The Cleveland Cavaliers had their preseason debut on Tuesday night in Chicago against the Bulls. Fortunately for Cleveland, this game does not count. Chicago led by as many as 48 points and would defeat Cleveland 131-95.
The Cavaliers had 15 turnovers in the first half and 20 in total. The new-look Bulls, who added Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, scored 69 points in the first half and led by 23 points at halftime.
Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 25 points. Collin Sexton’s 14 points led Cleveland, and Lauri Markkanen added 13 points off the bench in his return to Chicago.
Bickerstaff attributed a lot of the Cavaliers’ issues to youth. The oldest player in Cleveland’s starting lineup on Tuesday was 23(Jarrett Allen).
“Not making excuses, but we got a lot of young basketball players that are still trying to figure it out,” Bickerstaff said. “Our guys will get better, and we will improve.”
The Cavs struggled in all facets of the game on Tuesday night, but there were some positives. Backup point guard Ricky Rubio, who started the second half, played well and is an upgrade over last season’s backups at the point guard spot. Rubio had 10 points and six assists in 20 minutes of action. Also, rookie Evan Mobley was solid in his debut. He added 10 points and eight rebounds.
You never like to overreact off of any preseason game, especially the first one, but the Bulls look like they have put together a team that can contend in the East while the Cavs looked like a team that is headed to the lottery again. However, there’s a lot of basketball to be played.
We’ll see how the Cavs bounce back against the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night.
Watch below as Mobley and Sexton react to Cleveland’s loss to Chicago on Tuesday night:
Versatility: the quality or state of having many uses or being able to do many different kinds of things.
After two summer league games, versatility is the one thing we have seen out of the third overall pick in this year’s draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Evan Mobley. Against the Magic on Wednesday night, Mobley’s versatility was on full display.
The 7-footer had 14 points(5-15 FG, 1-3 3pt), seven rebounds, and six assists as the Cavaliers(1-1) defeated the Magic(1-1) 94-84 in Las Vegas. The fifth overall pick by the Magic, Jalen Suggs, led Orlando with 16 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Mobley scored in all different ways on Wednesday night. He scored in the post, midrange, and made a three.
At times, Cleveland was running their offense through Mobley, and according to Cavs Summer League head coach J.J. Outlaw, while Mobley worked a lot from the left elbow, he can work from anywhere on the floor.
“He’s extremely talented and has a lot of gifts,” Outlaw said. “He’s good with the ball anywhere. I just wanted to make him as comfortable as possible when he got his touches.”
Mobley added: “I feel like my game is very playmaking, and I saw a lot of reads tonight; guys were cutting, and they were able to finish.”
Outlaw believes that the rookie will be a big part of what Cleveland does this season.
“He’s going to be an extremely integral piece for us throughout the season,” he said. “And his willingness to share the ball and then also be able to get his own shot when he wants it is extremely important.”
The 20-year-old Mobley oozes with potential. Although it’s only Summer League, and most of the guys he’s playing against won’t be in the NBA, you can see that he checks all the boxes.
Cleveland continues their Summer League schedule on Friday against the Pelicans.
The Cleveland Cavaliers got another piece on Thursday night that could help bring this franchise back to prominence. Cleveland grabbed forward/center Evan Mobley out of USC with the third overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
In his lone collegiate season at USC in 2020-21, the 20-year-old Mobley (7-0, 215) led the Trojans (25-8) to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 2001 and started in all 33 games, averaging 16.4 points on 58% shooting from the field, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.9 blocks in 33.9 minutes.
He was named the 2020-21 Pac-12 Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year. He became just the second player from a major conference to win all three awards in a single season (Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, 2011-12).
“I’m just here to be the best player, best person I can be at the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Mobley said via Zoom after getting drafted. “I’m here to show what I have, hopefully, be Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Month as many times as I can. That’s what I’m trying to bring to the team.”
Mobley is expected to play alongside restricted free agent center Jarrett Allen, who the Cavs expect to re-sign this offseason. Mobley believes that he and Allen can be very effective together.
“Jarrett Allen is a great player,” he said. “I feel like I can learn a lot from him. He’s been in the league for a while, so me and him, I feel like we can definitely do damage in the league in this coming season.”
With his size, athleticism, and versatility, some have compared Mobley to Chris Bosh, Anthony Davis, and even Giannis Antetokounmpo, but according to Mobley, he’s going to be himself.
“A lot of people have been comparing me to Chris Bosh, Anthony Davis, Giannis, players like that,” Mobley said. “I definitely just see a good amount of similarities between all of those players. But I feel like I’m my own player, and I have my own tendencies, which makes me unique.”
It should be interesting to see what Cleveland does next. They appear to have a logjam at the four and five spots with Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Mobley, and Allen. In addition, they’re rumors that Collin Sexton could be on the move, so this roster might look a little different when the season starts.
Cleveland did make one move on draft night. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi, the Cavs will trade Taurean Prince to Minnesota for Ricky Rubio, a 2022 second-round pick and cash. The move gives Cleveland a solid backup point guard.
