How dare you make a list of the standout players of this class and not include the great one, Josh Christopher!?!?! And hell, Sengun might be an all-star one day too.
I’ll be honest I have never really watched Scottie. How does he typically manage his points? Does he have a real offensive game that he can create shots for himself?
Yup, of course 4 games is a small sample size, but for rookies it sometimes shows these glimpses of what they can become. Consistency comes with experience, but these little streaks gives hope and sometimes insight.
Mobley definitely plays on a better coached team with a better system and better players. Garland and JA are all star caliber this season and last season so was Sexton. But fact remains that Cavs had same talent last season sans Mobley but were not nearly as successful let alone challenging for top of East. Mobley has been a critical addition to the playoff bound Cavs this season, especially on defense. Cavs are not top 5 defensively without Mobley. But Mobley is also the 4th or 5th option if Cavs starting lineup is healthy while Green is no less than 3rd option on Rockets, just compare their touches and usage. If Mobley were on THIS Rockets team, Rockets would be markedly better defensively without question AND Mobley's offensive output would be even better than on Cavs because he'd be more featured on Rockets offense. That said, Mobley is still winning ROY handily despite his and his team's struggles after AS break.
This would be a semi-accurate statement if Cavs' main rotation players were all in their prime. They aren't. Almost everyone of them got significantly better this year. Mobley is good but acting like he is the reason the Cavs' are this good now is pretty stupid considering how young their core is and the possibility of them getting better. Confirmation bias. You want Mobley to be the reason the Cavs are good. In other News: Steven Adams is the reason why the Grizzlies are so good this year. Without him they wouldn't be a top 3 team in the NBA. It couldn't possibly be that Morant , Bane and JJJ took a massive jump this year. See how stupid this sounds?
LOL Comparing Adams to Mobley just so you could stretch your ridiculous point was hilarious. No one ever called Steven Adams a unicorn. And reading is fundamental. I did not say Mobley was SOLE reason for Cavs recent success but that his addition was just as critical as the improvements of Garland, JA, Okoro, etc.
You realize that empty calorie assists, and rebounds also exist right? A guy on the Thunder from a few years ago mastered the art and he was on this team for a while. Among players that average over 7 rebounds a game (there are 54 of them), Giddey has the 9th lowest contested rebounding rate (28.7%). Russell Westbrook and Christian Wood fights for more of their rebounds than Giddey. For comparison, Sengun, who average 5 rebounds a game, contests 47% of his rebounds. Giddey is also top 20 in the league in touches (19th in fact). He has as many touches as Ja Morant in 2 fewer minutes, and more touches than even Chris Paul. He has by far the lowest scoring rate among the top 50 players in touches (and not even bringing up his scoring efficiency), but his assist numbers put him only at 22nd in the league. So he has an insane amount of touches, but scores very few points with it, and generates roughly a similar amount of assists as would be expected for his touches (technically even less assist than his touches, but we'll ignore that). And before you talk about his teammates missing shots, his potential assist put him at 23rd in the league, despite being 19th in touch. You want to talk about empty calorie numbers? Maybe the guy who dominates the ball and does so little with it. Kevin Porter Jr, who many believe (with good reason) is not a point guard, averages the same number of assists as Giddey, with far fewer touches (69 to 78), but KPJ also scores a bit more points, and much more efficiently as well. As underwhelming as KPJ has been for most of the season, he still does more with the amount of opportunities he is given than Giddey.
Giddey has a lower TS% (by a lot) than Westbrook. We laugh at Westbrook's shooting. Giddey is actually worse. His per 36 min. rebounding and assist numbers are very close to Westbrook's. I still like Giddey's game. I'd give him some slack as a rookie. I am almost certain that he will turn out to be a more impactful player than Westbrook. But his shooting is a glaring weakness. If he doesn't fix it in his first few years, he will likely have a career similar to Rubio's.
Jalen's bag of tricks is expanding. He'd already mixed in hesitation dribbles and eurosteps to get to the rim recently. Yesterday, he had two good finishes over Gobert in the paint: one a smooth fake/fadeaway and another where he had pivot a couple of times to finish. That's not easy over that caliber of defender. He's also been mixing in some midrange shots, which I like for his development. Can't complain about anything right now.
With the Rubio comparison, he came out of the gate as a plus defender. Giddey is a subpar defender and he has a lot of work to be done in this department. He does deserve slack since he is a rookie, but the numbers he is putting up right now are reminding me of Westbrook numbers, except with even worse offense (both in terms of playmaking and scoring). Ball dominant, bad defender, really bad scorer and an average to decent passer. However, like Westbrook, he puts up a triple double and these glaring weaknesses are completely overlooked because of it.
Mobley would be coming off the bench behind one C Wood. Because I doubt Houston trades up to get Sengun if they draft Mobley #2
Mobley would play alongside Wood at the 4 spot. Just like he does for Cavs and even prior to that with USC. Mobley is special as 7 foot perimeter player. Not so much as a 5. At least not for a few years. And the smart teams draft talent over position, unique talent moreso. I advocated drafting Mobley AND Sengun prior to draft. Cavs drafted Mobley even after giving JA a big contract. Pacers drafted center Isaiah Jackson even with BOTH Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis on roster. Sixers also drafted Bassey even with Embiid playing at MVP level and previous draft pick Paul Reed winning G League MVP and ROY last season.
You forgot AD + Ralph. You exaggerate to make a point but let's not forget the ridiculous Kobe + MJ comparisons too, hyperbole abounds for both players. LOL
Rockets would start the season as Porter/Eric Gordon/Tate/Wood/Theis and then Wood would have his meltdown after 9 games and pout then it would be Porter/Eric Gordon/Tate/Mobley/Wood..... but that's if Wood was willing to share the stats of points, Rebs, Blks with Mobley. The first part of this season had been showcasing players for trades. Team probably would not have: Green/Sengun but would probably have: Mobley/Josh Christopher/Garuba and one more rook late 1st Rd. All-in-All the Rockets would probably be too good for top 3 pick and not good enough to win a play-in round game. 30 win mark and picking middle of 1st round. Ohhhh the dreaded NBA purgatory everyone is scared of....oh my!
That's quite the imagination you have there. 2nd round pick would have started, regardless if Jalen Green or Evan Mobley. Theis would not have not have taken Mobley's minutes, that's just laughable. And Tate is better fit at the 3 spot anyway. Porter EGo Tate Mobley Wood That's your starting 5. And the narrative that Mobley steals points, minutes or boards from the 5 is ludicrous. Do you realize that JA is a double double machine and the most efficient offensively AS WELL AS defensively in NBA? And why do you believe Rockets draft Garuba instead of Sengun? If any players are duplicative it is Mobley and Garuba NOT Mobley and Sengun. Rubbish analysis bro, you're much better than this.
