Donovan Mitchell: All-NBA BEST Team

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Again, each coach of top 10 teams is being saved by mvp level play by their superstar. Thats why they are superstars and are being paid 30 mil plus. Its players league and not coach league for a reason.

Again, their offense sucks. It makes no sense. These individual performances are not it. A big part of being such high caliber player who is so explosive, as well as being such a great shooter and having high gravity is the ability to generate open looks for yourself and your teammates. Floor is so bogged down because if this bozo of a coach that it makes everyone suffer. So no, this isn't how it should be.

 

[CroopZ23]

Is he better than a prime Kyrie? My first reaction was a resounding yes. Then I did a little digging and realized that Kyrie, despite his personal issues, is the more efficient player. Kyrie is also taller and a better inside the arc shooter, better ball handler, and the superior passer, and better finisher.

Spida is far more reliable, way stronger, and a better leader. Not to mention he is less injury prone.

So while I personally would choose Spida, I think Kyrie might technically be the better player. Thoughts?

 

[Jscc]

Is he better than a prime Kyrie? My first reaction was a resounding yes. Then I did a little digging and realized that Kyrie, despite his personal issues, is the more efficient player. Kyrie is also taller and a better inside the arc shooter, better ball handler, and the superior passer, and better finisher.

Spida is far more reliable, way stronger, and a better leader. Not to mention he is less injury prone.

So while I personally would choose Spida, I think Kyrie might technically be the better player. Thoughts?

Kyrie has played with great players like LeBron or KD for a good chunk of his career. Meanwhile, the best player Mitchell has played with was Gobert and the best perimeter player was Mike Conley. If you replace Kyrie with Mitchell on those teams, I think Mitchell is putting up more efficient numbers at greater volume than Kyrie, and the comparison of Mitchell+great players and Kyrie+great players isn't close imo. I think this season's Mitchell is closer to what you would see if he had a LeBron or KD player next to him.

 

[CPK]

I didn't get to watch Mitchell a lot when he played for Utah. I knew he was good but I didn't know he was this great. His defense has been better than advertised and I never really saw that effort with Kyrie. I think Mitchell is a guy who elevates a team overall and can carry them to a degree. While I'll always be grateful for Kyrie and The Shot, I never saw that with him on the Cavs. Kyrie always got his points but our teams continued to be poor. Kyrie may be one of the best ball handler's I have ever seen though.

 

[Jscc]

Actually....

Kyrie's first season without LeBron in Boston vs. Mitchell's final season before coming here:



Mitchell's first season here (so far) vs. Kyrie's first season with LeBron, Kyrie's first season with KD:

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

To unlock the ful potential of this offense, Mitchell needs to make more of an effort in terms of ball movement/getting other guys involved early in the game. He takes too many bad shots early in the shot clock early in the game.

I don't care how many points he scores, or his late game heroics, or even how great a player he is. We're not going to have a shot in the playoffs unless more guys get involved early.

Too much ISO ball when it isn't necessary. And yeah, I know everyone is going to throw in my face his overall efficiency, etc..

Doesn't change the point. Other guys must get more involved.

 

[Peacedog]

Guys, he's at 50-40-90. And we're talking about how Kyrie was more efficient lol? And that's he's taking bad shots? 50-40-90 players BY DEFINITION take good shots SMH.

 

[zDawg45]

if you had a vote, who would you take on this team right now Kyrie or Donovan

Im taking Donovan Mitchell 100%

 

[kookoo]

Donovan is the alpha. I will say this every single day. He's so athletic as well.He can go passed, around and through people.

 

[PIP]

Outside of Luke Jackson, Kyrie Irving is my favorite Cavalier of all time.

I’d take Donovan 10 outta 10 times

 

[amil99]

Actually....

Kyrie's first season without LeBron in Boston vs. Mitchell's final season before coming here:

View attachment 13610

Mitchell's first season here (so far) vs. Kyrie's first season with LeBron, Kyrie's first season with KD:

View attachment 13611
View attachment 13612

He’s taking 28 fga a game?

 

[Jordan]

To unlock the ful potential of this offense, Mitchell needs to make more of an effort in terms of ball movement/getting other guys involved early in the game. He takes too many bad shots early in the shot clock early in the game.

I don't care how many points he scores, or his late game heroics, or even how great a player he is. We're not going to have a shot in the playoffs unless more guys get involved early.

Too much ISO ball when it isn't necessary. And yeah, I know everyone is going to throw in my face his overall efficiency, etc..

Doesn't change the point. Other guys must get more involved.

I don't disagree and I would say the same about Garland. Both look much better when Okoro and Stevens are not in, though. The complete lack of spacing with one/both of Okoro and Stevens next to two bigs makes it so all Garland and Mitchell can really do is get some screens and shoot.

 

[daytripper]

Donovan is the alpha. I will say this every single day. He's so athletic as well.He can go passed, around and through people.

Agreed he's our #1 alpha. Can't believe we scored another one so soon after Lebron left. The Knicks are compete idiots for dinking around on that trade.

I was a little concerned about 2 small guards in the starting lineup but Don plays so much bigger. As soon as Mobley progresses to a legit #2, which could be by the end of this season, this team is a serious championship contender.

 

[stick]

To unlock the ful potential of this offense, Mitchell needs to make more of an effort in terms of ball movement/getting other guys involved early in the game. He takes too many bad shots early in the shot clock early in the game.

I don't care how many points he scores, or his late game heroics, or even how great a player he is. We're not going to have a shot in the playoffs unless more guys get involved early.

Too much ISO ball when it isn't necessary. And yeah, I know everyone is going to throw in my face his overall efficiency, etc..

Doesn't change the point. Other guys must get more involved.

Do you have examples of these moments? I do recall some bad shots from time to time and would love for everyone to get involved early but I don't think Donovan's early shots taken are overall bad shots, even earlier in the game. His frequency of shots taken are at their peak 15-7 seconds left in the shot clock in the first half for the last ten games (extrapolated to the full season: still the highest frequency of shots taken, albeit on 7 percent less frequency).

Here are the first half shot clock range numbers for various players on the team in the last ten games.











In the first quarter specifically of the last ten games, Donovan's frequency spikes even higher in the 15-7 range and his percentages are lower there but not terrible relative to others on the team.



There's definitely room for improvement! Cavs as a whole shoot better earlier in the shot clock but are in the top two in the league in frequency of shots taken below 7 seconds where they don't shoot well. I think a significant reason for that is the intentional slowness in getting into the initial set, lineups with multiple non shooters which makes it easier for defenses to collapse the paint and get into position, initial high screen action predicted by the defense which gives less time in the clock for secondary+ actions.

I think Donovan can improve shot selection but I personally haven't noticed times where his shot selection has hurt the team with the exception of a few games where him and Garland were ice cold.

 

[kidduck]

Mitchell said after the game that it was in the third quarter when he knew he'd have to enter takeover mode. It wasn't just the scoring flurry, as his own defense was needed to slow down Indiana's pace.

"My problem was I kept getting scored on and then I just was like, 'All right, I'm just gonna score back,' and that's not great basketball. So I really had to like lock in and be able to get stops. … That really got me going because I'm letting my teammates down. Offense comes and goes, but defense, like you can't do one thing and not the other. You got to be able to do both sides, and that was for me when I started to try and be more aggressive."