I just watched some Evan Mobley highlights -- my god! What a player he is!
The size, the speed, the body control. The ball-handling, passing, the finishing ability. The willingness to defend & rebound. Incredible talent. Wow.
Reminds me of Chris Bosh on offence with how fluid he is. Obviously bigger though.
Defensively he's ideal for pairing next to Wood (I'm assuming Cunningham goes 1st). His ability to defend the perimeter for his size is awesome. Only big with similar perimeter defence is Garuba, but he's a lot smaller.
Yeah, Mobley reminds me of Bosh too. Bigger yes. Better bounce too. Light off his feet. Quicker leaper, multiple jumps. Exciting physical gifts.
The other guy Mobley reminded me of was Vin Baker - how he handled the ball. How well he used his body to protect the ball. How strong he was driving the basketball. He had moves, crossovers. He could take guys off the dribble. And of course the quickness to get by people. And spin moves. The ability to change directions, to maintain balance while still controlling the ball and doing so in traffic. Rare skills for a 7 footer.
Vin Baker was one of those bigs with a late growth spurt. I forget what size he was. 6-5 or 6-7 when he started college (SG or SF size). He grew to 6-11 (barefeet) but he kept all those perimeter skills. His ball-handling, agility & body control were amazing for a guy his size. So difficult for opposing bigs to stay in front of. And if you put a smaller guy on him, he was big enough to punish them physically.
And the passing skills. The ball-handling and the passing of Mobley is already far beyond anything Chris Bosh was capable of at his peak.
It so rare to see a 7 footer with those ball-handling and passing skills. Especially with those physical gifts and a willingness to play inside too.
He is a bit passive unassuming so I say willingness to play inside rather than physically overwhelming / overpowering people with his size and athleticism. He likes to out-skill people. Maybe he grows out of it, maybe he doesn't. But that to me looks like the difference in him becoming a top 10 talent to an MVP candidate. How much he can improve that aggressiveness / assertiveness.
Out-skilling people is good but you are also 7 foot and highly athletic. Sometimes it easier more efficient to just overwhelm people physically and athletically. If he can figure that out, he goes into a whole other stratosphere. That is the Anthony Davis stratosphere rather than the Bosh - Aldridge - Baker stratosphere.
