Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland brought up on his own several times that Evan Mobley should be the Defensive Player of the Year during his postgame press conference after their win over the Chicago Bulls.

So, I asked him to make the case for his teammate. Garland didn’t disappoint.

First, he picked up the stat sheet, as if he was reading off of a script he’d been working on for days.

“Evan Mobley,” Garland said as he dramatically scrolled his finger from one end of the stat sheet to the other. “Hmmm. One personal foul tonight. That’s good. He doesn’t hack. He doesn’t scream at the refs. He goes and blocks shots.”

Let’s pause Garland’s argument there to underline a few things.

Bringing up Mobley’s lack of fouling is a key point that is often overlooked in this conversation.

Mobley’s ability to contest shots without fouling is remarkable. He’s in the 90th percentile for bigs in foul percentage. That’s while being second in the league in contested shots per game (10.4) among players who would be eligible for the award. He does this while being in the 81st percentile for block percentage.

Both of these are clear advantages over Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, the player who is currently the favorite for the award according to most sports books

Green is in the 31st percentile for foul percentage while contesting nearly one and a half less shots a game and being in just the 60th percentile for block percentage.

Mobley’s defensive instincts and quick jumping ability allow for this to happen. He doesn’t need to over-commit to blow up a play. He can allow the offensive player to make the first move and still put a contest or block on the shot.

Being able to stay on the court more for your team because you aren’t in foul trouble while not needlessly sending the other team to the line is incredibly valuable. It’s one of the things that instantly sets Mobley apart from other great defensive bigs like Green and Jaren Jackson Jr.

As Garland says, Mobley doesn’t hack.

Now let’s get back to Garland’s argument.

“Blocks, deflections, switching out one through five when on elite guards,” Garland said. “It’s really a guard’s league right now, and he’s switching out on the top guards in the league and really holding his own. We all stay home when he gets the switch. That’s how much confidence we have in him.”

Mobley has not only survived in these situations, he’s thrived.

Guards have a difficult time getting anything against Mobley due to his incredible lateral quickness and his size. Typically, a guard will try to create space for their jump shot or blow by the big due to their quickness advantage.

You simply can’t do that against Mobley.

That skill extends to being able to hang with other bigger forwards like Kevin Durant on the perimeter as well.

“I mean what doesn’t he do?” Garland asked.

The answer is not much on the defensive end given that he’s also an impactful rebounder. The raw rebounding numbers show this as Mobley is grabbing 3.6 missed shots per game than Green is.

Then there’s also the conversation about defensive on/off numbers, which is what Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson recently pointed to as support for Mobley’s DPOY case.

This also favors Mobley. The Cavs are 4.8 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Mobley on while the Warriors are 2.8 points better with Green on compared to when he’s off.

So why isn’t Mobley the favorite in the race again?

“He just doesn’t express it how other people express it. … I can go on Twitter and go on a podcast and do the same thing for my boy, but I’m gonna let him talk his talk,” Garland said.

Garland then dramatically picked up the microphone from the podium in front of him and moved it over to Mobley so that he could tell everyone why he should be Defensive Player of the Year.

Mobley doesn’t always seem comfortable promoting himself like Green, but Garland’s argument for him seemed to give him some confidence to state his case.

“I mean, what he said is a lot of it,” Mobley said, before fully diving into why he deserves the recognition.

“The biggest thing is a guy my size, my wingspan, my agility, you don’t really see that in the contenders. There’s nobody even close to that. And also the stats as well speak for itself. The blocks, the fouls, I mean, I don’t foul. Steals, deflections. Also, people don’t even go up against me in the paint. So that’s not even a stat.

“The defense is kind of run so I’m involved in a lot of the actions. Me and J.A. (Jarrett Allen) are protecting the paint that is based around us. So that’s a factor as well.”

“And he averages 1.6 blocks a game,” Garland interjected. “That’s a lot of blocks. So I’m just saying.”

These are all points in favor of Mobley. This isn’t to say that Green isn’t a great defender. It’s just that Mobley is better and has done so on a far and away more successful team this season.

“Come on bro, this shouldn’t be a question,” Garland said before exiting the stage.

And really, it shouldn’t be a question.