Tag: Evan Mobley

Cavaliers believe Sixers stars Joel Embiid, James Harden manipulate rules

The Cleveland Cavaliers believe Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and James Harden manipulate the rules a bit to get foul calls.

It’s no secret Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and James Harden are terrific at getting to the foul line. The two are so tough to stop that teams have to resort to fouling them. That allows the duo to get into a rhythm and get going on offense.

In Philadelphia’s 118-109 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Embiid shot 10-for-10 from the foul line and Harden 9-for-12. The Cavs weren’t able to stop them, but they also believe the two do a good job of manipulating the rules to get to the line. Embiid averages 11.9 free throw attempts per game while Harden averages 6.7 per game.

Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff, who worked with Harden while both were with the Houston Rockets, understands this the most when it comes to The Beard, specifically.

“Not taking anything away from those guys,” Bickerstaff told reporters. “They’re phenomenal basketball players and they know how to play within the rules. I was with James for four years in Houston, and he’s a master at manipulating the rules, and Joel does the same. So you have to be extremely disciplined, but even then they find a way to create that contact and draw a foul.”

Cavs big man Evan Mobley looked as if he had drawn the sixth foul on Embiid in the fourth quarter when it looked like he had taken a charge from the Philadelphia star. However, the Sixers challenged the call, and it was overturned, leading to Embiid staying in the game.

“I feel like James Harden and Joel Embiid are both some great foul drawers,” Mobley stated. “We need to stay disciplined as possible and not foul them and have them go to the free-throw line over and over again.”

As far as the offensive foul play with Embiid is concerned, Mobley believed he was in a good spot to draw the call.

“I think I had good position, he hit me, I fell back,” Mobley added. “There’s not much better I can do on that.”

Did Embiid and Harden get the benefit of the whistle a bit on Wednesday? Sure, but they both played so well in all facets of the game and that’s why the Sixers were able to come out on top.

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USC men’s basketball all-time roster: Trojan Legends

From Bill Sharman (pictured) in 1950 to Paul Westphal to Evan Mobley, here are the best #USC MBB players ever.

The history of USC basketball would have been very different if the Trojans’ best teams had been able to play in the NCAA Tournament. Yet, they weren’t.

Younger fans might have a hard time understanding that sentence, but it’s true: USC’s two greatest teams ever were not the 1940 and 1954 Final Four teams. The 1971 and 1974 teams merit that distinction. Yet, the NCAA Tournament had roughly two dozen teams back then, not the 68 we have today. USC would have been a No. 1 seed in 1971, and at least a No. 2 seed in 1974. Yet, only the champion of a conference went to the Big Dance back then. In the Pacific 8 Conference, that champion was — of course — John Wooden’s UCLA program. It locked out the best USC teams of all time.

The Trojans didn’t get the publicity or recognition they deserved back then … and they aren’t remembered in history the way they should be. If they had made the Final Four, the past 50 years of USC basketball might have been very different.

Some of the names on this list of all-time-great USC basketball players might be familiar. Many might not be. We wanted to make sure to honor both the best players on the 1971 team and the best players on USC’s other great teams throughout the years.

Enjoy this presentation of the all-time USC Trojans men’s basketball roster.

NBA Rising Stars 2023: Full rosters revealed in draft announcement

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the four seven-player teams for the 2023 NBA Rising Stars game.

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the four seven-player teams for the 2023 NBA Rising Stars competition set to take place on Feb. 17 as part of All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The showcase will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games for the second straight year. Each game will be played to a final target score, meaning a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of a running clock.

The pool of 28 players for the game consists of 11 first-year players, 10 second-year players and seven players from the G League. The rookies and sophomores were selected by assistant coaches, and the G League players were chosen by the league office.

The G League players will comprise one of the four teams.

The three teams from the NBA will be coached by Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams. The three former players each selected seven players to their teams on Tuesday in an order determined by career All-Star appearances: Gasol (6), Williams (3) and Noah (2).

Here are the four rosters for the NBA Rising Stars competition.

