There is a bigger likelihood that the Rockets dragged Mobley down into an abyss than your assumption.
So? There's been organic growth in their players as well since then The cavs have 3 players with borderline all star cases (Allen, Mobley, Garland). The Rockets have...0. Look at the first 4 game stretch where Mobley went out. Cavs went 0-4. Must be all Mobley! No wait they played the 3 best teams in the league at the time (BKY, GSW, PHX) when the latter 2 were red hot. Now look at the last stretch he missed, the Cavs went 3-1. Because Allen and Garland are way better than Wood and Green/kpj - that's not even debatable. Even in non Mobley lineups in the games he plays, the cavs -3 net rating is way better than Houston's -8.6. It's not even close.
You're pissing into the wind trying to reason with folk who's mind is made up. It's not about Darius Garland playing like a Top 5 PG in the league or Jarrett Allen being a borderline All Star rim protector. There was someone who legitimately thought that the Rockets, with a PG who is probably not even in the top 45 in the league at the position and the worst defensive big in the league, would be a play-in contender with Evan Mobley. A rookie that is middling at best offensively. Maybe Evan would block shots so hard they'd bank in from the opposite side of the court and count as 3 pointers.
Also it’s hard to take you seriously on this when one of the 3 wins without Mobley you are referencing was against the ROCKETS who you are trashing. The other two were against the Bucks without Giannis, Middleton, or Holiday and a Raptors team that could barely dress enough to play. If Mobley was here Wood would look substantially better and probably have an all star case.
I think Wall would be playing if we’d drafted Mobley and would be adequate and Christian Wood would be substantially better. Mobley would help KPJ too. We were playing play-in caliber ball without Jalen. We’d absolutely be in the Kings and Spurs tier if you replaced Green with Mobley. The year to year growth of the Cavs is way more than just guys improving. Mobley is a big part of why that’s happened. I understand why CF is irrational about not giving Mobley credit, though.
we have no real point guard. Mobley isn't one. delusional to think just him being here would make Wood look substantially better. A big man that doesn't like to play D or set picks.
Jalen is going to take another step or two forward once he plays in a system that doesn't force him to create his own offense in 1 on 1 iso situations. Imagine how much better he would look if the opposing defense was helping off one another trying to keep up with an offense that swings the ball end-to-end. It would give Jalen open lanes to use his quick first-step, rather than having to invent his own offense because CWood refuses to pass before he grips the ball for 10 seconds. I just don't know how some of you can look at our offense and the main takeaway is to shift blame towards Jalen. Our guys don't know where to stand, when to cut, who to pass to... Have some damn patience. This roster absolutely sucks. Let's see how the roster pans out over the next season or two before we declare him a disappointment.
And thats not even close to the Cavs without Mobley. But it's not relevant to my point re the Cavs anyway? They're a much better team than Houston even without Mobley.
