Our Fantasy Face-Off series will feature two SportsEthos staffers making their arguments in a head-to-head battle of comparable fantasy players. To close it out, we have a battle of two versatile forwards with different skill sets but matching elite upside. On one hand is Evan Mobley, a player who has shown flashes of brilliance since entering the league but who has yet to sustain it for a full season, and Jalen Johnson, who burst onto the scene last year and looks like a true do-it-all force. Managing Editor Mike Passador and Dynasty Expert Mark Camero close out the series.

Last Season

Evan Mobley

PF, Cleveland Cavaliers

Jalen Johnson

PF, Atlanta Hawks

Mobley took tangible steps forward in his development and although it feels like we won’t see his absolute best while the Cavs still have Jarrett Allen, he was still excellent and is thriving in his current role. Last season featured new career-highs with 3.2 assists per game, .584 shooting from the field and .713 shooting at the charity stripe. Additionally, Mobley went from .216 behind the arc to .379, albeit on just 1.2 attempts per game. He’s not quite an offensive force but Mobley is solid or better at just about every facet of the game. The only issue for fantasy purposes was availability, as Mobley missed 22 games following right knee surgery (though he did return ahead of schedule) and a nine-game absence in the thick of fantasy playoff season. Those disrupted his rhythm and Mobley was tracking for an even better finish had he stayed healthy, but finishing 45/42 in 8/9-cat scoring is nothing to sneeze at.

Johnson was dynamite last season, giving the Hawks exactly the kind of versatile, two-way play that they have been missing for years. A well-rounded forward with length, ball-handling ability and explosive athleticism, Johnson made a genius out of any managers wise enough to spend a late-round selection on him. He roared out of the gates; Johnson racked up multiple defensive stats in each of the first four games of the year and followed that up with three consecutive performances of 11 or more rebounds. Like Mobley, the only thing that seemed to slow Johnson down was injury. He missed 14 games after a left wrist fracture and 12 (non-consecutive) with a right ankle sprain. In his first season of legitimate playing time, Johnson set career-highs basically across the board and surpassed even the most optimistic of prognostications with a 47/43 finish in 8/9-cat.

The Case for Evan Mobley

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