NBA Rising Stars 2023: Player pool revealed for annual showcase

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the list of 28 players set to participate in the annual Rising Stars game on Feb. 17.

The NBA on Tuesday unveiled the list of 28 players set to participate in the annual Rising Stars game on Feb. 17 as part of All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The showcase game will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games for the second straight year. Each game will be played to a final target score, meaning a game will end with a made basket or a made free throw instead of a running clock.

The pool of 28 players for the game consists of 11 first-year players, 10 second-year players and seven players from the G League. The rookies and sophomores were selected by assistant coaches and the G League players were chosen by the league office.

The 21 NBA players were selected by assistant coaches across the league. Each team submitted a rookie ballot and sophomore ballot featuring four frontcourt players, four guards and two additional players of any position, in order of preference.

The three NBA teams will be coached by Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah and Deron Williams. Jazz assistant coach Jason Terry, who previously coached the Grand Rapids Gold, will lead the G League team. Assistants from the All-Star Game staffs will also coach in the event.

TNT will televise the competition beginning at 9 p.m. EST.

Re-ranking the 23 best NBA players under 23 years old, with a new star emerging at No. 1

None of these guys have even had their Jordan Year yet??

The next generation of NBA stars is incredibly promising, and many of them are still young enough to be undergraduate students in college.

Now that the NBA’s 2022-23 season is more than halfway done, we’ve decided to re-rank the 23 best players who are under 23 years old. But why 23? Well, it is not just because that was the number worn by Michael Jordan.

Typically, NBA publications rank 25 players under 25 years old. You can read versions of that here, here, and here. I wanted to try a similar thought experiment, but U25 was too much of a challenge because it is such a wide population.

By the time NBA players are 25 years old, many have already graduated to their second contract and are in vastly different chapters of their careers than the league’s young players. It is harder to compare players like Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum, who will each earn more than $30 million next season, to players on rookie scale contracts.

This story was originally published before the season began, and you can see each player’s previous ranking below their name.

For this exercise, all players included must be born after Feb. 1, 2000. We chose that date because the listed age on Basketball Reference is how old a player is on Jan. 31 of each season.

Additionally, the following rankings are based on performance so far this season, and it is not predictive of their future success or their potential in the league.

NOTE: That means players like Darius Garland (who was born on Jan. 26, 2000) and Cade Cunningham or Chet Holmgren (who are injured for the season) were excluded. 

Donovan Mitchell totally stole Evan Mobley’s 10th rebound and he felt so bad about it

Donovan Mitchell was caught red handed

Don’t ever let an NBA player tell you that they’re not thinking about stats ever again.

We’ve always known they think about stats. That stuff matters to them. It’s why every time you see one of those halfcourt heaves it comes after the buzzer — because players care about their field goal percentage.

And they should, by the way. The stats are a reflection of their work. Why wouldn’t they care? It’d probably be weird if they didn’t actually care.

That’s why it was hilarious to see Donovan Mitchell steal what would’ve been Evan Mobley’s 10th rebound of the game on Monday against the Hawks. It would’ve given Mobley his 6th double-double on the season, which is awesome.

But Mitchell flew in out of nowhere and snatched it.

He figured out he was wrong by the way Jarrett Allen just stared a whole into him after he grabbed the board.

Then he just couldn’t stop apologizing about it. He clearly felt so bad.

This is pure comedy. That’s the face you get when your mom catches you sneaking a cookie off the fresh batch that just came out of the oven. We all know that face.

That’s also the face all the bettors out there had. You just know somebody put $10 on an Evan Mobley double-double. And to see him lose it? Like this? Whew boy.

The reactions were hilarious.

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Evan Mobley displays elite defense in opening-night loss to Raptors

Evan Mobley did all he could for the #Cavs against the Raptors, but Cleveland was damaged by an injury to Darius Garland in a narrow loss to Toronto.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were dealt a brutal blow in their first game of the new NBA season on Wednesday night. Cleveland guard Darius Garland suffered an eye injury which kept him off the floor for a significant amount of time. The Cavs started well but were unable to finish the game the way they hoped. Garland’s absence mattered quite a lot in a 108-105 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Canada.

