CHICAGO -- Prized Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley will start at power forward in his preseason debut Tuesday night, league sources tell cleveland.com.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following the morning shootaround that he will continue to experiment with various lineups throughout the five exhibition games ahead of the regular season opener in two weeks. But despite the spacing questions at the offensive end, the Cavs are intrigued with the idea of a Mobley-Jarrett Allen frontcourt, especially on defense, and want to get a closer look at how the duo functions outside the practice facility.
“I feel like this year, we’re switching up our defense and I feel like it plays to our benefit with two bigs,” Mobley said. “Jarrett Allen and I are going to try to help each other and protect the paint a lot this year. I feel like that is going to make my job easier and their job easier, as well as the guards.”
Mobley, the draft’s No. 3 pick, has been running with the first team during camp and wore the wine-colored starter’s jersey at shootaround. He has the inside track on the starting gig over incumbent Kevin Love and offseason acquisition Lauri Markkanen -- even though nothing is finalized. In terms of when Bickerstaff wants to have his regular season starters decided, he said “the sooner the better,” allowing that quintet to build chemistry and continuity. The best bet is Mobley rounding out that group.
“We set goals for him, and they’re things that we feel he can do,” Bickerstaff said of Mobley. “He’s an extremely intelligent kid and he’s a good basketball player. You want him to just play to his strengths. We’re not going to put him in any uncomfortable positions. There aren’t many of them on the floor to be honest with you. Just be who you are. That’s obviously good enough.”
Even though the intensity level is much different than the regular season, Mobley will get his first NBA glimpse against the Bulls Tuesday night. He’s focused on learning and getting a feel for the game.
“I’m really excited about playing for the first time in an NBA arena with all the fans,” Mobley said. “It’s an away game. First away game. Preseason is going to be fun. Just trying to get better. I feel like I’ve acclimated pretty well. I feel like me, my coaches, we’re all comfortable, we’re all getting better, we’re all talking about different things a lot and I feel like this game is going to be really fun to play in.”
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