After Tristan Thompson called out the DPOY narrative surrounding Cavs All-Star Evan Mobley and Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green, Cavs All-Star Darius Garland entered the conversation. After Tuesday’s 135-113 blowout win against the Chicago Bulls, Garland spoke out about why Mobley is deserving of winning this year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. He also encouraged Evan to campaign for himself.
Garland went down the list of reasons Mobley is most deserving, per HoodiGarland’s X, formerly Twitter.
“He doesn’t hack. He doesn’t scream at the refs. He goes and blocks shots. His deflection numbers [are] out the roof,” Garland said. “He guards one through five. I mean, what doesn’t he do? He just doesn’t express it how other people express it. If you look at the numbers, if you watch the Cavs games, you see all the impact that he does for us on both sides of the ball, not just defense.
“But, since we’re on DPOY, blocks, deflections, switching out one through five on elite guards. It’s really an elite guard league right now, and he’s switching out on some of the top guards in the league, and really holds his own,” Garland concluded.
Most NBA fans would identify “hacking” and “scream at refs” as synonymous with Green’s antics, which have earned him numerous technical fouls and suspensions throughout his 12-year career. And if who Garland was alluding to wasn’t clear, his podcast take made it transparent.
“That’s just a little bit of my case,” Garland added. “I can go on Twitter, and go on podcasts, and do the same thing for my boy. But, I’m [going to] let him talk his talk whenever he wants to.”
Evan Mobley endorses himself for DPOY after Cavs win
David Richard-Imagn Images
Next to Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama, Cavs All-Star Evan Mobley says he could be the best NBA player within five years. Therefore, seeing Mobley list the reasons he deserved the most to win DPOY wasn’t surprising, and Cavs All-Star Darius Garland knew how to egg him on in stating his case against Draymond Green.
“My biggest thing is a guy my size, my wingspan, my agility; you don’t really see that in the contenders. There’s nobody even close to that,” Mobley said. “And also the stats, as well, speak for itself. The blocks, the fouls, I mean, I don’t foul. Steals, deflections, also, people don’t even go up against me in the paint, so that’s not even a stat. There’s a lot.”
The Cavs will face the Pacers on Thursday.
