Two Big Questions: Kenny Atkinson's Postseason X-Factor and Evan Mobley's Improvement

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On today's show, I've got two big questions about the Cavaliers.

What's up with Evan Mobley's latest development and who's Kenny Atkinson's X-Factor when

the postseason arrives?

We'll discuss them both.

I'm this bonus edition of Lockdown Caves.

You are Lockdown Caves, your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast

Network, your team, every day.

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This is a new edition of Lockdown Caves and it's new and just the fact not just the fact

that it's only in your feeds now.

This is a new show that I want to start doing a couple times a week.

It's going to be called two big questions.

So the way that this works is I ask for questions from you guys.

It's sort of a mini mailbag, if you will, and if you have questions for the next edition

of two big questions, you can comment them on YouTube.

You can always tweet them at me at Real D Cunningham, or you can email them, l-o-cavesmailbag

at gmail.com.

But the question I want to begin with today is one about who's the X-Factor for the

Caves.

So this comes from Trange Volta, which is a great name on Twitter, asks, you mentioned

the weird rotations against Brooklyn, and the Caves did have some interesting ones.

And Kenny's rotation kind of varies.

Does he have a playoff X-Factor?

And if so, who do you think it is?

Now there's no way to tell exactly 100% who it will be or what it will look like in

the playoffs.

And to one, the Caves get to the playoffs and two, we see what state the Caves rosters

in when the postseason arrives, right?

We know that they're not fully healthy right now, as Don of the Mitchell hasn't played

in the last three games because of a growing injury.

Because Dean Wade has missed the last two games because of an ankle injury.

Obviously, James Harden fighting through that fractured thumb, Keon Ellis fighting through

a fracture.

And oh, by the way, Max Struse has not yet played this season.

So this is a little bit of a challenging question to answer before knowing what the Caves

roster looks like.

But the guy that I look at that really fits the build here.

I think is Keon Ellis.

And I think that he is kind of going to be when the postseason arrives.

I don't know if X Factor is the way to go here because I think a lot of that could just

be well as Evan Mobley awesome.

And we'll talk more about Evan later on in the show is Evan awesome in the playoffs.

If so, the Caves are going to be really hard to beat if he's just average or slightly

above average, the Caves are readable.

Like I think that maybe is more of an X Factor.

But when you look at this from a rotational standpoint, what I think this question is asking,

I think Keon Ellis is the answer because I think Keon Ellis is going to be Kenny Atkinson's

field player.

I think there are some games where Ellis might make sense to play more minutes than others.

I could see him in the postseason having games where he plays 12 minutes in a game and

has a big impact in those 12 minutes.

But there are other games where I could see Keon Ellis going out and playing 28 minutes

in a postseason game.

And I do think Kenny has done a better job lately trying to coach things from a field perspective.

I think one of the things that can get the Caves in trouble at times with rotations is

Kenny tries to be somebody that wants to plan these things out.

Like he will script out his rotations ahead of time.

And I think that that makes sense in the first half of games and in the second half of

games, I think you have to be more of a field player or a field coach from that perspective,

like because what's working is working with not is not.

But I do look at this in the postseason and think, okay, you're going to probably see

a little bit less structure in that area.

And I think that could be something that either means we see more Keon Ellis than we might

anticipate or we could potentially see less Keon Ellis than we might anticipate.

I think that's going to be something that really depends on who else is playing well for

the Caves, right?

I also think it's something that's very matchup dependent.

And I think that there are some matchups where Dean Wade makes a lot of sense for the Caves

as their best perimeter defender.

You look at how well he's defended Jalen Brunson so far this year.

I think he is built really well to defend Jalen Brown.

Now, if Boston has Jason Tatum back and looking like Prime Jason Tatum, which I have my doubts

about whether he will look that good, this close off of a in Achilles injury, if he does

come back from it, then maybe things change.

But I look at this and say with the way Keon Ellis plays to, I think his playing style

is important as part of this conversation because he's not somebody that needs the basketball

lot.

He's not somebody that I look at and say, you know, he needs to play 20 minutes to really

have an impact.

I don't think that fits.

I think that he is somebody that can cause chaos right away.

