Welcome Davion Mitchell

C

cwebb2002

Bench
#61
#61
The pick was a good one, solid. It does also take any potential sting out of a buddy trade with respect to losing shooting. While smaller than buddy, he is a far better facilitator, defender, and has better IQ. All this and no-one is talking about the fact that he is one of the best shooters in this draft, hitting 45% from 3 while shooting almost five 3s per game. Again i will say he is like Donavon Mitchell and Marcus Smart hybrid, or an Isaiah Thomas/Patrick Beverly hybrid. The guy can ball on both ends. It frees us up to move Wright or TD as well
 
miltonap

miltonap

Starter
#62
#62
KingsFanSince85 said:
When I watch him play, he doesn’t look small. That doesn’t mean anything, I realize. Just an observation.

Supposedly he doesn’t have good length either. But I couldn’t care less. Defense is often more about attitude and will than ability.

If he’s a tenacious defender, his size means nothing to me. Bobby J and Kyle Lowry aren’t big. Donovan Mitchell and Patrick Beverley aren’t big. But they ball out.

I realize that highlights are highlights, but I also see a capable offensive player not just a Patrick Beverley defensive stopper type. He can play make and score.
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He has an elite 1st step. He's not just an elite defender
 
Section 101

Section 101

All-Star
#67
#67
cwebb2002 said:
The pick was a good one, solid. It does also take any potential sting out of a buddy trade with respect to losing shooting. While smaller than buddy, he is a far better facilitator, defender, and has better IQ. All this and no-one is talking about the fact that he is one of the best shooters in this draft, hitting 45% from 3 while shooting almost five 3s per game. Again i will say he is like Donavon Mitchell and Marcus Smart hybrid, or an Isaiah Thomas/Patrick Beverly hybrid. The guy can ball on both ends. It frees us up to move Wright or TD as well
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Good shooters don't shoot 66% from the line.
 
KingsFanSince85

KingsFanSince85

All-Star
#70
#70
Section 101 said:
Good shooters don't shoot 66% from the line.
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They sometimes do early in their careers.

Not only that, a nice list of strong deep shooters with subpar FT numbers can be cited.

Shooting from the line is altogether different than shooting in rhythm or off the dribble. While most good and great shooters are good or great at both, it’s not totally uncommon for a good deep shooter to struggle more from the line.
 
E

ESP47

All-Star
#72
#72
The_Jamal said:
Will need to see him defend 2 guards to really evaluate. If he can be a true combo guard that's an elite defender at both spots, that changes the upside of the pick.

Still, need to see McNair clean up the roster. As of now, Mitchell is slated for about 8 minutes a game.
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Walton is the wild card here.

Will probably deem Davion too good to play in the G League but not good enough to get rotational minutes.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#74
#74
ESP47 said:
Walton is the wild card here.

Will probably deem Davion too good to play in the G League but not good enough to get rotational minutes.
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That's the issue too. Part of the appeal with Mitchell is he's supposed to be a plug and play from day 1. Make an impact from day 1. He's not a guy you send to the g league
 
N

NiNetNiNe

Bench
#76
#76
I was upset at first. I'll be honest, I didn't read up on him much because I didn't think we would take a PG with Fox and Wright on our team already. But I went through a game of his and watched some interviews, read more about him, I've grown to like him a lot. If we trade Fox. Otherwise it makes no sense.

Mitchell seems to be an amazing defender with a Mamba-esque work ethic. He lives and breathes basketball. Seems like the recipe for a great player.
 
captain bill

captain bill

Starter
#77
#77
Another gem from the Atheltic article I linked above:

So let’s finish with another Davion Mitchell story that sounds like a fairytale, but it’s absolutely true.

Not only has Mitchell never drank or smoked, he says he only went out twice during his time at Baylor. The second time, understandably, was the night the Bears won the national title.

The next morning Drew went into Baylor’s practice facility. He expected it to be empty. His office sits above the practice floor, and as soon as he arrived, he heard a ball bouncing.

Mitchell was in the gym alone, getting in a workout.
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M

mac

All-Star
#81
#81
Welcome Davison! Have fun playing your butt off on defense only to have your teammates give up open layups when they lose sight of their man offball.
 
G

Groovygreg

Starter
#84
#84
funkykingston said:
My issue with Mitchell is that I think his outside shooting this year was fool's gold based on his previous shooting numbers and his FT%. And as he's not much of a playmaker to begin with I don't see a clear path to success for him in the NBA.

The fact that he plays the same position as the only two Kings players worth keeping just exacerbates things.

I think I'm also just overly frustrated that there were all these reports in the weeks leading up to the draft about how "aggressive" the Kings were and now it looks like they'll have the exact same team plus Mitchell, but only if they can resign Holmes. Otherwise they'll be worse but still not bad enough to get a top pick.

Mitchell is a frustrating pick to me. The complete lack of any other movement just makes it worse.
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I think there are more moves to come. The roster situation with the Kings is fluid.
 
Padrino

Padrino

All-Star
#89
#89
I really like Davion Mitchell as a prospect, but I didn't rate him as a top-10 pick. In the NBA, he projects to be something like a shorter Marcus Smart with a markedly better shot. And that's a worthy trajectory! I've wanted Smart in a Kings uni for years... that is, before they drafted De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. Drafting Mitchell is just a head-scratcher of the highest order for me.

I would have vastly preferred Moses Moody or Jalen Johnson or even Alperun Sengun with the 9th pick. Any of those guys would have made more sense on this roster, and I'm not even close to convinced that Mitchell represents a substantial leap in talent over Moody/Johnson/Sengun that justifies clogging the backcourt even further. Fox/Hali/Mitchell can get situational run together, but I don't see nearly enough size there for them to work in a lineup consistently. I don't believe in that group defensively, Mitchell's prowess on that end of the court notwithstanding.

So what does this mean? Did the Kings just use a top-10 pick on a sixth man? Trying to ship out Buddy Hield is a start, but it won't clear up the backcourt logjam. Haliburton is a functional SG alongside Fox, but he's still a PG. The Kings' three best young talents are all PG's. No matter how you slice it, that's just not effective or efficient roster-building. It's easy enough to say, "Take the best player, sort the rest out later," but do the Kings have a particularly strong history of "sorting it out"? It's really not all that simple to "win" trades in the modern NBA. In situations like these, you often lose value in the transaction because you've alienated player minutes by stacking all your talent at one or two positions, inadvertently depressing the value of each.

So, again, what does this mean? What's the long-term plan? Is McNair considering trading De'Aaron Fox? With the stated franchise goal of making the playoffs ASAP, he's actually made his job more difficult this draft day. Rather than selecting a plug-and-play two-way wing like Moody to aid in balancing the roster (and making it easier to move on from Bagley and shift Harrison Barnes to the 4-spot full-time), McNair has given himself further question marks to deal with. Now he has to decide if he's committed to Fox, who is far and away the Kings' best trade chip under the circumstances.

That said, it is a massive risk to deal an all-star level talent away because you drafted a solid first-rounder who happens to share your best player's position. You had better be getting a surefire all-star in return. Is a Ben Simmons deal in the works? Here are two hypothetical line-ups:

Fox
Haliburton
Moody
Barnes
Holmes

Mitchell
Haliburton
Barnes
Simmons
Holmes

Personally, I like that first lineup better, and it would have been so much simpler.

Anyway, I don't mean to rain on Davion Mitchell's KF.com welcome parade. I really do like him as a prospect. I think he's going to have a successful career in the NBA. I'm just really struggling with the wisdom of drafting a third PG in five years.
 
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