The Cavaliers keep finding reasons to believe Evan Mobley can be more than a defensive anchor, and now the early returns are hard to ignore.
Mobley has knocked down 12 of his first 21 three-point attempts this season, a blistering 57.1 percent. That number won’t hold, and nobody in Cleveland is expecting it to. But the bigger point is what it means for the Cavs if the shot is real enough to keep defenses honest.
As Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes, Mobley’s growth from the perimeter could raise the team’s ceiling. He’s already one of the league’s premier defenders and a Defensive Player of the Year. If he becomes a legitimate outside threat, that changes the entire shape of the offense.
Mobley told reporters this week that he believes his improved shooting is “sustainable.” Jarrett Allen added that when opposing bigs have to chase Mobley out to the arc, it opens space for everyone else. That showed up against the Wizards on Wednesday, when Mobley hit 5 of 6 from deep and Washington had to start respecting him outside the paint.
Nobody is asking Mobley to turn into Stephen Curry. But if he can keep hitting two or three threes a night, that’s a real weapon for Cleveland.
While Mobley’s shot is becoming a talking point, president of basketball operations Koby Altman was reflecting on a much bigger picture. In a wide-ranging interview with Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, Altman talked about the challenge of rebuilding after LeBron James left in 2018, especially with the franchise still carrying the expensive contracts from its championship years.
“Not only did we lose LeBron (without getting anything in return), but we also had massive contracts on the books from our deep runs in the playoffs,” Altman told Pluto.
Altman also pointed to the 2021 draft, when Cleveland selected Mobley, as a major turning point that helped push the team back into perennial playoff contention. He’s been at the center of plenty of major decisions since taking over the front office nearly a decade ago, including the acquisition of Donovan Mitchell and bringing in James Harden.
Not every move has worked out the same way, but Altman has never looked like someone content to stand still. The larger goal, though, remains the one that matters most: getting back to the playoffs is one thing. Winning a championship without LeBron would be something else entirely.
There’s also some uncertainty around the Cavs’ rotation heading into Saturday’s game in Milwaukee. Rookie guard Meleek Thomas is questionable with right foot inflammation and soreness after missing Thursday’s loss to the Hawks. He made a strong first impression in his first two NBA games, scoring in double figures in both and posting a plus-10.2 net rating.
That’s a tiny sample, but Thomas has clearly brought energy to the second unit. At the same time, Jaylon Tyson is out with a right ankle sprain, and Nae’Qwan Tomlin remains sidelined with a lower back stress reaction. Kenny Atkinson may have to shuffle things again.
The Cavs are 3-2 and will try to get their first road win Saturday night at 8 p.m. Milwaukee is only 1-4, but that doesn’t mean much in a season this young. Cleveland has already shown it can look sharp for stretches, erase big deficits, and also give away leads it should protect.
That has been the pattern through five games: promising, then messy, then promising again. The Cavs have also shown a tendency to match the level of whoever is across from them, which is not exactly a comforting habit.
It’s still October, so there’s time to sort it out. But if Cleveland can finally string together four solid quarters in Milwaukee, that would be a welcome change. Atkinson probably wouldn’t mind, either.
In Other News...
Cavs Just Unlocked A Formula The Bucks Couldnt Handle
Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley gave Cleveland exactly the kind of inside-out punch that can tilt a game before it fully settles in. Both big men were active on offense and sturdy on defense, and the Cavaliers made a point of using them to disrupt Milwaukees shape at the other end. Donovan Mitchell and Mario Hezonja chipped in as well, but the night felt defined by how often Cleveland leaned into its size and how hard the Bucks had to work just to keep pace.
For Milwaukee, the problem was less about one isolated breakdown than a defense that never really found a clean answer for Clevelands frontcourt pressure. The Cavs kept feeding their bigs and forcing the Bucks to deal with them possession after possession, a formula that made the floor feel cramped for the visitors. Tyler Herro was also mentioned as underperforming, which only added to the sense that Cleveland had found a matchup edge the Bucks could not quite solve. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Still Face One Playoff Concern Their Deeper Roster Can't Hide
The Cavaliers have spent the offseason building out the kind of depth and versatility that should make them harder to scheme against, adding Peyton Watson to address a roster need and leaning into a lineup that already includes interior anchors like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. On paper, it is the sort of group that can survive different styles, cover more defensive ground and keep Cleveland from becoming too dependent on any one rotation pattern when the games tighten in the spring.
Still, the larger question around this team has not gone away after its run to the Eastern Conference Finals ended in a sweep by the Knicks. The Cavaliers can stack talent and length all they want, but postseason success will keep coming back to whether their star backcourt can carry the offense when pressure rises, and whether Donovan Mitchell in particular can deliver the kind of late-game control that separates a good playoff team from one that keeps moving deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Keep Making One Offensive Mistake That Cost Them Again
The Cavaliers had another one of those nights where the margins were small but the offensive choices loomed large. In a close loss to the Hawks, Cleveland again leaned on tough half-court possessions instead of turning athleticism into easy transition points, even though the roster has the kind of players who should be able to punish open floor chances.
That imbalance showed up in the way the game unfolded, with Atlanta repeatedly finding simpler scoring opportunities while Cleveland settled for shots that asked a lot more of the offense. For a team trying to stack wins in a crowded East, the bigger concern is not just the final score but how often the Cavaliers are leaving points on the table by passing up the quickest path to them. [Read more 🡒]