00:00Kevin O'Connor, what outlet is Kevin O'Connor on now?
00:03Do we know?
00:04It just says the Kevin O'Connor show.
00:06He is on the, is he not on the ringer?
00:08Is he on the ringer?
00:09Oh, no, he left the ringer.
00:10Okay, he left it.
00:12He's doing something else.
00:12Well, either way, Kevin O'Connor's been a long-time basketball writer.
00:15Done a lot of things.
00:17I think one was pro basketball talk.
00:19Here's Kevin O'Connor on Evan Mobley and his thoughts on Evan Mobley.
00:24And I'm going to tell you, this is harsh, but I want to know if you think it's unfair.
00:27Evan Mobley is the most overrated and disappointing player in all of the NBA.
00:33Year five with Evan Mobley right now.
00:36And he hasn't improved a lick as a post-scorer.
00:38He hasn't improved a lick as an isolation scorer.
00:41He is still just as shaky of a three-point shooter and a free-throw shooter as he was
00:46when he was a rookie.
00:47So disappointing that this guy has plateaued since he entered the NBA.
00:51And you might be able to say, if Donovan Mitchell wasn't absorbing so many touches,
00:56Evan Mobley would get more opportunities to handle on the perimeter.
00:59Evan Mobley hasn't earned those touches.
01:01You look at what he is defensively with what he can be.
01:04He's super versatile.
01:05He can switch.
01:06He can defend across positions.
01:08But he doesn't set a tone because he's soft.
01:11Because he might be a great defensive player, but he's not a tone setter.
01:13He's not a true defensive player of the year.
01:15He won that award because other guys didn't reach 65 games, a la Victor Womanyama,
01:20and other guys were, quote-unquote, too young to earn it from the voters.
01:23All right.
01:25So I heard that.
01:26It's mean.
01:28Is it unfair?
01:31Okay.
01:32I've heard a lot of people call Evan Mobley soft,
01:34and that would be the first time I've really ever heard a defensive player of the year be called soft.
01:39Now, at times...
01:40Wait, you've heard a lot of people call Evan Mobley soft, but that's the first time you...
01:43Yes.
01:43Yes.
01:44Oh, you mean all together.
01:45I thought you meant that clip.
01:46In stereo.
01:47Yes.
01:47That typically isn't...
01:49I mean, people have said nasty things about Rudy Gobert,
01:51but after, like, five defensive player of the year, I mean, he's going to be a Hall of Famer.
01:55Can you really say soft anymore when teams, you know, do everything they can to bring him away from the
02:01basket
02:01because he makes them look stupid inside?
02:04And, look, Evan's had to make up for not having Jared Allen,
02:07but defensively, I still think he's really, really good.
02:10He's not Wemby, but he's really good defensively,
02:13and he's made a lot of guys look bad.
02:16Offensively, he gets pushed around.
02:17I'll say...
02:19I'll call it what it is.
02:20Like, I was there the other night against Miami.
02:23James Harden made a concerted effort.
02:24Keith was over there the other night against Miami, and Keith was talking about it.
02:27They made a concerted effort to get him the ball because they know
02:30they want to try to build up his confidence before the playoffs start,
02:33and he had shot 60% since the All-Star break.
02:37He had dominated a lot of bad centers inside, gotten good looks.
02:40And then against Miami, he was going up against Bam, who he's had good games against,
02:44and he kind of got pushed off his spot
02:45and didn't want any part of having the basketball.
02:48Like, it was pretty obvious in that particular game that he didn't want it.
02:52Now, that's been, to me, over the last month and a half,
02:56that's been more the anomaly, not the norm.
02:58I thought he has played better and better offensively,
03:01and he's taken it to a bunch of guys.
03:03But overall, I do think it's fair to say he has not made the strides we have all hoped,
03:08and I think the Cavs have hoped, that he would make offensively.
03:11What I've continued to say about him is his floor is remarkably high,
03:17meaning even the bad Evan Mobley games, he is still a force to be reckoned with defensively,
03:23and he still can clean up a lot around the rim and get easy opportunities.
03:28It's just the highs aren't there, right?
03:31The ceiling's not there.
03:33Evan Mobley's not going to drop 40 in a given night.
03:36It's just not happening.
03:36He doesn't have that game, and that's disappointing, I think, five years into his NBA career.
03:41We thought a unicorn that could dribble, pass, and shoot like him would have those nights,
03:46and he just doesn't have those.
03:47So this is where I'm at with Evan.
03:51There's been a lot of hope that he was going to be the unicorn, quote-unquote.
03:57This is a year where I think we reach the overall crescendo of what his career is in Cleveland.
04:03You can feel it in the air, and I have ranted and raved earlier this morning about people being afraid
04:10of what could happen
04:12because the Cavaliers are trying to maximize every possible thing they can do to win a championship.
04:19And so the next one you would think about moving would be Donovan Mitchell.
04:23Now, excuse me.
04:25The next one you think about moving would be Evan Mobley.
04:27Beg your pardon.
04:28Now, Donovan Mitchell will get brought up by part of the fan base.
04:32I guarantee you.
04:33I had to correct myself there.
04:35Donovan Mitchell will be brought up because it is a question of what is your return on him going to
04:41be?
04:41How much more can he lead with this team?
04:44Is he a number one?
04:46He's our number one.
04:47Is he a number one?
04:48Like James Harden.
04:49James Harden has tried to be a number one.
