It was a huge year for USC Trojan alum Evan Mobley. He was a pivotal reason why the Cleveland Cavaliers were the best team in the NBA Eastern Conference in the regular season. His Defensive Player Of The Year Award and his offensive improvement affirmed how good he was. Mobley was limited in the playoffs due to battling injuries, but he still had 17.1 points, 8.1 rebounds per contest and shot 45% from three.
His teammates and everyone in the building believe there is more room for growth for him this season. In a recent Hoops Wire article, writer Ashish Mathur wrote about a new Taylor Rooks interview with Donovan Mitchell and his thoughts on his teammate Evan Mobley being more aggressive.
“Mobley won the Defensive Player of the Year Award and made his first All-Star team last season. He averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks for the Cavaliers during the regular season.
“Evan doesn’t even know what he is yet,” Mitchell said. “I’ve seen it in flashes. The Boston series, when I was out, he was him. Defensive Player of the Year at 23. First-Team All-Defense. But offensively? He’s just scratching the surface. He has it.
“Now it’s about aggression, consistency, demanding the ball. That’s what I keep telling him. No, we need more. Demand it. If I don’t pass you the ball, get on my ass. If DG (Darius Garland) don’t give you the ball, get on his ass.”
Mathur also provided Cleveland general manager Koby Altman’s thoughts on Evan Mobley’s potential ascent.
“We’re going to go as a franchise as Evan is going to go,” Altman said. “We’ve had that conversation with Evan. In the playoffs, we need more. We need more than 13 field goal attempts per game — that’s new for Evan. There’s another jump. And so to that point, Kenny (Atkinson)’s going to be able to implement his offseason program, which we’re very excited about. And we’re going to see some internal growth there, and we think we have one of the best big men in the game in Evan Mobley.”
Evan Mobley had career highs in points per game (18.5) and free throw percentage (72.5) last season. However it is still evident, especially to his teammates, that there is another level he can go to as a scorer. We could see Evan Mobley reach All-Star status once again this next season, but this time as a 20 points per game scorer.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Donovan Mitchell wants USC star Evan Mobley to improve for Cavaliers