...eland-cavaliers-plans-with-jarrett-allen.html Most scouts and executives that spoke with cleveland.com over the last few days have been quick to label Mobley a 4, not a 5, thanks to his mobility, perimeter game, quick feet, athleticism, defensive versatility and rare ball-handling prowess for a 7-footer. Think 11-time All-Star Chris Bosh when he entered the NBA. Even Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, who has repeatedly talked about his preference for playing the 4 as opposed to the 5. The Lakers won a title that way last year. Perhaps Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr., who looks best alongside burly Jonas Valanciunas. In this pace-and-space era, many bigs have lost value. But Mobley isn’t the typical big. He’s a perimeter-oriented 7-footer who will never get played off the court in a future playoff series. There isn’t another prospect in this year’s draft who brings Mobley’s skill set. Few in the last half-decade do. Sources say the Cavs believe Mobley can thrive at 4 or 5.
That is a huge part of my argument for Mobley. I like Jalen Green. I think he is an exciting player with potential to be a lead the league type scorer. But his game does not necessarily begat winning. Lavine is my comp for Green but even if you add somebody like Beal, neither guys are winners. Sure their teams may not be filled with talent but neither are the Rockets unfortunately. Green will score and be exciting but if you're losing what's the point? I think Mobley is sort of like a force multiplier. His ability to defend at the rim covers for some of other guys lack of defensive abilities. His ability to switch allows him to stay on the court, and the Rockets to maintain a size advantage, even when teams go small or try to get him on the perimeter. Plus his passing is severely underrated here which, again, makes the players around him better. It is not often that the Rockets will pick this high. They need to walk away from this draft with a guy that makes winning again easier to achieve. I think if they select Green they are getting one good, possibly great, player. If they select Mobley they get one good, possibly great, player that also makes others on the team better. I am, and have always been, willing to admit that I may be wrong. We don't know enough about basketball in general and these kids in particular to know what the right pick is. But that is my thought on the matter. Flame away.
I’m back on the Mobley train! Draft this kid, even if he doesn’t develop into a franchise changing star, he’s still the most unique player on the board.
Exactly. I keep saying this, it's like suddenly the NCAA is bad at developing players..when it's the opposite actually, now we see international prospects come TO THE NCAA just to develop... But now all of a sudden it's bad and can be used against a prospect? The same league that has produced Durant, Curry, Duncan, Jordan, Kareem, Hakeem, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc? Yeah, I don't know, if anything there should be a bias for NCAA, it's a proven method that's produced superstars.
The foolhardy bravado of every troglodyte left behind in time. The same argument used to hold on to the "eye test over information" ideology. The same argument used again drafting underclassmen. The same argument used against drafting Euros. Fortunately Stone seems to be a bit more forward thinking and data receptive than some of those mentally stagnated relics who were so averse to change.