He's not going to be somebody that is a, a big offensive factor in the Caves, like he's

going to be a low usage player on that under the floor.

The Caves need him to be able to hit three is no doubt.

And it would be nice if he could do a few more things past that.

And I do think he's done a solid job of that over the past couple of games with maybe

a little bit of a bigger opportunity.

But I think given his role as this defensive menace, somebody that gets his hands on the

basketball as frequently as Keon Ellis does, I look at him as the rotational X factor.

And I don't think that you really need to look too far past what his game logs have looked

like since he's been on the Caves because his playing time has gone up and down.

I know we think about the last couple of games where he's played a lot.

And part of that is because the Caves have not been fully healthy and that matters as

part of this discussion.

But when Keon Ellis got to Cleveland his first game, 18 minutes, second game, 17 minutes,

19 minutes, then 27 against Washington.

And part of that was in garbage time, 20 against Brooklyn, even though there was a lot

of garbage time there.

Then the Charlotte game, he played 24 minutes, OK, see, he played 23 minutes when the team

was fully healthy against the next when the team was fully healthy, he only played 16

minutes.

And then against Milwaukee, he played 28 against Brooklyn on Sunday, he played 31.

Or I guess he played 29 against Milwaukee and there were injuries that impacted that

in those settings.

But the point here is, I could see Keon Ellis playing 15 minutes in playoff game.

I could also see him playing 30 minutes in a playoff game.

Think it's dependent on one, what matchups look like to how well is Jalen Tyson playing?

Like I think that is something that matters.

And then the other part of this is and we have no way of answering this.

What does Max Truce look like when he gets back?

How good is Max Truce when he's able to return from that foot injury that has been

now lingered into March like I did not think earlier this season, it would take this long.

I thought that in early February, late January, return for Max Truce was something that was

going to be on the table.

Obviously that has since come and gone and we have not seen Max back on the floor yet.

I do think this is a big week for Max considering the cabs are going to have some real practices.

They'll have four off days after their game on Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons.

But I look at all of those things and I just sit here and think Keon Ellis is the guy

that could go.

I don't want to say could go either way, but his playing time could fluctuate.

And I view that as something that is a bit of a, a bit of a rotational X factor, if you will.

Now, I think the play of Evan Mobley over the past few games has been much better.

I got a question about it and I want to discuss next right here.

Unlocked on calves.

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Thank you again for making this bonus edition of Lockdown Cavs your first watch or listen,

maybe even your second watch or listen on this Monday afternoon and the next question comes

from Izzy on Twitter asks, feels like Evan Mobile never gets the benefit of the doubt

with his fan base, but he seems to be coming on these last couple of games post injury.

What have you seen from him or scheme wise that has opened up his offensive aggression?

So the thing for me that has really stood out first and foremost as far as Evan Mobile

goes is he's looked healthier in these past couple of games.

Now, I do think that he was on a bit of a minutes restriction on Sunday against the Brooklyn

F's.

The fact that he didn't play 30 game 30 minutes in that game that was a close game.

I wonder if the Cavs were thinking that would be a blowout and they could get away with

only playing him 25 minutes in that one after he played 37 minutes on Friday in that overtime

loss against the Detroit pistons.

So I do think that he's looked better physically and I think that is the thing first and foremost

because sometimes shots are going to go in, sometimes shots aren't going to go in.

That's the game of basketball and Evan Mobile on Friday night against the Detroit hit four

threes and he was awesome in large part because of that.

But I just think overall like the way that he's moving around the floor is different.

And I think if you go back and watch the game that he played against Brooklyn, that first

game back from the All Star break.

And then you watch the game he played against OKC the Sunday after that.

He's like, OK, he looks like he's moving a little bit better and he did play I think

a little bit better in the OKC game than he did the Brooklyn game.

And then you look ahead to the game on Tuesday at home against the next and it's like, OK,

he's starting to look closer to Evan Mobile didn't plan Wednesday and then Friday against

Detroit.

Like that was the best that I think he has looked physically in quite some time.

And then I thought he looked good when he was on the floor.

It was again just in limited minutes on Sunday against the Brooklyn hats.

