This season proves Evan Mobley is better than Scottie Barnes and the rightful 2022 Rookie of the Year Award

Evan Mobley was clearly the best rookie last season and this season proves it.

Evan Mobley should’ve won the 2021-2022 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Everyone knew it. He played wonderfully on a team that was loaded with young, but promising talent. Yet, he lost it to Scottie Barnes, a player who went one spot after Mobley and lost it only by 15 points.

Their stat lines were fairly similar. Yet one factor was not included in their voting, their defensive output.

"Barnes – 35.6 MP, 15.3 PPG, 7.5 TRB, 3.5 AST, 1.1 STL, 0.7 BLK, .492/.301/735 (6.6 Win Share) [DBPM: 0.4]Mobley – 33.8 MP, 15.0 PPG, 8.4 TRB, 2.5 AST, 0.8 STL, 1.7 BLK, .508/.250/.663 (5.2 Win Share) [DBPM: 1.5]"

See if you look at the stat lines as is, you can basically see they had the same offensive season. Barnes took nearly a full shot more a game than Mobley, so you can basically rule the points per game as a wash. Mobley was the better rebounder. Assists are more predicated on the offense, and not the skillset, and Toronto’s offense called for Barnes to pass more. Mobley’s job was to look for rebounds. A 0.3 difference is pretty much a wash for steals, and Mobley exceeded Barnes in blocks.

Then you look at their shooting splits and again, pretty fair save for free throws. If you want to argue that shooting 30% is better than shooting 25% from three points, I’d argue both numbers suck, so why are you comparing what bad numbers are slightly less bad? Win Shares are a hollow stat, so that’s a wash.

But the one thing not factored in was defensive impact. Mobley made one, but Barnes did not. Barnes got the award not because he was the better prospect or because he had the better season; he didn’t. No, he won the award because everyone thought he’d suck and didn’t. He was a reach, and everyone was surprised when Toronto took him.

He panned out, mostly, and for that reason alone got the award.

After all, it’s no longer close to who the better player is.

Evan Mobley will likely be one of the youngest players on an All-Defensive Team in NBA history

Dejaunte Murray was the youngest player to ever make the NBA All-Defensive Team at the age of 21 years old. Mobley, 21, won’t break the record but should add his name to the list of very young men who made the team.

Not only that, but Mobley, unlike Murray, is a realistic finalist for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and is currently falling in either fourth or third place in the voting, depending on who you ask on Twitter. He likely won’t win it, as the National Media clearly don’t watch the Cavs that often, but to even finish in the Top 5 for such a prestigious award, shows you that Mobley has ascended well beyond Barnes.

Mobley, the team’s third on a team that features a possible MVP candidate in Donovan Mitchell, has seriously out-paced Barnes, the Raptors’ tied-for-fifth-place scorer in Barnes. Not only has Mobley taken a huge step this year, but Barnes’ stats have fallen off in year two. Not to the point people will start thinking he’s a bust, but low enough to show people that the hype around him was simply around him exceeding expectations, and not because he was definitely the best prospect out of the draft.

Mobley deserved that award last year, and one day, very soon, he’s going to start raking in the hardware he so rightfully deserves.