How Cavs unleashed the new and improved Evan Mobley: ‘I’m showing people what I can really do’

On the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ first possession of the season, they got Evan Mobley the ball on the perimeter. The play, a variation of horns flare, is often used to spring a shooter open for a 3. The Cavs used it to create space for their 6-foot-11 big man to go into attack mode.

Mobley got from the 3-point line to the paint with two hard dribbles and a spin move. He couldn’t finish over Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes initially, but pogo-sticked off the ground twice and came away with a bucket. This decisive drive set the tone for the game, in which Mobley finished with 25 points in 27 minutes on 9-for-14 shooting; for the first week of the season, in which the Cavs went 4-0; and perhaps for the Kenny Atkinson era.

“I’d say that was 70% of my interview,” Atkinson, who became Cleveland’s coach in June, said. “How are we going to use Evan? How are we going to grow his game and help him make the next step and the team take the next step?”

Mobley, who turned 23 in June, is younger than nine players who were selected in that month’s draft, and he has already been an elite NBA defender for three full seasons. Early in his fourth, he is showing signs of becoming a two-way star. Under Atkinson, he is pushing the ball in transition after defensive rebounds and occasionally bringing it up off makes. He is regularly running inverted pick-and-rolls (i.e. a guard sets a ball screen for him, rather than vice versa), allowing him to show off the on-ball skills that he works on every summer. And Mobley doesn’t just look comfortable in his new role. He is reveling in it.

“The way he’s playing is so much more aggressive,” Cleveland forward Dean Wade said. “He’s not ever second-guessing himself. He’s downhill, making plays. And we really feed off it, especially when he’s being that aggressive. It opens up everything for everyone else.”

In a league that increasingly expects centers to be playmakers, putting the ball in Mobley’s hands should not be seen as a radical idea. Atkinson was not even the only coach hired last summer who came in with a plan to get a big man more touches: JJ Redick has the Los Angeles Lakers playing through Anthony Davis, and Jordi Fernandez is turning Nic Claxton into more of an offensive hub with the Brooklyn Nets. For the Cavaliers, though, the shift has been striking. With Mobley more involved, they’ve been more dangerous in transition, more dynamic in the halfcourt and more difficult to slow down.

All the standard small-sample-size caveats apply, but, through four games, Mobley is leading the Cavs in touches, according to NBA.com’s tracking data. On a per-game basis, he is driving almost twice as frequently as he did last season.

“Everyone’s buying into the system with the new offense and getting me the ball, getting me the ball where I need it, and everyone else just playing random basketball with me and helping me play-make for them as well,” Mobley said. “It’s a lot different, and I like it so far.”

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Soon after getting the gig, Atkinson went to Los Angeles to watch Mobley work out. By that point, the path forward was already clear to both of them. 

“This year, we spent a lot more time ballhandling and creating,” Olin Simplis, Mobley’s skills trainer, said. “Creating between elbows, creating out of pick-and-roll action. Keeping his dribble alive as he attacks the basket instead of picking it up if he gets cut off. Turn his drive into a post. Just be ultra-aggressive off the dribble, creating for himself as well as for others.”

None of this was exactly new. He had guard skills growing up — “I always played up on older teams, so I wasn’t always the biggest, strongest guy, so I had to adapt,” Mobley said — and he’d never stopped working on them.

“I feel like now is the time that they’re coming out, and I’m showing people what I can really do,” Mobley said.

His weight training was largely about strengthening his base, so he doesn’t get bumped off course on his way to the rim. Mobley, listed at 215 pounds, may not look like a bodybuilder, but he’s gotten much sturdier.

“I’ve been in the weight room a lot, so I feel like I’m just as strong as anyone out here,” Mobley said. “It definitely goes into my mentality as well, with attacking.”

