3s are falling for him, but Mitchell’s finishing for Cavs has been stellar, too

This just in: Donovan Mitchell has been a nice trade acquisition by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers did ship out a bunch to snag him from the Utah Jazz in the offseason, but thus far, he’s been nothing short of outstanding for the Wine and Gold.

To begin his tenure with the Cavaliers, Mitchell has had 28.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds per contest, and he’s connected on 42.2 percent of his three-point attempts. For him to be shooting from deep at that level of efficiency, on 9.0 attempts per game, has been incredible.

Now, it’s been through 20 games for him, and one would have to assume that Mitchell’s splits will level out some, and there’s going to be some rough stretches. Mitchell was held to just eight points in Cleveland’s ugly loss on Monday night to the Toronto Raptors north of the border by OG Anunoby and company, and again, there’s going to inherently be some off nights here and there over the course of a season from deep from Mitchell.

Even with one having to concede that, he’s been terrific so far for the Cavs, and his playmaking, range, and three-level scoring abilities have all been humongous for his new squad. But while his deep balls will always get their share of pub, and rightfully so, fans shouldn’t be discounting how Mitchell has been phenomenal as a finisher so far, as a driver, transition player, and at times, cutter.

The triples are falling, but Mitchell’s finishing has been stellar for the Cavs as well.

Mitchell is a polished shooter in all three areas, as he displayed over his five seasons with the Jazz, and his multi-faceted scoring has given the Cavaliers a different dynamic. Thus far, he’s been eighth in the NBA in scoring, given those abilities, and he’s third in made three-point shots.

Is Mitchell going to keep shooting deep balls at this current 42.2 percent clip? Well, that may be a bit of wishful thinking, as for his career through five seasons, he’s knocked in 36.4 percent of his deep attempts, on 7.8 per game, for context. Granted, having the likes of Darius Garland this season, and looking onward, should aid Mitchell’s shooting efforts, to some degree, and passers such as Evan Mobley, and others, such as Kevin Love, can aid Mitchell somewhat, too.

Circling back, though, Mitchell’s finishing on drives, and at times via cuts, has been impressive as well, to go with the deep shooting.

So far, Mitchell has converted on 74.1 percent of his attempts in the restricted area, and 71.7 percent of his shot attempts from inside of five feet, both per NBA.com’s shooting data. Those would clearly be career-bests for Mitchell, and over a season span, they’ll likely come down some.

But, his explosiveness, hesitation moves, and power near the basket in absorbing contact have all factored into his stellar finishing so far with Cleveland. And that should be able to continue to a large degree on a game-to-game basis with his skill set, and with his improving chemistry with Evan Mobley and when he’s been in there, Jarrett Allen.

Throughout games, Mitchell’s downhill attacking has led to plenty of easy looks as counters to his pull-up game from deep and in mid-range areas, and with Mitchell’s strength and acceleration combination, that’s going to consistently get him to the line. Whether that be from set offense in exploding in curling around screens, him using pump fakes in iso situations, or in transition, he’s getting to the rim or getting to the charity stripe (or occasionally, both).

He’s currently averaging 5.7 free throws per game, and has a free throw rate of 28.3 (the second-highest of his career), and is shooting also a career-best 88.5 percent from there (just like from three). So, Mitchell is making opponents pay when his counters in getting to the rim are drawing those chances, too.

The gist is, while the three-point shooting has been otherworldly from Mitchell so far this season, especially considering many of those looks have come off-the-bounce, his finishing prowess has been stellar as well.

That shouldn’t be glossed over, either, especially with how Mitchell has been able to generate productive sprayout feeds to shooters so frequently from his rim pressure.