What are the Cavaliers getting in newly-acquired star Donovan Mitchell? Cavs beat writer Kelsey Russo recently spoke to Jazz beat writer Tony Jones about that topic in an article for The Athletic.
Jones expects Mitchell’s efficiency to improve playing alongside a talented core of Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and he believes his off-court fit will be seamless. Mitchell is an excellent three-level scorer and strong ball-handler who is able to manipulate defenses at a high level, Jones writes.
According to Jones, having less of an offensive burden should help Mitchell on the defensive end, where he’s been a net negative and “needs to get better and more competitive.” Jones also states that Mitchell has been working hard this offseason to get in better shape, which played a factor in his poor defense in the playoffs against Dallas last season.
Russo mentions the fact that Mitchell has extensive playoff experience, which Cleveland’s roster lacks. Jones notes that Mitchell’s ability to blow past defenders off the dribble is extremely valuable in the postseason, and he’s had some memorable performances against elite competition.
Here’s more from Cleveland:
- The Cavs rose to No. 8 in David Aldridge of The Athletic‘s re-ranking of offseason moves that improved teams the most. According to Aldridge, the Cavaliers took a big swing, but it could create a window of contention that the team hasn’t had without LeBron James in a couple of decades.
- Sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) that the Cavs will be making a couple of changes to their coaching staff for 2022/23. Mike Gerrity, formerly a player development coach with the Cavs, will become the new head coach of their G League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge, while former Charge head coach Dan Geriot is heading back to the Cavs as an assistant. The Charge confirmed that Gerrity will be their new head coach in a press release.
- In case you missed it, Fedor reported on Wednesday that Cleveland was hosting several players for free agent workouts this week, including Armoni Brooks and Kelan Martin.
Other than Bron, Spida is probably the best player they’ve had in the history of the franchise & this includes Kyrie, Price, Daugherty, Love & anybody else. He’s already 1 of the best guards in the East, if not the best. Cleveland missed playoffs last season. That won’t be happening again for the foreseeable future
Spida using & abusing the Clips in gm1. They tried to guard him with Kawhi in the 4th. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work… link to m.youtube.com
Kyrie at his prime is better than what we have seen of Spida so far. Kyrie was an absolute beast with the Cavs. One of if not the best ball handler of all time. Donovan has room to improve but so far he hasn’t surpassed Kyries peak
Kyrie was definitely a monster in Cleveland & they don’t win the title without him but I never seen him carry a team to multiple postseason series Ws like I seen Spida do. I never seen Kyrie go for 50 in a playoff game or lead his team to the top record in the league either. I will say Kyrie (2014) led his team to a gold medal while Spida (2019) led his to 7th place at the FIBA WC but Spida was on a slightly less talented team playing vs much better comp. Spida never been to the Finals like Kyrie but ofc he never played with Bron either. As the alphas of their teams Spida’s had far more success. And tho the narrative around him being some awful defender is truly something that has found a home amongst those looking for anything to criticize him about, he’s really not a bad defender at all. He’s definitely a better defender than Kyrie that’s for certain
@Sankara
Kyrie has won a chip with the Cavs and while LBJ reigned Kyrie contributed greatly. Im a Cavs fan, so I want Mitchell to succeed but your narrative ain’t working fam. (Hov voice) We don’t believe you, you need more people.
2018
2nd series vs HOU They lost 4-1 and in a 3 game series he went 18 for 61.
2019
1st series vs HOU they lost 4-1 again and shot 25 for 86.
2020 1st series vs DEN. Went 7 games and he was incredible having two 50 point games but in game 7 he was 9 for 22 and had 9 TO.
2021
GREAT in the 1st series. 2nd series vs LAC they won the first 2 games and then lost 4 in a row. In 2 of those 4 losses he shot 15 for 45!!
2022
Lost to DAL in the 1st series and although he was pretty good in the first 4 games but shot 20 for 53 in 2 of the other games and overall shot 10 for 48 in 3s.
He’s had big games in the playoffs but has never won and has had some really bad games too. But then carrying his team from series to series???
And if you want to see Kyrie at his peak, search youtoob for his 55 point games against SA and Portland. Just incredible unless you’ve seen.
I will take Harper any day of the week.
You obviously never saw Austin Carr in his prime. Or Mike Mitchell, even. Mark Price? I suppose Kevin Johnson hardly counts.
Cleveland is gonna be so sick, it was such a solid trade for them to swing for the fences on, League Pass favorite in the East no doubt
Disappointing to see Brooks floating around the league like this. I thought he’d find a home and run with it. Watching him in Houston, I thought he just needed a chance to play and he’d be a solid contributor. Maybe I was wrong and teams don’t see him the way I did but a depth piece. Very disappointing because I don’t get excited about any ordinary players. I saw a very talented young man in Brooks and he hasn’t lived up to what I saw in him. It’s such a bummer