So I think more than anything, it's about what does he look like physically?

Now there are things that have stood out to me and the tracking numbers are not in from

the game against Brooklyn yet.

So I don't know how many drives that he had and I would bet that it probably brings down

his average a little bit just because he played limited minutes.

But he's driving to the basket just under eight times per game this season.

And that number is held up in the past few games that he's played again prior to the game

against Brooklyn because I do not have those tracking numbers as I record this on Monday

afternoon.

But I think he's finishing at the rim better like his field goal percentage on drives to

the basket is around 54% well, it's at almost 63% since the Alistair break.

And I think part of that is feeling better physically.

But part of it is I think he's doing a better job of picking his spots and go back to that

game against Detroit on Friday.

Like there were a couple of instances and it helps when you hit a handful of threes in

that game.

It helps.

But he was able to pump fake and then get to the basket and he was able to finish through

contact or he was able to at least in one situation.

He had Cade Cunningham come over to contest him and Cade really couldn't contest because

Cade was in foul trouble and just think you know the juice is not worth the squeeze there

if you're the defender in that situation.

So I think it's that smart basketball play that we're seeing from him.

But it's also his ability to be aggressive towards the basket because some of those finishes

against Detroit were not ones that were super easy.

They were aggressive through contact and he's not perfect in this sense.

But I think that Evans always going to be better off when he's trying to do that rather

than finesse a shot up there.

Now there was one play against Brooklyn where he did get his shot blocked at the rim and

it was blocked by a trailing defender.

So it's not like the guy who was defending Evan Moby best of him at the rim.

He was you know was in semi transition and it wasn't his guy that blocked it was a guy

in a trailing position.

But that's the type of situation that I look at and say why not try and fight through

contact.

Why not try and go up and dunk the basketball rather than float it off the glass.

Now Evan I do think has had better touch around the rim lately too which is something that

matters when you look at his numbers like he's going to be obviously a better basketball

player when he's finishing around the rim at a higher clip.

And I think that his touch has looked good.

It's not looked as good as Jared Allen's.

But I would like to see him just be a little bit more aggressive and try and go for some

of those dunks rather than laying the ball in because when you're trying to dunk it you're

more likely either going to make it or get fouled in a way that I think benefits Evan

Moby.

Now I'd like to see the free throw shooting be better right like he I think was five

of ten against Detroit if he makes an additional one down the stretch the calves win that game

in regulation and I think if he shot a better fuel for free throw percentage against Brooklyn

too.

We look at a stat line differently because he missed five free throws in that game and

instead of having 17 points and 13 rebounds he has 22 points and 13 rebounds and I think

we think about that game a little bit differently.

But I do think that the way that he's moving around is ultimately the thing that matters

most to me.

That is the thing that I look at and say if Evan is in peak physical form which for most

of the season he has not been.

I think that calf has been a bigger issue than we've been led to believe.

But I also look at how good he was playing prior to this previous calf injury and the

fact that he has looked really good in the past couple of games since then.

I think Evan is starting to turn the corner and I would expect that if he can stay healthy

he's going to be a much better basketball player at the end of the season.

Then he was at the beginning of this season.

Well that's going to do it for this bonus edition of Lockdown Caves.

You can find this show anywhere you get your podcasts again.

You're going to try and do these two big question episodes basically on days that the

calves don't play because I do want to give a bonus episode of you guys every single day

if I can.

On days that the calves will play we'll have those interview episodes like Kuka Hill

from Lockdown Pistons going to be on with me tomorrow afternoon as we look ahead to

calves and pistons on Tuesday.

But if you guys have questions that you want answered about this team you can comment them

on this YouTube video.

You can tweet them at me out real decoding him.

You can send them my way on Blue Sky or you can email them to me L.O. calves mailbag

at gmail.com and I will get to your questions I'd like to stockpile some because I would

like to do this bonus content just about every day if I can.

So as I get out of here please do me a favor hit that thumbs up button and click the notification

bell on YouTube if you haven't already and make sure you're subscribed wherever you're

listening to the show Apple Spotify or anywhere else and I'll be back tomorrow with a full

edition of Lockdown Caves.

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