With what he’s provided for the Cleveland Cavaliers so far, the group and the Cavaliers fan base should be pleased with the play of Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell, the teams’ offseason trade acquisition, has been arguably even better than one could’ve anticipated coming into the year. He was a three-time All-Star in five seasons with the Utah Jazz, and it was apparent heading into the new campaign that he’d be a notable boost for Cleveland’s star power. But, goodness, has he been impressive.
He’s had 29.2 points, 4.7 assists and 4.0 rebounds per contest, and has connected on 42.9 percent of his three-point attempts so far this season. His offensive production has been something else, and his range, handle, shot creation and driving capabilities have given this Cleveland team a weapon that’s so difficult to account for, and he’s starting to find his way in meshing with others.
Mitchell did recently miss Cleveland’s two games on Friday and Saturday versus the Sacramento Kings because of lower leg soreness, and the Cavs were not quite the same on offense as a result. Fortunately, Mitchell has been back in the past two outings at the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, and he picked up right where he left off.
The Wine and Gold have had some issues on offense getting looks to go at times of late, but by and large, as has been exhibited game in and game out, Mitchell has been huge for the offense. He has proven he can get the club going. It’s up to other guys to follow suit more, though, and we’re starting to see others find their way in playing with him.
The Cavs have to know what they’re typically getting from Mitchell. What’s crucial is the others following suit game-to-game, and some guys are finding their stride it seems.
Mitchell has been phenomenal for the Wine and Gold this season, and thus far, he’s on pace to have a career year as a scorer and three-point shooter. He’s currently fifth in the NBA in three-pointers made with 97 as well, and to counter that, has had 9.8 paint points per game.
With his big-time deep shooting and also Mitchell having a great season as a finisher at the rim and with his touch on floaters in the mid-paint, he’s begun the season with an effective field goal shooting clip of 59.6. That’d be a career-best mark, too. Granted, it’s been through 25 of 29 possible appearances so far, but the superstar-level results have been there on the vast majority of occasions.
For the Cavs, Mitchell’s production and three-level scoring presence is so valuable, and he looks to be meshing well with Darius Garland, all things considered.
Now, there’s some growing pains the pair will have to endure, and a still-young Cavaliers team will have to go through, as we’ve seen with their road inconsistencies to this point. However, as Mitchell has often gotten the Cavaliers going in games, the Cavs have been at their best when other guys have followed suit from there, and helped in the middle stretches, with Mitchell or the group collectively helping in finishing contests.
In his recent games with them, and prior to the two aforementioned absences last weekend for Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Lamar Stevens had started to time up their cuts really well to receive feeds from Mitchell as a driver.
That was on display on Wednesday night at Dallas, too, when Stevens had 18 points, which was a nice response to not scoring at San Antonio, of course, and at the Mavs, Mobley had six assists, but also tacked on 14 points. In Mobley’s last 11 games, he’s had 15.4 points per outing, to go with 10.7 boards, for what it’s worth.
Additionally, Jarrett Allen’s interior presence being back for the last five games after missing five games with a lower back contusion has paid dividends, for Mitchell and the team. His chemistry with Garland is always going to be on-point, but it’s been encouraging to see Mitchell feed Allen more, too, such as in Cleveland’s win last week over the Los Angeles Lakers, and in that Dallas game.
In fairness, the Cavs do need guys such as Garland, as a shooter in that sense, Kevin Love and other bench pieces, perhaps, to get going as scorers more. Love has been dealing with injuries, objectively, however, he’s been off for a while, and in his last eight games, Garland has shot just 38.6 percent, and 33.3 percent from three.
So, realistically, he does need to turn that around, and despite reportedly being affected on his left hand for much of that Spurs game, he seemed alright on Wednesday, though the results as a shooter didn’t indicate that. But one shouldn’t be overly concerned with Garland, and him and Mitchell have found a more consistent rhythm it appears, and Garland’s playmaking for others speaks for itself.
If the Cavs bench can be somewhat rejuvunated in this upcoming homestand, and hopefully, Cedi Osman gets opportunities, that could go a long way in helping Mitchell, too. Caris LeVert has aided the team of late as well, so perhaps Cleveland has found something there, and as an aside, we’ll have to see on potential rumored trade targets such as Josh Richardson or Joe Harris.
Regardless, it’s evident that Mitchell’s offensive talents can almost always get the Cavaliers going, they just need the other guys to help follow suit, so as games progress, Mitchell’s spurts can help them close.