04:51He's not a number one anymore.
04:52No.
04:53And when he was, he won the MVP.
04:55Yes.
04:55He was on some really good teams that were a big-time threat in the Western Conference,
04:59but not enough to pull through.
05:00And I think that this team is a threat in the Eastern Conference.
05:02So I think we are going to come to a point here where some very strong commentary is going to
05:07be made,
05:08one way or the other, about Evan Mobley.
05:10Like, I've heard the show in the afternoon talking about Evan.
05:13And, well, we don't want to give up on Evan for a guy like Giannis Antetokounmpo,
05:17who Joe Vardin comes on the station and other guys come on the station and say they believe his best
05:21basketball is behind him.
05:22And I do understand that.
05:24Sometimes I think they're a little bit afraid, but I do understand that.
05:27I want Evan to be a Cavalier forever.
05:29I want Evan to take that next step.
05:31But if they don't feel he is going to take that next step, then the conversation becomes,
05:35what can we get out of him so we have somebody who we believe that can take the next step?
05:41Or, and this is probably very unlikely happening,
05:45do you think about Donovan Mitchell and his future with the Cavs?
05:50I would say it's 90% it would be on Evan.
05:54Instead of Donovan.
05:56But the conversation is going to happen, and it's mostly going to be about Evan.
05:59So this is going to be a huge postseason for him.
06:01Yeah, it's a huge postseason.
06:02I hope, like, for everybody that's mad that KOC said these things,
06:05I've seen a lot of the Cavs community mad.
06:07I mean, put it up on the bulletin board.
06:09I mean, quite legitimately, I said the All-Star break this year had to be,
06:14and I use the term humiliating for Evan, you didn't like that term.
06:17Okay, I'll just say disappointing, then, in a big way,
06:20because nobody was talking about Evan Mobley.
06:23When the game is being celebrated by all that are in it,
06:26I know there's a lot of outside noise about the All-Star weekend,
06:28but for people that are in the game and they obsess about all those things,
06:32they come together at the All-Star game,
06:34they start talking about who the best players are,
06:37who the best young players are.
06:38Evan Mobley was not there.
06:40Part of it was the injury, but he did not make the All-Star team.
06:43He was not involved in those discussions.
06:45They're not even really talking about Evan Mobley on Team USA going forward.
06:49Like, that has to hurt him to some extent,
06:52considering where he was drafted,
06:55considering how he burst onto the scene as a really promising player.
06:59Even though he didn't win Rookie of the Year, I thought he was robbed.
07:02You know, but in the end, like, he won Defensive Player of the Year.
07:06He got the Supermax.
07:07He hit all these early benchmarks.
07:10And then this year, that, I can't even say it plateaued.
07:14Like, he was a blogger, an NBA talker favorite.
07:19Like, they were all excited to talk about him as maybe a Giannis down the road.
07:23These are real people nationally, and now they're all turning on him.
07:26Now they're all disappointed where he was.
07:29He's lost ground on his class, too.
07:31Cade Cunningham is the guy they're talking about.
07:33And they're doing that, and I know why they're doing that,
07:34because they've all, basketball gets argued about player-to-player
07:38and what you think of a player more than any other sport,
07:40even more than football, even more than quarterbacks.
07:42So when you say great things about how a player's going to be,
07:44and that player doesn't get that way, you end up getting mad at him.
07:47Because then you've got people ripping you.
07:48I told you, this started happening to me with Evan Mobley.
07:51Because there's been years over these first five years where I've been very defensive,
07:56and then he goes out there and plays meek.
08:00He goes out there, plays unsure of himself.
08:03And part of that is because of what they've done with him,
08:05trying to maybe force him to be someone he's not.
08:08It has to be acknowledged.
08:09But there's been times where I start getting ripped, and I'm going,
08:12why am I getting ripped over this guy?
08:13Why am I defending this guy?
08:14And I think that we do that in media all the time with players.
08:18You didn't become who I thought you were going to be.
08:20I'm mad at you for making me look a little worse.
08:23Does it matter?
08:24No, whatever.
08:25But in your head, you think he made you look a little worse.
08:29So we are coming to a head here in this postseason.
08:32We're going to be put-up-or-shut-up time with Evan Mobley.
08:34And when I say hope, my issue is I keep saying hope.
08:37I don't keep saying I expect.
08:39I don't think there's a guy on this team that needs Jared Allen more than Evan Mobley does
08:43back as soon as he possibly can.
08:45And I know that we're going to be getting him back hopefully tonight.
08:48And when they play together, their lineups are in the 80 percentile.
08:52They're really good.
08:53They need both of them back.
08:54We're supposed to get Jared Allen back.
08:56They're in action tonight.
08:57But I'll just say this when it comes to Evan.
09:00Like, he is a guy getting paid a whole lot of money over the next few years.
09:04In fact, it caps in 2030 at $61 million.
09:09And I'm telling you, they didn't just trade Darius Garland because they couldn't count on Darius.
09:14They traded Darius because they couldn't count on Evan Mobley.
09:17I think he has.
09:19Man, he might have the most pressure on him on this team.
09:22Now, maybe I'm not thinking about it correctly.
09:24Donovan Mitchell is at a different point in his career.
09:26But damn, Evan's got a lot of pressure on him.
09:29Because it just, it ain't going to happen without Evan.
09:31It just ain't.
09:32And that's why I think a lot of people are down on him.
09:34Because they don't think it's going to happen with Evan.
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