USC's Evan Mobley Makes NBA Draft Noise
The college basketball season officially ended after Baylor took down Gonzaga for their first NCAA championship. With the focus now shifting to the NBA Draft, it's officially MOCK DRAFT SEASON!
Kyle Boone of CBS Sports recently dropped his 3.0 NBA mock draft, which reflects the stock of the players post-tournament. But with the NBA still in season, all mock drafts remain fluid.
The consensus No. 1 prospect right now according to draft experts is Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham, and Boone doesn't disagree. He has Cunningham being selected No. 1 overall by the Houston Rockets, and USC star freshman Evan Mobley follows at No. 2.
According to Boone, USC's elite 7-footer could be headed to the Detroit Pistons, if he declares for the NBA draft.
"There are only a handful of true difference-making bigs in the NBA, but Mobley projects in time to be one of the select few" said Boone.
"The 7-foot USC product is a fluid athlete who can defend post to perimeter and has natural abilities around the rim as a shot-swatter, lob threat and generally disruptive, impactful two-way presence. I don't typically rate bigs very high out of principle because it is often a position you can skimp on when building a team, but Mobley is a rare exception who is squarely in the running to unseat Cunningham as the top pick."
The Detroit Pistons are a bottom-third team in the NBA when it comes to allowing points per 100 possessions (112.1), and are the fifth worst team in opponent field goal percentage (47.8%) according to NBA.com.
The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year will certainly help clean up the Pistons defense. His 77 blocks set a USC single-season freshman record after the Atlanta Hawks rookie Onyeka Okongwu broke it just one season ago.
Mobley will able to switch onto any player in the NBA, regardless of position. He's agile enough to quickly swallow up space when on the perimeter, and if you try to challenge him at the rim, forget about it. You're not getting easy buckets in the paint when Mobley is on the floor.
The Pistons biggest issue is an overall lack of talent. Drafting Evan Mobley will give them a franchise cornerstone they could potentially build a playoff contender around.
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