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This play is the reason why some overreacting Cavs fans want him traded. You see that nobody else touches this ball as Mitchell fires away from way downtown and misses.
This is equally as bad, as Donovan doesn’t involve anyone on his team, goes right at Wiggins who’s a terrific defender and throws up a perfectly contested one hander. Nothing happened on this possession.
Now Cleveland fans take situations like these and compare them to what happened in the last 4 games that he missed due to injury where the ball just flew all over the court.
Let me show you how Cleveland plays with and without Mitchell and what’s the good and the bad in his game.
With Donovan handling the ball, a lot of times it becomes screening to get him a switch and a favorable matchup. And from there it’s standing around and watching him do his thing.
Right here the play is designed strictly so that he gets Curry on him, a matchup that they want to exploit. So none of his teammates will make a play here. Everyone is looking up top. And Mitchell shakes and bakes for the 3, sooo good possession?! Umm let’s move on.
Right here again, we got Donovan with the ball, nobody else touches it or does anything here, he gets Curry again on him, raises up and knocks down another 3.
Hey the guy is averaging 29 points on 48 and a half percent from the field and 39 percent from downtown. That’s a monster season. Cleveland fans, what are you complaining about?
Well I guess at least some of them are complaining because the team was 5-6 before he got injured. And even if you’re close to 50% from the field as he is, that means that for every shot like this that goes in, there’s one like this that doesn’t.
And the team doesn’t get involved, doesn’t feel the ball, doesn’t have a nice rhythm.
They just stand around and watch him.
Not having Mitchell for these last few games meant that every other guy had a bigger responsibility to contribute but also more freedom to move and to just play.
On this play, we got literally everyone moving, engaging and spreading out the defense, and the Cavs go for one of the craziest plays you’ll see which is a big to big pick and roll. And there’s no stopping this.
In crunch time against Philly there’s no hero shots here, instead we got a high pick for Garland, and a great reaction by Allen on the short roll as he sees Embiid rotating, and finds Mobley for another big man connection.
Whatever the frequency of plays like this is, the Cavs need to increase it. Like literally go all out on Allen and Mobley connections.
And here’s the type of shot that Cleveland would get with Mitchell, at the end of a close game. This is literally 1 on 5 here with the rest of the Cavs watching.
The very next play it’s the same thing. Isolation for Spida. This time he makes it. So that’s 1 make and 1 miss. 50% But nobody else touched the ball. You see my point?
One thing that Donovan definitely doesn’t do is play off the ball. Follow Garland here as he’s going to curl inside then right back out to set a back screen for Niang who is almost surprised at how wide open he is.
Instead of trying to take Harris here off the dribble, look at what Darius does. A little bump on the handoff like a quasi screen that completely opens up Struss outside. Now the defense is overreacting to that and Struss just bounces it to Allen for the easy finish.When you watch the offense without Mitchell, there seems to be more spontaneity, more free flowing movement, back screening for other guys, or random cuts to the basket, just simple intuitive plays off the ball. That’s the key here. Off the ball.
Cleveland fans are mostly complaining because everything with Donovan comes with him having full control of the basketball.
Otherwise, you gotta be crazy to think that having an efficient 30 point per game scorer on your team is a bad thing.
Plus, he’s been the scariest transition weapon in the league this season.
Check out the numbers here provided by NBA university, a great follow on twitter btw.
Number 1 in points, meaning that there is a high volume of transition opportunities but also in the 99th percentile in efficiency. Both effective field goal percentage and points per possession.
This is the perfect combination.
And if you want easy points, this is a great way to get them.
Also, he’s a great shot maker, and you always need a guy like that.
Cleveland fans were loud after the first 3 wins without him, but then Miami caught the Cavs on a back to back game and used the opportunity to absolutely destroy them.
I’m sure a guy like Mitchell would’ve been nice to have for that game.
Look, there is no way that this team has a higher ceiling without him, but I get the idea that he does need to improve in some aspects off the ball, and focus more on the team overall and how all the other players would perform with him on the court.
43 Comments
Nah his not consistent and a volume shooter. Don often goes 20 attempts at 34%. In short low bball IQ and a ball hog. He should be a SG 2nd banana in a team.
