Point guard is his natural position,’’ Rick Pitino told The Post about Donovan Mitchell. “But because of Quentin Snider, who’s been around a while as a veteran, I played [Donovan] at the two-guard spot. I see him strictly as a one.”
Pitino: “I haven’t seen a guy improve his jump shot more than him in my 40 years of coaching. He’s got great arc. He improved it more than any player I’ve coached outside of Billy Donovan.”
Pitino: “He’s understands everything about the game — a basketball junkie,’’ Pitino said. “He has a high basketball IQ, a high IQ period.’’
Any questions?![]()
A coach being effusive about one of his own players? I've never heard of such a thing. That's nothing against Pitino, but if Calipari came out and said that Malik Monk's natural position was PG it wouldn't mean much to me. I want to see it in a workout.
Donovan DID improve his shot quite a bit which is encouraging. But it's also worth noting that his freshman year his outside shooting was almost exactly as bad as De'Aaron Fox's. 18 of 72 vs 17 of 69 for the season.
A bigger concern with Mitchell for me is his bad decision making in terms of launching jumpers early in the clock instead of looking for a better shot for himself or his teammates and his struggles finishing at the rim. He shot 50.7% at the basket and for all his strength and athleticism he really struggles to finish inside. Part of it is that he doesn't really get lift off one foot. He's explosive when he can gather and jump off two. But part of it is just throwing up some ugly shots.
For reference Fox shot 58.6% at the rim and his tendency to get easily bumped off course or finish in traffic concerns me. Monk shot 61.6% though he had more open dunks that Fox or Mitchell due to attacking closeouts that had to respect his shot. Ntilikina shot 62.5% but didn't appear to get all the way to the rim often, at least in the tape I've seen. Smith shot a really impressive 65.7% at the basket, showing how well he attacks and finishes but my concern is his terrible midrange shooting and lack of a floater game that he'll absolutely need on the next level. Ball shot a ridiculous 75.6% at the rim but over half of those baskets were assisted and a bunch more came in transition. UCLA didn't run much pick and roll and he rarely broke his man down to attack the basket. But regardless of how he accomplished it, Lonzo Ball's shot chart and eFG% are borderline historic. I can't remember another player with offensive efficiency like his. But I digress.
The player I thought was most similar to Mitchell in last year's draft was Wade Baldwin and he shot around 56% at the rim and often had trouble finishing.
Anyway, I am high on Donovan Mitchell. But I have questions just I with every prospect in this draft. Part of my hesitation with him might be that he reminds me a lot of Baldwin (who I really liked last year) and that could be biasing me. I think Mitchell has similar physical tools but is more athletic than Baldwin but he's also not as natural an outside shooter and shows more issues with decision making. He also hasn't actually played PG in college.
Isaac or Tatum at 5 and Mitchell at 10 wouldn't be a bad draft to me. I'd like it a lot more than Collins at 10. But if the Kings were to draft Mitchell I think I'd prefer if it was after taking Fox at 5. Then you have a very natural PG, likely at veteran PG and then Mitchell as the 3rd PG who can develop at his own pace. Again, IF Mitchell can be a PG or combo guard then I'm interested. If he's solely a SG then I'm not nearly as high on drafting him.
A team of:
Mitchell
Hield
Isaac
Labissiere
Cauley-Stein/Papagiannis
could be very good defensively and has some solid shooting but would really struggle in terms of ballhandling and playmaking.
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