Welcome Davion Mitchell

I can see him being DPOY by the time he reaches his 3rd or 4th season, no doubt about it. Davion having that respect right out of the gate is also going to allow him to get away with a lot more than Fox or our other players will. At least until we become known as a defensive team ;)
 
Beverly and Artest World Peace are both players that did a lot of trash talking and had trouble controlling their emotions. They are about as psycho as basketball players get. They mess with people.

Mitchell is different. He plays straight up defense and makes opponents very uncomfortable. He overplays at times but is fast enough to recover like a good NFL corner. His lower body strength is under rated. He is really an old school defender. He plays D with his feet and his heart. He is very disciplined and is hard to move out of the way even by bigger players. He might be good at the mental game, but is subtle about it.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
https://uproxx.com/dimemag/sacramento-kings-x-factor-davion-mitchell/

"Hey, it's me! Guy who didn't watch a single second of Davion Mitchell actually play before writing this article!"
I guess it wasn't horrible until the fifth paragraph where the writer assumed that Mitchell wouldn't even be a secondary ball handler and pulled "111th in NCAA assist rate" out - as if there aren't something like 5000 players in the NCAA and Mitchell didn't play alongside a 4.8 assist per game combo guard. Other than that, I guess it was pretty standard fare, but it isn't going to teach us Kings fans anything.
 

This sounds like hyperbole but I am dead serious. Davion might be the best perimeter defender I have ever seen including Spurs Kawhi.
His lateral quickness and body control is the best I've ever seen. Add in superb overall agility/quickness/rock-solid frame and it's just leading to the most fundamentally great defense I've seen in a damn long time.

It's going to be ridiculous once he starts getting a book on everybody and understanding everyone's moves and tendencies. You know this dude is going to be studying his game film and every match-up religiously.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
remember the Boogie posters in downtown Sac during his rookie year?
Without throwing shade at Boogie, I think there's a huge gulf between Boogie's Cult of Stardom that began (at least) at Kentucky before we ever drafted him and Davion's lunchpail attitude. Sorry Boogie, but Davion gave more effort on defense on that one possession where he forced Donovan into a horrible expiring-clock three than Boogie gave on defense during his entire stint in Sacramento.

Cousins was an offensive player and got his accolades from scoring while running up and down the court preening himself in a hand mirror. Davion hasn't scored a whit in the NBA yet, and still is making his mark through effort.

There is literally no comparison.
 
This kid is legit. He’s barely had enough time to put some wear on his sneakers but you’d have to be blind to not see what he’s doing. 2nd game in and he already has me convinced that he’s the real deal. This kid needs to be a King until he retires. That type of effort and attitude you can never have enough of.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
Without throwing shade at Boogie, I think there's a huge gulf between Boogie's Cult of Stardom that began (at least) at Kentucky before we ever drafted him and Davion's lunchpail attitude. Sorry Boogie, but Davion gave more effort on defense on that one possession where he forced Donovan into a horrible expiring-clock three than Boogie gave on defense during his entire stint in Sacramento.

Cousins was an offensive player and got his accolades from scoring while running up and down the court preening himself in a hand mirror. Davion hasn't scored a whit in the NBA yet, and still is making his mark through effort.

There is literally no comparison.
it's fun to imagine what he can be if he actually develops into an offensive threat on top of his elite defense
 
Did McNair finally outsmart all us GMs? Granted we only do this part time and Tinker has more resources, but hats off to ‘em.
Well his on ball defense is legit but the questions about him were on the offensive side of the ball. And those questions are still pending.

But he is a legitimate first team all defense candidate already.
 

1. How insane is it this dude has a 4 min defensive highlight reel in 2 games?

2. I think this is why he's been short on a lot of his jumpers. He's exerting so much energy on defense, that he's losing his legs on offense. Something for him to work on for sure to be a little more balanced in how he uses his energy.