The Cleveland Cavaliers enjoyed one of their most successful campaigns in franchise history last season, but unfortunately they suffered another second-round exit.
They were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference by a wide margin, but a slew of injuries crushed their chances of making a deeper run.
There were several key pieces hurt, but the main and most impactful one was to point guard Darius Garland.
With the team now nearing full health and foes like the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers seemingly out of the picture with their health concerns, the Cavaliers need to strike while the iron is hot.
Arguably the most important factor that will determine how far they go is the development of reigning Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley.
His teammate, Donovan Mitchell, has been vocal about the lengthy forward blossoming into an MVP candidate and he was asked about what he needs to do to facilitate that during Cleveland’s media day.
“For me, just the level of empowerment. Continuing to play through mistakes, continuing to take his game to another level… It’s not like I’m trying to pry this out of him, he’s just as committed to being this great as I am to saying that he is,” said Mitchell.
Mobley averaged the most points in his career last season and came awfully close to posting his career highs in a variety of other categories like rebounding and three-point efficiency.
He has never been very aggressive on offense, but the Cavaliers got a glimpse of what the team looks like with him as a focal point when Garland missed some time in the playoffs, and the results were promising.
Mobley averaged 17 points per game on incredible efficiency in the postseason, and his average would have been much higher if it wasn’t for two games where he finished with nine and 10 points.
He is clearly already one of the best defenders in the NBA, so if he continues to produce like he did in the playoffs, then there’s no reason why he can’t be an MVP candidate soon.
Cleveland has championship dreams on their minds and they know Mobley taking a leap would give them a huge boost.