Sat in row 1 at wells Fargo and watched them take out my sixers without Mitchell…was impressed
Donovan had the resume in Utah, its proven he gets cold in big moments and can't win games
i swear by god if we repeat the carmelo anthony trade im gonna switch to brooklyn, we gave up all of our assets last time, and failed to build a team around our superstar, and kept losing, DO NOT TRADE FOR HIM, GET CAP SPACE, AND SIGN HIM
The reality is he is nice as hell. The second reality is i don't believe he wants to be in Cleveland long term. We gave up a lot.
i'm a believer is mainly Mitchell who was dragging the Jazz rather than Gobert
I didn't even realise, thanks for pointing it out, good video
He was exactly the same in UTA. CLE knows exactly what they’re getting when they traded for him. The team needs to adjust to him to some degree given what they gave up to get him.
Having said that, Mitchell is too good of a shooter to not develop any sort of off-ball value unlike Russ and Beard
I put it on the coach.
As a cavs fan I love Dmitch but bro just needs to stop playing hero ball. When the ball moves we can beat anyone so if he wants out to New York I wonder if Mikal and some role players are available from Brooklyn. I hope he doesn’t leave since I like the guy but he has to trust his team.
This vid is all FACTS
so you say that the one third of Cavs' points comes from an ISO player with almost 50-40-90 efficiency? 🙂 and that is the problem because no one touches the ball on his possesions? yeah yeah, sure
omg these non-playing NBA YouTubers are so naive and delusional…go play some ball instead of analyzing clips, mb after that, you'll be able to understand something about the game
I’ll say this till I’m blue in the face, ball dominant guards that rely on scoring are just not it. If you want to win you need to play the game.
CAVS fan here. NO WE DONT!!! Rather trade Garland, who avg 5.7 assists and 4.5 TURNOVERS as a PG…. trade Garland pls
hes budget james harden
Anyone who thinks this team is better with DG, than DM, forgot how trash DG played 2 years ago in the playin games and playoffs last year. Trade DG and Allen!
can you analyze the spurs right now, TIA!
HUH??? DG 5.7 assists, 4.5 TURNOVERS as a PG.
DM 5.3 assists, 2.6 turnovers as a SG. TRADE GARLAND!!!
This is why I enjoy this channel.
You would think that teams would have paid attention to Jordan's career and followed.
Hero ball will take you nowhere.
Looks like Cavs need a system. Wanna trade for Harden?
76ers and warriors could use donovan. they need additional scorers
He hasn't improved and probably not going to improve until its too late for him.. he will play this iso balls until forever, that his moto..
I don't think its far fetched that the Cavs ceiling could be higher without Donovan. Hero iso-ball doesn't typically fare well in the playoffs (see last season's first round exit)
i wonder how mitchell could do with pop and wemby on spurs. cavs wont trade him tho
Mitchell needs to move off ball and spread the floor bending defenses and being the relief bail out option as well, one of the best … if he wants to win here that’s gotta be a concerted effort on his part and coaching
trade Spida to the Knicks..Stefan might agree.
This is my nightmare: when I’m stuck on a team with a guy like that…
Anyone who has watched Donovan Mitchell in the post season, knows this dude is fool's gold. Very EXPENSIVE fool's gold.
Spida Mitchell is one of my favorite players in the league. He's a walking bucket and fun to watch. Yes, he has shortcomings but it's also a product of the system he plays in. His coaches should recognize his off the ball play and correct that, if need be. He's the Alpha dog in Cleveland and is playing like one. I agree if he wants to take his game to another level, he needs to make the guys around him better.
Other teams would love to have DM. Cavs just have a weak roster.
selfbrook types don't win championships 😁
boo him like they boo'ed westbrook out of LA
Westbrook 2.0
i guess you could say live and die by the 3?
garland is just better for the team. put the ball in his hands more
He's not a team player. Not with the Jazz, not with the Cavs
Gobert was the scapegoat in Utah, but Mitchell was equally, if not more to blame. He had a horrible connection with Gobert because he either wouldn't, or couldn't pass. Gobert had a fantastic connection with Ingles so Gobert was no slouch in the pnr. It was Mitchell's inability to get his teammates involved.
If I were JB, I would try to find a way to run the rotations with Mitchell carrying the second unit. Let him cook vs. the bench units, and start and finish games with Garland, Mobley, and Allen.
James Harden 2.0
ive been on record saying its astonishing how much Mitchell gets to do whatever he wants down the stretch of games and garland barely touches the ball, getting him out of rhythm.
It’s okay Miami will gladly take him