After some workouts, Simplis would offer his brand of positive affirmation: something succinct about being an All-Star or winning Most Improved Player. Mobley typically responded with nothing more than a head nod. One day, “I just [said], ‘Hey, man. The goal is not only to advance, but’ — and I’m a cusser — ‘let motherf—–s know who you are. Remind motherf—–s that you’re just as good as, if not better than all these young boys,'” Simplis said. “He said, ‘Yeah, I got you.'”

Atkinson said that working with Mobley was “part of the allure of the job.” He needed to know, though, that Mobley’s teammates understood “that our next step is getting him better.” For him to be on the ball more often, other players — primarily Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, Cleveland’s star guards — would have to be off the ball more often.

“We had discussions about this: ‘What do we want? How do we get to the next step?'” Atkinson said. “They understand it more than me, how important it is to help Evan grow and empower him.”

The 2023-24 Cavs finished 48-34 with the No. 16 offense in the NBA. They won an ugly first-round series against the Orlando Magic in seven games, then fell in five games to the eventual-champion Celtics. That version of the team could “defend our ass off,” big man Tristan Thompson said, but could also “go five minutes without scoring.” The players were ready for a new offense, and, from this summer’s mini-camp onward, Mobley showed that he was ready to make the leap.

“Being on the court with him and seeing that jump he made from last year to this year, it would be dumb to not rely on him more and put the ball in his hands more,” Wade said. “As a player, you see it. I’ve been seeing it for a few years: when he puts it all together, he’s going to be, like, the one.”

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Thompson said that the new and improved Mobley is “what everybody envisioned,” citing his speed, footwork, handle and length. “He’s kind of like a point forward for us.”

When Mobley is initiating offense, that is. But he’s still setting screens, catching lobs and blocking shots, too. “At this point, there’s no real positions,” Thompson said. “He’s just a gifted f—ing basketball player, and I’m glad he’s on our team.” The promise of Mobley, from the beginning, has been that he can guard virtually anybody and do a bit of everything. The difference this season, according to Simplis, is that Atkinson is “unleashing him.” 

Against the Pistons last Friday, Mobley brought the ball up the court and knocked down a pull-up 3. The next night in Washington, he went coast to coast, pulled a Eurostep out of his bag and extended his left arm around Jonas Valanciunas for a smooth finger roll off the glass.

“He should be in the conversation when they’re talking about the Wembys and the Chet Holmgrens,” Simplis said. “Evan’s name needs to be in there. And that’s a responsibility for [Cleveland] to make sure his name stays there. And he has his role, too: He has to do the extra work, he’s gotta watch film, he has to prepare and make sure he attacks every game the same.”

The early returns are encouraging, but 95% of the regular season has yet to be played. The challenge, for Mobley and the Cavs, is to keep playing this way when they’re no longer undefeated, with the big picture in mind.

“Getting everyone to space the floor, play different actions, second-side actions, continuing to cut and slide, all these different things — just the motion of the offense, you can tell it’s totally different,” Mitchell said. “Now the biggest thing, if we want to be a championship-contender team, which I believe we can, is: Can we be consistent? Can we do that when we’re exhausted? Can we do that this weekend when we’re tired after another three [games] in four [nights] to start the season?”

In Cleveland’s win in over the Knicks in New York on Monday, Mobley didn’t take a single shot in his first-quarter stint. He was much more assertive after that, but there were also some growing pains. With about seven minutes left in the game, he badly botched a pass to a cutting Sam Merrill. In crunch time, he prematurely picked up his dribble in the backcourt, and Atkinson had to call a timeout to avoid a turnover.

“I think it’s a challenge ’cause it’s a little out of his comfort zone,” Atkinson said. “But on the other hand, he’s embracing it. I think he wants it.”

Simplis said that, more than anything else, he wants Mobley to maintain his mindset for the entire season. “He’s hunting,” Simplis said. He’s even starting to be a bit more “boisterous” and show more emotion on the court.

Before Mobley went wild in the season opener, Simplis sent Mobley a text: “Set the tone early. Be a motherf—– from Day 1.” Mobley responded with a “heart” reaction.