Evan Mobley impresses in Cavs annual Wine & Gold scrimmage

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers held their annual Wine & Gold scrimmage in front of season ticket holders at Public Auditorium on Saturday morning.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has mentioned throughout preseason that he was treating this event as the fourth exhibition game, and he was true to his word. The Cavs split into two teams, played a 36-minute game, and had regular NBA refs.

So while this wasn’t an official preseason game, it was their final dress rehearsal before the season tips off on Thursday.

Here’s an overview of the starters for each team. It’s worth pointing out that Sam Merrill, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, and Khalifa Diop did not participate.

	Wine	Gold
Point Guard	Donovan Mitchell	James Harden
Shooting Guard	Meleek Thomas	Tyrese Proctor
Small Forward	Jaylon Tyson	Craig Porter Jr.
Power Forward	Mario Hezonja	Peyton Watson
Center	Jarrett Allen	Evan Mobley

Gold dominated this game from start to finish. They jumped out to an early lead thanks to strong showings from Harden and Mobley. Wine struggled to contain the Harden and Mobley pick-and-roll, which led to easy paint touches for Mobley and his teammates.

Wine’s perimeter defense struggled throughout. And while Mitchell did his part offensively, it wasn’t enough to make the game competitive down the stretch.

“I felt like they were giving up layup after layup after layup and then paint points and it’s like, at a certain point, you gotta him them and make them aware that’s not acceptable,” Atkinson said afterward.

There were no official stats from this game, but it seemed that Mobley was the leading scorer. He hit a few threes, attacked the basket continually, and overall had a strong all-around game.

“Evan was elite,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson singled out Harden and Mitchell as having good games, but he was quick to point out that Mitchell was part of Wine’s defense, which was a problem. Tyson also got a mention from Atkinson afterwards for his offensive production.

Gold won with a final score of 96-82.

The game wasn’t the only noteworthy thing that took place at Public Auditorium on Saturday. At halftime, several fans and some members of the Cavs participated in a half-court conference. Porter and Allen missed their attempts, but Atkinson nailed a buzzer-beater as the last contestant.

After the game, rookies Thomas and Ernest Udeh Jr. were forced to sing karaoke.

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You don’t want to take too much from a scrimmage that some guys wore sweatpants in, but there were a few observations worth pointing out.

First, this was the best Mobley has played this preseason. He was comfortable attacking off the dribble by pushing the ball off live rebounds and operating at the top of the arc in isolation.

Most importantly, Mobley looked extremely comfortable paired with Harden.

“I like it,” Mobley said when asked about playing alongside Harden more. “I think we’re trying to build a lot of two-man games and more camaraderie. I like the play that we had, and I think the more that we play together, we’re just going to have more and more chemistry.”

Mobley’s pick-and-roll chemistry with Harden was impressive. Mobley did a good job making contact and rolling in these actions. The duo also ran a few inverted pick-and-rolls with Harden as the screener that produced good results.

“James has been great in pick-and-rolls and setting up big men for a long time,” Mobley said.

“I love what I’m seeing from Evan and James,” Atkinson echoed. “[They’re] really starting to get on the same page. I think that’s part of Evan being in the paint more. James missed him a few times at the rim today, but the intent is there.”

Atkinson has hinted throughout preseason that he’ll start the season pairing Harden and Mobley together. Figuring out the right other three guys to play around them is important as well to that group’s success.

“Because Evan can stretch [the floor] a little bit, you don’t have to be as intentional about the shooting piece,” Atkinson said when asked what is needed from the other three players in those lineups. “I think you can throw any three guys out there.”

While any three guys might work, Watson is a seamless fit alongside Harden and Mobley. There were several times in this scrimmage where the defense was able to cut off the pick-and-roll, which forced the ball out to Watson on either the weak-side wing or corner. From there, he’s capable of making a catch-and-shoot jumper, but more importantly, he can put the ball on the ground and create his own shot. That last part can be extremely helpful in lineups that are overleveraged at cutting off the initial action.

Thomas seems much more comfortable creating offense off-ball. The rookie was able to get to his spots on the court when he wasn’t playing alongside Mitchell, but he struggled to have that same impact when he was featured more off-ball.

The Cavs are still trying to figure out what lineups Thomas can be most effective in.

“He’s really good on the ball,” Atkinson said. “We’re just trying to find that right balance.”

Atkinson thinks that Thomas could eventually be a good pairing alongside Mitchell. He wants to see Thomas play more of the role Dennis Schroder did alongside Mitchell last season. In those lineups, Mitchell was able to shift more off-ball.

Grouping Mitchell and Thomas together might also work due to how those two work off the court together.

“Donovan has taken a special liking to Maleek,” Atkinson said. “He almost feels like ‘I have to build that relationship, build that trust, and then coach them up.’ I always say, player development coaches get way too much credit. It’s having really good, smart vets that elevate guys. We do our little part, and I think we put them in the right places, but it’s really the coaching from your best players that elevates younger players.”