Systems matter too. Rockets play a much more up tempo and wide open style then the Cavs. Offense will be much easier for our young guns. That said, I was okay with drafting Green as long as Rockets also picked 2 of Kai Jones, Usman Garuba, Alperen Sengun, Jalen Johnson. And Josh Christopher was a huge surprise. Was not a fan at first but quickly warmed up based on his offensive upside. I am SHOCKED how good he already looks defensively.
Just like the Green and Sengun videos I posted, this is not just a highlight package. Show both the good and bad.
Let’s not hate on Mobley, definitely has some flashes of being a special player. That dunk and block on Sengun was cool, he might become like an Embiid.
Embiid had superstar potential from Day 1. His injuries slowed him down. Mobley isn't near his class. I'm not saying he can't become an all star in a few years.
Ya Embid's offensive game was far more refined than Mobley's coming into the league. Embid already had so many refined go to moves entering the league with a decent jump shot.
Become like an Embiid is saying he isn’t now nor that he’s exactly like Embiid. Just meant similar in terms of defense, being able to be a serious threat on offense and something special.
Defensively, he will be excellent on the perimeter. His shot blocking will be very good. He is a below average rebounder for now. He might become an Embiid Lite. Embiid is a nasty big. Evan needs to get bigger and tougher, before he can become special.
Here’s the thing with Mobley. He’s never had to work hard for anything his entire life. His family has sheltered and handed him every basketball opportunity possible. The guy is a 60% free throw shooter and practically a zero as an offensive threat. He might evolve a strong roll game with some defense, but that makes him a skinny version of Deandre Jordan.
I think he flashed his potential. There were a few times where he quite successfully ran the fast break...as a center. A few times he showed he could swap onto guards. A couple of times where he faced up and attacked the rim...so he still flashed that 'unicorn' potential. He's a big so its going to take longer for him to put it togeter but it's not like he was out there dribbling the ball off his foot or anything. I think my reaction of mobley is there was nothing that surprised me. Like we know he was going to get pushed around and needs to add on weight, that's nothing new. Means his interior game is going to suffer at times but the man still had 3 blocks. Mobley was as advertised, not many scouting reports said he'd be ready out of the box on offense. Shot needs work, low post game needs work, face up needs work...but what he does well he definitely flashed that, his passing and handles and defense definitely impacted the game last night.
I think my former point wasn't that big men are marginalized in this league which they are to an extent but in Mobley's case was that he had to bulk up and had to figure out how to incorporate the tweener mentality to his game. That takes a lot of time. The way you advocated for him was a surprise, not saying he won't develop. He sure looks even thinner than Bosh for now and Bosh wasn't a clear cut Center in the beginning. Overall it was a good draft for many, Scottie Barnes also had a very good showing.
With Mobley though its there. When he put the ball on the ground it looked good, when he decided to shot it wasn't horrible, he even had a move where he drove in from the three point line and put up a floater, dudes this big just don't do that on the regular. He was leading a few fast breaks out there too which just isn't normal for guys this big. I don't think he lokoed bad at all, what he failed at in that game is what people expected him to fail at. Interior low post defense and this was mostly against an aggressive low post player who he won't even see most nights if it's not Jokic or Embiid, most NBA centers won't give him many issues down there because most NBA centers nowdays have close to no low post offense...and even still one of those blocks came against a pretty good move by Sengun that he stuffed. I don't think Mobley looked bad at all but I kind of knew advocating him vs Green is going to be tough because Green is going to come into the league scoring points while Mobley will be a much more defensive/intangible player until he gets his offense down and the latter isn't apreciated as much. Also yeah. I would not be surprised if Barnes turns out to be the best player in the draft when its all said and done. I hope I'm wrong and its Green but Barnes really does check every box.
Mobley’s potential is very intriguing. I’m a fan of guys with his defensive IQ and ability to play the hub so I by now means want to come off as a hater. But there are some concerns I have about him and his fit to the team. one is his rebounding. If you want him to play the solo bug like Sengun played you would expect him to board a bit better. He seemed timid and not always boxing people out. This has plagued him even in college. If you have to play a second big with him to protect the paint and clean the glass then the offense and spacing would go to complete hell if Mobley can’t shoot. Which leads to my second point. if you’re forced to play a big with him can Mobley shoot at a respectable enough volume and percentage to keep defenses honest. Last night showed his touch but not his conversion. lastly his defense. He was touted by all as switchable but I distinctly remember two instances where Green and Christopher just blew past him. If he’s not guarding the perimeter as well as advertised and can’t shoot you open yourself up to allowing the other team to get away with small lineups. Which is actually happened yday. Christopher and Martin were both guarding Mobleyin the paint without getting abused.
While the majority of this board including myself likely agrees with your sentiment, there were many posters that were, and likely still are, absolutely convinced Mobley was the right pick and there were several of them who argued it was going to be a HUGE mistake taking Green over him... And now they're going to take major heat for that opinion, at least in the short term, as Green is clearly (IMO this was obvious a month(s) ago) more NBA ready than Mobley and therefore there's a 99% chance he's going to outperform him in the box score on a nightly basis... So yeah...I can guarantee you that won't be happening ANY time soon.
He looked exactly how I thought he would tbh. No "advanced guard skills." No "top finisher in the NBA day one." No "he does things no other bigs do on the court." No "he has a post game, a face up game and a long range game in his bag, day 1." No "he'll dominate defending 1-5." No "he's positionless, RIGHT NOW." He's a very skinny, tall big, who plays like a stretch 4 without the shooting. His handles and passing are decent for a big (though way less impressive than Sengun's so if this is "unicorn" is Sengun one?) and he's a solid defender who switches well but can't really rebound. Also seemed very timid/quiet on the court outside of that one really nice beast dunk play, which definitely seems to land more in the "his motor is questionable" category than not. He could definitely eventually become a very good player, but he looked so raw out there I almost laughed at how opposite he was to the Mobley Mob's "every scout thinks this so you're stupid" assertions. Sengun made him look average in comparison.
Everybody knows that Mobley is going to flash on D first then the offense will come later. He has huge potential and is going to be solid, especially as a big who can switch. But Jalen did his thing and showed us what he has in store. You really don't have to s*** on one to big up the other. Similar to what people did in relation to Steph, Lebron, when comparing him to Harden
Ha there are multiple posters who would probably deep down prefer to see their "favorite team" suffer if it means they were correct (i.e. Green flops while Mobley becomes a star) and able to tell the Green fans how stupid they are...and more importantly, they can then complain about how stupid Tillman is and Stone not being as good of a GM as their lover Morey.
