Evan Mobley’s nickname may be a bad omen for the Cleveland Cavaliers

Laying huge expectations on the shoulders of young Cleveland Cavaliers player Evan Mobley isn’t the wisest idea.

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley has a really odd nickname that he really shouldn’t have. Cavs associate head coach Greg Buckner has taken it upon himself to anger the basketball gods by dubbing Mobley ” H.O.F.”, later going to say that Mobley is on pace to be a Top-20 player in the history of the game.

To which I say; “are you serious!?”

Have people never heard the phrase, “don’t tempt fate”? I mean, come on guys, this is Cleveland! Getting screwed over by the Goddes Victoria is literally what we’re known for. It’s our whole brand. Don’t tempt the fates to screw us over more, guys! Come on!

Mobley is a great young talent but he’s just that, a great young talent. Saddling him with those lofty expectations in year two, before he’s ever been to the playoffs feels really tacky and almost like you’re daring the gods of this game to strike him down just out of spite.

A hyperbolic rant aside, Mobley is nowhere near Hall of Fame levels yet, and to even insinuate as such is to raise the level of expectations to an unhealthy degree.

Let Evan Mobley be what he’s going to be for the Cleveland Cavaliers

For me, I wanted Josh Giddey in the 2021 NBA Draft and I think the Cavs would’ve been just fine with him as well, but I didn’t “not-want” Mobley. He was on the list of guys I liked. Mobley is a great defensive prospect and his ability to play the low post defensively is stellar. He’s a good rebounder and he just changes the course of the game.

Yet, many are comparing him to Tim Duncan already, and Mobley hasn’t even proven he be the third scorer on a team, let alone the guy offensively. So to saddle him with such lofty expectations isn’t wise and it can only lead to misery.

Let him evolve at his pace and become what he’s going to become. No reason to label him or saddle him with anything just yet. If in five years he’s dropping 30 points and 15 rebounds, then you can start talking about him being a “H.O.F.”, but not before then.

Lastly, are we calling him “Hoff” or “H-O-F”? Because if it’s “Hoff”, then we’re going to need to eventually get David Hasselhoff in here at some point. I may not like bestowing a nickname on him yet, but hilarious couplings need to happen.