ijspeelman wrote:JonFromVA wrote:Fedor and/or the people he quoted were really piling it on Evan in this piece:
https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2022/10/an-nba-championship-for-the-cavs-hall-of-fame-evan-mobley-is-chasing-greatness-and-he-wants-it-all.html
While I'm perfectly fine if Evan develops in to a HOF/franchise player that can lead us to championships, to say that's our only path or to even pile that all on to him disturbs me.
We literally just saw Steph Curry win his second championship and first finals MVP without Kevin Durant, and while we may not have Steph on our team - we have two of the best shooters/scorers/passers in our back-court.
I'm not really sure we need Evan to do a lot more than become a viable floor spacer and fill out our depth if Garland and Mitchell pair well and continue to improve; but I also don't want to see him pigeon-holed, so, if it takes some hyperbole and dreams to make sure that doesn't happen, it's all good.
I definitely want Mobley to become a perennial all-NBA player, but I agree that I don’t think he needs to get there ever (especially offensively) for us to be legit contenders soon. He already brings incredibly impactful defense and this will most likely get even better. Adding some spacing impact would immediately increase his value as well, as you said.
I think we are set-up well in case Mobley is not that guy. Though, currently I do think he is that guy. He’s 21 so we have some time to figure that part out.
Evan had a lot of advantages in his development (dad is a coach, playing against his older brother) and I think that's a big part of why his defense is so advanced for his age - but obviously not the only reason.
He's also only 2 months younger than when Tim Duncan played his first game as a rookie after spending 4 years at Wake, so, when comp'ing him to a HOF'er like TD ... well .. the clock starts ticking now.