With the NBA draft still months away, offseason draft analysis and projections are in full-swing.
CBS Sports college basketball reporter Kyle Boone recently dropped a report, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the top 14 NBA draft prospects. Here is his analysis of USC's Evan Mobley, a uniquely talented big man with 7-foot frame and 7-4 wingspan
Strengths
- Uniquely talented big man with 7-foot frame and 7-4 wingspan
- Fluid athlete who can drop his hips and defend multiple positions from post to perimeter
- Elite defensive weapon who can block shots and anchor a defense
- Talented scorer who can score in variety of ways
Weaknesses
- Developing shooter: made 30% of 3-pointers at USC and was 69.4% free-throw shooter
- Skinny, high center of gravity and still needs to add muscle to huge frame
Pro Comparison
- Chris Bosh
Boone is spot on when evaluating Mobley’s strengths. His combination of size and athleticism allows him to be a mobile, rangy defender that can cover a lot of ground. But one strength Boone forgot to mention is Mobley’s natural passing ability, and potential to be an initiator at the next level.
The idea of Mobley turning into a Nikola Jokic level passer is highly unlikely, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a Marc Gasol distributor.
Gasol is one of the best at setting his teammates up for easy buckets from the high-post or the perimeter, and Mobley could do the same.
When looking at his weaknesses, his “developing shooter” label can actually be considered a strength. It's not easy to to find seven-footer’s that are knockdown shooters from deep and not liabilities from free throw line.
Mobley showed more than enough flashes of his shooting ability to give any team confidence, and it will continue to improve. Plus, his perceived poor free throw percentage is a little overblown because he made the second most free throws among all Pac-12 players.
Not many bigs that can say that.
His pro comparison of Chris Bosh is definitely warranted when comparing the skillset of the two players. If you told a team before they draft Mobley that he will be the next Chris Bosh, they will sign up for that scenario every time.
Bosh was the third best player on a team that won two titles. Pair Mobley up with the next Lebron James, and he will certainly bring rings to the city that drafted him.
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[Mock Draft Shows NBA Team Adding Evan Mobley To Young Core]
[Evan Mobley Wins Best Defensive Player Award, USC Announces]
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