The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the 2021-22 season with high hopes. They do not expect to be a playoff team this year, but Cavs fans everywhere are excited about the potential of this highly promising young group of players. As it turns out, it looks like the Cavs have now unearthed that next Kevin Garnett/Chris Bosh.
This comes in the form of rookie sensation Evan Mobley who himself has taken the NBA by storm in his first few games. According to Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Mobley reminds him of the Minnesota Timberwolves legend:
“It’s a Flip Saunders zone that I watched a lot when I was in Minnesota,” Bickerstaff said, via Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. “Seeing Evan’s ability to move through that made me think of when K.G. was playing at the top of that zone. That position he plays in that zone is not an easy position. You’ve got to quarterback it from the front and also see and be aware of what’s behind you. The way he picks up things, you tell him something and he goes and does it, and that’s not common for young players.”
There’s no denying that Bickerstaff has a lot of bias, but it’s also true that he was a first-hand witness of KG’s prime in Minnesota.
In the mind of a more neutral source, Mobley has the makings of Chris Bosh’s second coming. According to former NBA executive John Hollinger of The Athletic, the Cavs youngster is living up to all the preseason hype:
“Projecting bigs from the NCAA is always challenging because of the differences in styles of play, but it appears early on that all the hype about Mobley as a Chris Bosh 2.0 is legit. If anything, it might have been undersold. In a league that otherwise has grown to devalue most big men, Mobley seems to be the much-coveted unicorn big who can comfortably play on the perimeter at both ends while having enough size, length and athleticism to protect the rim and dive on rolls to the basket.”
These are some high praise for Cleveland’s 20-year-old stud, who so far, has been quite impressive to start the campaign. On Monday, Mobley helped the Cavs defeat reigning league MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, 99-87.
Mobley might not win Rookie of the Year this season, but it’s perfectly clear that the sky is the limit for this young fellow.