EvanMobley

Preseason question: Young players are often evaluated based on their ceilings, but as soon as Mobley entered the league, he served as a one-man stabilizing force on defense, making him one of the biggest floor raisers in the game. He is one of only six players in NBA history to win a Defensive Player of the Year award at 23 years old or younger. On nights when everything is aligned just so, Mobley’s ability to dribble, pass, shoot, and blot out the sun makes good on the deferred “Next Kevin Garnett” dream that dates back to the early 2000s. But for all of his talent, Mobley’s offensive growth hasn’t been linear: Cleveland’s attempts to turn him into an advantage-creating initiator haven’t borne fruit, and his shooting touch sharply regressed last season after two straight campaigns of above-average accuracy from deep. Is this the year? The Cavs made a concerted effort this offseason to infuse more youth into their win-now chassis, and that mandate must entail maximizing Mobley’s two-way efficacy in his age-25 season. He’s shown all of the disparate skills necessary to make good on his elite two-way potential; with Donovan Mitchell now on the other side of 30, Mobley’s emergence is no longer about stabilizing Cleveland’s floor but about determining whether the team ultimately has the stuff to get back to the Finals.