Mitchell's Defense

[SoberasHotRod]

I think it's been pretty obvious that Donovan has improved his defensive effort since being called out by Rudy and everyone seeing how bad our defense was without Rudy back in January. I looked up his defensive numbers on NBA.com just to see if there was any statistical improvement. The first is the difference in opponent field goal percentage when guarded by Don. The other is our team's defensive rating when Don is on the court. To be clear, these numbers are super noisy and probably not worth much when broken down by month.

Opp FG% diff ; Def Rating
October 2.3 ; 96.1
November 12.5 ; 109
December 2.7 ; 113.8
January 8.3 ; 119.5
February -11.4 ; 110.2
March -11.4 ; 110

 

[LogGrad98]

You can see he has stepped it up defensively. He has really stepped it up in every area since that point. And since his concussion. The question is, how much extra does he have to give and can he stay healthy and have enough of a burst during the playoffs to make any noise beyond the second round.

I am worried he really hurt his wrist on that dunk and that will affect his efficiency. His shooting was definitely off in the last game. He was icing or heating that wrist throughout the game. Hope it isn't serious.

 

[Jazzmix]

Definitely. He gives much more effort on that end, he fights around screens and rotates better.

 

[SoUjazzfan]

The nets announcers mentioned the wrist before the game last night. In warm ups they were setting down next the court and at one point Don was directly behind them. He was holding the wrist and flexing it. The nets announcers said he called a trainer over to have a look at it. Seems to be pretty certain it's bothering him. I just hope its superficial and heals quickly.

 

[Agent#00]

playoffs coming. rest him