If Garland had been able to play the full game, this contest might have ended differently for the Cavs. One clear reason: Evan Mobley, whose defense remains elite. He showed exactly how formidable he is as a rim protector against the Raptors, in a battle against the man who beat him out (absurdly) for 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year, Scottie Barnes:

The Cavs were snakebitten by injuries last season. They have already been hit by the injury bug once again. Hopefully Mobley — himself injured for significant portions of last season — can stay healthy. That would increase the Cavs’ upside.

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NBA GMs predict Evan Mobley as the most likely breakout candidate for next season, per annual survey

Evan Mobley made First-Team All-Rookie last season.

The Cavs just had a massive offseason, adding Donovan Mitchell to a young core that already had two All-Stars in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen.

But the most important member of the roster may be Evan Mobley, the talented big man who Cleveland selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Mobley, who was named First-Team All-Rookie last season, had a very promising debut campaign for the Cavaliers. He averaged 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game.

However, some of the league’s most influential individuals believe that the forward will take yet another step forward next season. Mobley was voted as the player most likely to have a breakout season in 2022-23, per the annual general manager survey from NBA.com’s John Schuhmann.

To check for accuracy, here were the results from previous years:

2022: Jaren Jackson Jr. (17%), Anthony Edwards (13%)

2021: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (15%), Michael Porter Jr. (15%)

2020: De’Aaron Fox (19%), Jayson Tatum (11%)

2019: Jamal Murray (20%), Brandon Ingram (10%)

2018: Karl-Anthony Towns (21%), Kristaps Porzingis (14%)

2017: Devin Booker (31%), Karl-Anthony Towns (14%)

2016: Andrew Wiggins (17%), Giannis Antetokounmpo (14%)

2015: Anthony Davis (30%), Bradley Beal (15%)

2014: Anthony Davis (28%), Andre Drummond (10%)

2013: Klay Thompson (13%), Kyrie Irving (10%)

2012: James Harden (21%), Kyle Lowry (11%)

2011: Blake Griffin (15%), Russell Westbrook (15%)

For what it is worth, Mobley is the first player to earn more than 20% of the vote since Karl-Anthony Towns did as much in 2018.

Mobley joins Towns, Devin Booker, and Anthony Davis as the only players to receive more than 20% of the voting share in any given year over the past decade.

The big man recently suffered a sprained right ankle, and he is expected to miss one to two weeks due to the injury. That may keep him on the sidelines for the beginning of the season, but when he is back, his impact will be felt immediately.

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Projected starting lineup for Cavaliers with Donovan Mitchell makes them Eastern Conference favorites

This team is going to be a problem.

The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off the biggest shocker of the offseason by trading for Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell.

After exceeding expectations last season, the Cavs accelerated their rebuild with this trade. They have added three-time All-Star Mitchell to a core that already included two All-Stars in Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen — as well as Evan Mobley, who may be the most valuable player on the entire roster.

Cleveland made the play-in tournament last season, but they are heading into the upcoming campaign as a force to be reckoned with. In addition to the stellar defense in their frontcourt with Mobley and Allen, they now have one of the best backcourts in the league with Mitchell and Garland. All four are currently 25 years old or younger.

Here is their projected starting lineup now that they have made this trade:

2021 NBA Draft: 10 bold predictions from the preseason revisited

Rookie Wire made 10 bold predictions for the 2021-22 rookie class and made a vow to come back and see how we did.

Rookie Wire offered 10 bold predictions for the 2021-22 rookie class last October and made a vow at the time to come back after the season and see just how we did.

Well, it is that time to look back and review the results.

Our annual revisit of these bold predictions is our favorite time of the year. It typically just consists of us trying to convince basketball fans why we made the picks and why they should have come true, but ultimately didn’t.

Upon further review, this year proved to be no different.

Several predictions fell well short of expectations but to be fair, we were pretty close on a few. We just ask that you don’t alert the authorities at Freezing Cold Takes about the ones we missed badly on.

Here are the latest results with the verdict from each prediction.