Recently, he’s had good intentions as well. Two years ago, when in Australia with USA Basketball, he heavily emphasized that he wanted to become an elite defender: “For me, the biggest thing is just to get back to my roots. The biggest thing is to elevate my defense, to get back to what got me drafted.”
We haven’t seen that in actual game action, though. Mitchell was rated as a bottom-20 defender in the NBA by
FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR, which analyzes shot and tracking data to estimate a player’s impact on that end of the floor.
And in the playoffs, when it matters, Mitchell’s defense is having a negative impact: Players
are shooting 11% better than their normal FG% when guarded by the Jazz’s star in the first three games of this series. Jalen Brunson, especially, has had a field day.
And again, Mitchell’s recent comments on the issue leave something to be desired. When he was asked about Dallas targeting him on defense, he responded: “I wouldn’t say I felt targeted, to be honest. I didn’t feel like it was like ‘Go at Donovan.’ But if that’s what they decide to do, I’m confident in my abilities on defense, and so are my teammates. But I’m not too worried about it.”
thejnotes.com
