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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.