Preseason demonstrated how Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell can open up others

The 2022-23 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers is almost here. The Cavaliers concluded their preseason play on Friday, with the club going 1-3 in those exhibition outings.

One has to always take preseason results with a grain of salt, as there are going to be limited minutes for starters, lineups can be out of wack at times throughout games, and guys can simply be out of rhythm. In Monday’s game versus the Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid did not make the trip to Cleveland, either, for rest reasons, so that was along those lines of preseason caveats.

Now, Evan Mobley (ankle sprain) only appeared in one game in preseason, in the finale at Orlando, and in that one, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen were not involved because of rest, which was understandable. It was nice to see Mobley be able to get a bit of action in-game before the season, albeit with some obvious rust. The movement was there from him, anyway, which was the general takeaway for me.

One of the things has caught my attention from Cleveland’s preseason contests, though, is how Donovan Mitchell has simply aided the group with his offensive impact. Cleveland acquired the three-time All-Star in Mitchell last month via trade from the Utah Jazz, and we’ve seen some of his offensive abilities pop already, albeit in preseason.

In the first preseason game at Philly last Wednesday, he had 16 points and five assists in 18 minutes, and on Wednesday in Cleveland against the Atlanta Hawks, he had 24 points and three assists in his 34 minutes. Both clubs were playing their talented backcourts a bunch in that one, with that consisting of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray for Atlanta, for context, and it was encouraging for Cleveland to earn a W there, also from a number of contributors getting in the act.

Generally, even with some off stretches for him, it was apparent how Mitchell can make things easier for other guys when he’s in there.

We saw how Mitchell’s offensive presence can make things easier for his Cavs teammates in his preseason action.

Mitchell in the second game against the Sixers on Monday did not have it going, as he had 11 points and went three-of-nine from the field in 28 minutes. He did shoot three-of-five from beyond the arc, on the plus side, but had three assists to four turnovers.

The Cavs themselves didn’t collectively have a great outing in that one, either, in a 112-97 loss. I’m not going to grill Mitchell for that, anyhow.

He wasn’t hyper-efficient against Atlanta on Wednesday, however, as he was eight-of-26 from the field, but did knock in four looks from three in that contest. Additionally, in that one, and in the first Philly outing, it was clear how his presence aided others.

Even in some stretches when Mitchell was off himself, I thought his three-level scoring, and driving presence, helped create more opportunities for Garland to have better looks, from pull-ups to off-ball and/or movement chances. There were better opportunities for other guys, such as Jarrett Allen, Kevin Love (in the first game) and Isaac Okoro, too, when Mitchell was in there, to some extent.

I acknowledge there’s over-dribbling at times from Mitchell, based on the Utah days, not these games, and in this situation with the Cavaliers, some of that will have to be cleaned up looking onward. That being said, while it was just preseason, his skill set and ease of shot creation, despite some inconsistencies, was on display, and his rim pressure enabled others to have more space to get off-ball looks from the outside from his kickout feeds.

As he gets more comfortable with his new teammates, I would think we’ll see more on-point performances from Mitchell as well, and his pick-and-roll play, both from a shot-making and playmaking perspective, will help other guys get good looks throughout games.

I do concede that the Cavs have to make sure they get things situated with their lineups to aid their team defense, as Mitchell has not been great on that end historically. But, with what he can provide offensively, it should pay dividends for Garland, Allen and a number of others.