Davion Mitchell
- Thread starter TheMobb
- Start date
Bosnian Diehard
Starter
I think what hurt him the most was that he wasn’t able to get into a rhythm last season, offensively. He feels like he needs to play a large chunk of minutes in a row to get going on offense, but that’s just not reasonable to see happening if Fox stays healthy. And even when he does get minutes, we have other ball handlers he shares time with.
The way Brown had him in for 3 minute spurts is tough. The only way around this for Davion is if he improves his shot so he can play next to Fox.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
He’d better take a big step. I’m skeptical if on-ball defensive specialists are valuable in the current NBA. It seems like NBA offenses have the technology in order get any matchup they want.
Absolutely agree here.
In Davion's rookie season he started 19 games. One was a fill in, then he had a stretch of 6 games when De'Aaron was injured, and finally 11 straight to finish the season when Fox was shut down.
As a starter he put up 18 ppg and 7.4 apg. But much more importantly, his shooting numbers improved considerably.
As a starter: 45.1% FG, 33.7 % 3P, 76.3% FT
As a reserve: 39.8% FG, 30.6% 3P, 57.4% FT (!)
19 games is maybe still a small enough sample size to wonder if he was just on a hot streak, especially to finish the season and largely against tanking or coasting teams.
But I don't think that's it. I think you're absolutely right that Mitchell is a player that needs to get into a rhythm.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
There is almost no way Davion can play anything close to 30 mpg unless Fox is out or the Kings suffer major setbacks at SG. It's not out of the question that Monk sees an increase in minutes and if he does it comes at the expense of either Davion or Huerter. The advantage minutes wise goes to Huerter based on the fact that he can play some forward. With some of the young additions this summer like Jones and Duarte, and retaining Edwards, it's possible Davion could have a hard time even averaging the 18 per game he did last season.
sactowndog
All-Star
Yeah the minutes just aren’t there unless you move one of Fox (not happening) or Monk. Hard to successfully play two 6’3” or less guards at the same time and win play-off games. If Portland struggled to do it with Dame and CJ doubt we will have more success.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
not quite sure why some are so infatuated with him needing to be some type of offensive force, he's a defensive specialist and that's why he was drafted in the lottery. Anything else is pie in my opinion, a mini Marcus Smart would be just fine as far as I'm concerned. Kings didn't struggle to put up points last season.
Year 3 was when he figured out his 3pt jumper in college so there's at least a "past history" reason to be optimistic that he'll take that leap forward as a shooter this year. And this is probably the year he needs to do it to keep his spot considering Monte will have a decision to make on how much to offer Malik Monk next summer and backup PG minutes is where we'd be looking to find him more playing time to justify the starter or near starter level contract he deserves. I love Davion and want to see him stick around so I hope he's a bright spot for us in this upcoming season.
Agreed. Marcus Smart really lucked out with Boston, but most teams in the league will not give heavy minutes to a SG that can't consistently shoot. On any other team, I think Davion would find himself in a similar role playing spot minutes. He just has to be ready.
miltonap
Starter
I just think if the dude becomes a 40% shooter you probably cannot keep his minutes low.
Agree with this. His defense is too good to keep him off the floor if he is shooting 40% from 3 or even above 36% on high volume.
ockingsfan
Starter
40% from 3 seems a bit too optimistic. I'd take 37% from 3 and it would be very, very hard for coach Brown to keep him off the court.
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Telemachus
Starter
I just want him to be a threat on offense. He has a good midrange game, but rarely used last season. He also needs to work on keeping the offense moving. He was one of our biggest ball stoppers last season.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Monte has built a team where things will play out the way they play out. If Davion wins whatever battle there is next to Fox so be it. This is a team with a lot of G's and F's that lean more towards PF. Someone is getting the short end most likely unless Brown decides to continue to play small or way big with lineups around Barnes, Lyles, Keegan, and Sasha.
SLAB
Hall of Famer
He needs to be passable or else he misses most of game 6 and 7 in the most pivotal games of the season. He doesn’t need to be a force. He just needs to be useful enough not to bench.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Here's the thing though, Brown made a choice for more offense but people did question that after the fact a tad bit. Davion not guarding Curry could have been the difference but with Fox hurt Brown did have plenty of reasons to do what he did rotation wise by going with Monk and TD.
miltonap
Starter
He also has an elite skill though in that he is excellent one on one though.
He has elite quickness so that's also a strength that should be utilized at times
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
We are a impatient fan base and that is understandable, based on his relentless work ethic, I have no doubt that he will eventually be presentable on offense, whether that's this season, next or the one after. Until then, he will still get his minutes and do what he does best.
Sac.Kings
All-Star
I bet he is traded during the season. I like him a lot and his defense is incredible, but he’s too situational of a player. He can only guard 1-2 positions and many players just shoot over him. I wouldn’t be sad at all if he did stay with the team, you can do a whole lot worse than him on the bench.
I’m not knocking this and it’s fair, but I’d just like to point out it’s easy to come to a conclusion on a player when you don’t see results. Kyle Lowry for example didn’t do much his first 5 years in the league, but later became an all star PG. Not saying Davion is gonna turn into an all star, just that while he came in as an older rookie he’s still just 24 years old and still growing and improving.
King Baller
All-Star
Off Night was making things tough on Curry in that Playoff Series. He should have been on Curry the whole time IMO. 50 on Davion? NFW
HndsmCelt
Hall of Famer
Yes, BUT his poor shooting was a liability on offense which is exactly why the coach sat him. Mitchell himself as recognize this and talked about it as part of the reason he was adament about improving his shot. To paraphrase him the only reason I wasn't on the court more was my shooting.
Vinny Basketballerino
Starter
I think the thinking here is that his lack of offense is what's keeping him off the floor. A Davion Mitchell that is a effective on offense is, combined with his ELITE defense all the sudden becomes sixth man of the year type material.
But the Kings actually did struggle to put up points in certain stretches last year. It was the story to two teams. Our starting five, plus Malik, were so nuts on offense that it covered up for some combos that would go completely cold for 4-5 minutes at a time. We need to eliminate those stretches and Mitchell becoming a mini spark plug on offense can go a long way towards that.
C Lyles
PF Vezenkov
SF Duarte
SG Monk
PG Mitchell
Is a 2nd unit with tons of scoring/spacing potential.
PF Vezenkov
SF Duarte
SG Monk
PG Mitchell
Is a 2nd unit with tons of scoring/spacing potential.
