I'm not a huge Booker fan, despite him having some incredible nights. There are a number of people that can fill up a stat sheet but just lack the mentality to really push you as a team. I don't want to prematurely judge Booker but the jury is really out on this. Is he a chucker? Can you build a legitimate team with him as a main cog? I have serious doubts about that, and I prefer not to start building on a weak foundation. Everyone knows this and everyone pays lip service to it but in action nobody really demonstrates it. It's only been over the past couple years that people have pretty universally acknowledged Carmelo is a disaster. Before everyone knew it but thought he had so much talent that you just have to take that risk (don't want to say Booker is Carmelo mentally, but he's certainly not Carmelo as a player, either). You just get rid of people like Cousins, Dwight or even LMA's drama from Portland that's now resurfacing. I wanted Andrei's *** out of Utah after his bitch-*** comments during and after our WCF trip, even if we took back less talent. I wanted Boozer gone when it was apparent he didn't have enough passion for winning, despite some serious (underrated and under appreciated) talent.
Bottom line: talent can take you far, but the intangibles really push you over the top. We pay lip service to that but in foxholes most people go to the talent. If I'm faced with a choice between someone who has the intangibles (Mitchell) and one who I believe doesn't (Booker), I'm going with the former. I'm uncertain of Mitchell's game and eager to see how it plays out but if he ends up having reasonable game then you have a great combo.
