NBA Mock Draft: Orlando Magic make two surprise selections
By Jason Hirsch
2. Houston Rockets – Evan Mobley, F/C, University of Southern California
Evan Mobley, in my opinion, will end up being the best prospect to come out of this draft.
If two things make NBA executives salivate, they are size and length. At 7-foot tall with a 7-foot-5 wingspan, Mobley has that.
Coming into the league, what you’ll get from Mobley on day one is on-ball defense, shot-blocking and an elite feel for passing.
Mobley was second in the NCAA in blocks this season with 95 (two behind Utah State’s Neemias Queta), seventh in free throws attempted with 193 (5.84 per game average) and tied for first with 6.9 win shares.
The worrisome part of Mobley’s game right now is that his offense is still a complete work in progress.
While Mobley shot 61.5 percent on 2-point shots, he shot just 40 3-pointers the entire season and finished with a 30 percent 3-point percentage.
While a 3-point rate of .117 is not great, considering the NBA league average 3PAr is .391, there is hope that Mobley (who is by all accounts a good mid-range shooter (scoring in the 91st percentile in halfcourt opportunities and the 88th percentile in points per possession rank), will be able to expand his shooting range to go beyond the mid-range at the next level.
The most troubling thing is perhaps that Mobley scored in just the 23rd percentile on post-up opportunities and in the 64th in roll-man opportunities off pick-and-rolls – and that is matched up against college big men.
One can only imagine how little success Mobley might initially have trying to score against players like Rudy Gobert, Joel Embiid, Clint Capela, and Bam Adebayo on a nightly basis.
However, you take the questionable offense when your center has a 14.1 assist percent (higher than Anthony Davis or Karl Anthony-Towns coming out of college) and an 8.8 percent block rate.
Adding Mobley to the Rockets will alleviate some of the pressure off of Christian Wood to not have to struggle as a rim protector while also allowing Mobley to develop his offensive game while still having an impact on the floor due to his high-quality passing and rim protection.