Here’s what J.B. Bickerstaff says he needs from Evan Mobley going forward

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff recently revealed what the team needs from Evan Mobley down the stretch of the 2021-22 season.

Bickerstaff wants Mobley to be more aggressive on the offensive end going forward.

Bickerstaff’s desire for Mobley to be more aggressive may be a product of injuries to Caris LeVert and Darius Garland. The Cavs lost to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night without LeVert and Garland, and Mobley scored just 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting in the loss.

The Cavs are going to need to look elsewhere for scoring and playmaking if Garland is out for an extended period of time, and Bickerstaff seems to think that his star rookie is up to the task of taking on a bigger offensive workload.

This season, Mobley is averaging 14.8 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from beyond the arc.

It’s worth noting that Mobley is attempting just 11.9 field goals per game and has a usage rate of 20.0 percent this season, so there is room for those numbers to increase.

Cavs fans should love that Bickerstaff has enough confidence in Mobley to challenge him to take on a bigger role, and it is likely that the team will need more from Mobley on offense in order to secure a solid seed in the Eastern Conference.

Right now, the Cavs have a 35-24 record and are 3.5 games out of the No. 1 seed in the East.

Mobley has been one of the top rookies all season long, but he still has room to grow as a player this early in his career. It will be interesting to see if his shots and usage go up in the coming games for Cleveland.