basketballRob wrote:Blacksheep25 wrote:whitehops wrote:since ricky rubio has been out the last 12 games, the cavs have a DRTG of 113.8, which would be a bottom-5 defense over the course of the season.
i wonder what that does to mobley's ROY campaign because the current narrative is that he is the reason for their top 3 defense.
Lauri getting hurt tonight and likely out for a month or more pretty much ascertains he wins ROTY now. He was going to anyway, but now it’s a no brainer.
You see the immediate effect on his rebound numbers with 17 tonight. Likely those minutes are spread among guys who play better defense, but take fewer shots. So their defense will look better and his numbers will go up as he is like one of these rookies playing for a bad team like Cade.
He’s shared rebounds with two other 7 footers all year. Lauri takes a decent amount of shots that his replacement likely won’t. More likely his minutes will go to guys who are more traditional SF size, He’ll play a little more center most likely and his minutes will be staggered a little more with Allen, so he’l he contesting less shots on perimeter I’d guess and he scores and rebounds more when he’s at center. Obviously Lauri is a very strange SF, and it sometimes works out, and other times, doesn’t, They’ll have worse spacing, but that will bother other players more than Mobley who doesn’t shoot a lot from behind the arc. He’ll score a few more points a game and grab more rebounds now. He might not actually be more effective, but his counting stats will look like he is.
He’s still the best defensive rookie by a million miles. He will be scoring as much as any of them and rebounding more. It’s his award barring a long injury.
I missed the game. Did OKC start the really small lineup again? They usually don't play anyone over like 6'7".
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Yeah, they were small. You didn’t miss much. We aren’t very good right now with all the injuries piling up. Thankfully the schedule is relatively easy for next month and the all star break.
I wasn’t suggesting Mobley will routinely rebound 17 boards a game against normal teams. I just think his counting stats trend slightly up with LM out when he was already among the leaders and his defensive ability is already lauded and he’s considered the best amongst the rookies by a long way. He’s certainly not playing defense on the level he was a month ago, but he’s still amazing at it for a rookie.
I’d guess he’s lifting a lot. On his frame it’s imperceptible yet, but he seems to be struggling with free throws after being very good at it, taking less three pointers, but more willing to bang inside and trying to rebound stronger. All stuff I associate with a young kid when he starts hitting the weights and is getting stronger, yet hasn’t adjusted to it yet.
The Cavs didn’t need another injury, but when you think of what the likely affect is, the Cabs schedule is such they likely win at .500 or slightly above even with all the injuries because they’re playing bad teams. They’ll be closer games because they are a worse team and need to play defense until the end. LM scores decently but plays defense badly. He’s tried harder, but he got smoked by a Derozan type the other day. He’s not equipped to guard guys like that. Him out opens up more shots and probably results in better defense. Less spacing, but that isn’t bad for a 7 footer not shooting threes often.
They were a much better team than people realized pre-Rubio injury. Now we basically have one guy who can dribble at an NBA level with losing Sexton, Rubio, Rondo out since he basically got here. I’m not very optimistic for the rest of the year. I expect more injuries with these guys playing too many minutes and our ceiling is much lower than it was six weeks ago. But purely for counting stats and stupid rookie awards, it likely helps Mobley as he’s likely to end up in the top few scorers while being viewed as the best defensive rookie in years.
