Film Breakdown: Evan Mobley turns in another DPOY worthy performance

Mobley showed why he deserves the award.

Only four players in the history of the league have won Defensive Player of the Year before their 24th birthday. Evan Mobley could soon join Kawhi Leonard, Jaren Jackson Jr, Dwight Howard and Alvin Robertson as the fifth.

Mobley has elevated the Cleveland Cavaliers since his rookie season. His pairing next to Jarrett Allen has made them a formidable duo, but Mobley is anchoring the defense even when he is the lone big on the floor.

Cleveland allows 112.5 points per 100 possessions, making them the eighth-best defense in the NBA. Lineups featuring both Allen and Mobley allow just 109.6 points per 100 possessions. That’s in the 89th percentile of all two-man groups. However, lineups featuring only Mobley without Allen are still boasting an elite 110.9 defensive rating, hardly seeing a drop off in the 82nd percentile.

In contrast, groups with Allen but without Mobley plummet to the 55th percentile by conceding 114.4 points per 100 possessions. All lineups without Mobely are 5.5 points worse defensively, giving him the best on/off defensive rating of the entire team and the 10th best of any forward or big to register at least 1,000 minutes this season.

For those wondering, Draymond Green is 29th on the list and fourth on his own team. In fact, the two most effective defensive Golden State Warriors lineups only emerged once Jimmy Butler joined the roster.

Nonetheless, advanced stats aren’t everything. Do I really believe that John Collins is the sixth most impactful defender in the league, for example? Of course not. That’s why we have some film to talk about today. Primarily, Mobley’s defensive game tape against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Mobley’s game does all the talking

While some DPOY candidates complain on podcasts — Mobley makes his statements on the court. He entered Portland with a chip on his shoulder and put in the work to prove his case.

In the first quarter, we get an example of Mobley’s reaction speed. He stands in a position to contest either the drive or pass on this play. Then, once Duop Reath tries to catch him with a quick floater — Mobley explodes off his feet to swat the ball at its apex.

We see another block in the clip below. Mobley is the lone big on the floor — so he parks himself in the paint and shuts it down. Reath learned the hard way that Mobley is the wrong guy to challenge.

You can’t target Mobley in isolation

Mobley’s strength as a shot blocker is the reason why opponents will work to take him away from the basket. Forcing Mobley to defend a high pick-and-roll is a solution to the problem he poses as a rim protector. Teams aren’t hunting Mobley on switches because they think he’s a vulnerability. They are doing it because the alternative is going straight into the belly of the beast. Teams don’t want to end up like Shaedon Sharpe in the clip below.

Let’s stay on this point for another moment. Is Mobley capable of holding his own on the perimeter? Or is he the type of slow-footed big that teams classify as a ‘mismatch’? Let’s ask Kevin Durant.

Ah, right. Blocking Durant at the release point of his jumper is… actually one of the most difficult things to do in basketball. If you think this is an outlier, I’d ask you to enjoy the below montage of Mobley dominating in isolation for two minutes. This isn’t the defensive reel of a player who can be targeted on defense.

Now that that narrative has been debunked. Let’s get back to a few clips from this Blazers game.

So Mobley recorded three of his four blocks in the first half. But he saved the one most precious to our overall theme for the third quarter. After being switched onto the perimeter — Mobley sticks in front of Deni Avdija (who has been on a recent heater) and mirrors him to the paint before sending his shot back at him.

So Mobley can block your shot whether it’s from the help-side or straight in your face in isolation. He’s one of the most versatile bigs in the league and will not get the Rudy Gobert treatment in the context of the DPOY race. There isn’t a limitation to his game worth knocking him for. At least, defensively. If Mobley loses the award — it has to be because someone was even better than him.

Rebounding has to matter

Enter the final point of our discussion. If anyone in the league can go toe-to-toe with Mobley in terms of versatility, it would be Draymond Green. However, there is one big factor separating the two that gives Mobley the ultimate upper hand.

Rebounding.

Mobley has blossomed into a borderline elite rebounder. He’s collecting 21% of opponents’ misses when he’s on the floor (73rd percentile), which is far better than Green, who is having the worst rebounding season of his career by grabbing just 15.6% of available rebounds (34th percentile).

Again, defensive metrics are noisy. Let’s look at Mobley’s tape.

Mobley grabbed 12 rebounds in Portland. 11 of them were defensive. Here we see him contest the shot and grab the board — something Mobley does quite often.

On the next play, Mobley secures this stop by snatching the ball in traffic. His 7’4” wingspan and quick-leaping ability make this possible. Mobley simply gets higher than everyone else.

Here’s another example of Mobley high-pointing the ball over Donovan Clingan. Any smaller, less athletic big couldn’t grab this one. Mobley can.

Finally, here’s a clip from the previous game in Utah. Mobley plugs the drive attempt from Collin Sexton and then beats Kyle Filipowski in a jumping contest for the board. This combination of rim protection and glass cleaning should put Mobley ahead of anyone else in the race.

It’s clear that Cleveland is aware of Green’s entrance into the race. Mobley played Portland like he had something to prove. And multiple players, including head coach Kenny Atkinson, went out of their way to call Mobley the DPOY after the game. This type of rallying behind their guy is to be expected from the Cavs. Yet, it’s undeniable that Mobley has given them enough reason to back him up.