Meh. I think Donovan is going to be able to score regardless because he's an elite shooter and can get to the rim at will. Mobley could easily be better than Gobert as early as next season and Garland is better than any player that he has played with outside of Rudy,
Flag this exchange and let’s revisit during the All Star game. I genuinely think Mitchell is about to be exposed and the Jazz unloaded him at the perfect time. Those clutch numbers show he doesn’t score at will when it matters.
What about his game is going to get exposed?
I agree. I just don't think he's going to get exposed as a bad player in Cleveland. Not a huge fan of their roster construction though with two small guards, two centers, and limited size/talent/versatility on the wing.
Continued bad defense, continued bad clutch performance, continued bad decision making, and the new issue will be the inability to create space as effectively as he did in Utah, which will lead to lower efg%.
Garland is one of the best playmakers in the league so I think Don will only be asked to score. I think that their spacing could definitely be an issue though.
What does Don with the ball forced out of his hands at key moments look like? He couldn't coexist with a star that demanded a very minimal amount of touches. Don is food at a lot of things, deferring, however isn't one of them. He doesn't see himself as a second or third best player on a team.
That will definitely be something to monitor since Garland is one of the most ball dominant players in the league and Donovan has always be the main guy on the ball throughout his career. I think it can work though because they'll only have two creators on the floor with their starting 5 and I'd guess that they're going to stagger their minutes a lot as well.
Eh, he's not an elite shooter, he is a good shooter for a chucker, but not elite. Without someone to facilitate like Gobert he will struggle a bit until he adjusts, but he is an elite scorer so he will figure it out. My bet is he dips just a bit in total production and efficiency this next year and then the year after picks it back up again. Wouldn't be surprised to see him at 24 ppg with about 43% fg and 34% 3pt this next season as he figures it out with a new squad and without the most elite screen setting big the league has ever seen helping him out, and the gravity Gobert had at the rim that caused players to protect the lob, even when the lob wasn't coming. There are a lot of little nuances that drove his game higher on this squad that he won't have right off the bat, we were after all a pretty elite offensive team for the last 3-4 seasons, and it will take some adjustment.
