{"id":31343,"date":"2020-06-08T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=31343"},"modified":"2020-06-08T06:26:49","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T10:26:49","slug":"top-30-nba-players-donovan-mitchell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2020\/06\/08\/top-30-nba-players-donovan-mitchell\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Word on Pro Basketball\u2019s Top 30 NBA Players: Donovan Mitchell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although ranking the top 30 NBA players in today\u2019s game is an incredibly difficult task, The Last Word on Pro Basketball staff has taken it on. Coming in at number 23 in the countdown is Utah Jazz<\/a> shooting guard <\/span>Donovan Mitchell<\/a><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top 30 NBA Players<\/b><\/h2>\n

Number 23 \u2013 Donovan Mitchell<\/b><\/h3>\n

Donovan Mitchell played high school ball in New Milford, Connecticut at Canterbury High School. Mitchell committed to play basketball at Louisville University where he wore number 45 in honor of Michael Jordan<\/a><\/strong>. After a much-improved sophomore year at Louisville where Mitchell averaged 15.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game, Mitchell declared for the 2017 NBA Draft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mitchell was selected by the Denver Nuggets<\/a> with the 13th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft and was then traded to the Utah Jazz for Trey Lyles<\/a><\/strong> and Tyler Lydon<\/a><\/strong>. Mitchell has now played three years for the Jazz, emerging as one of the best young players in the league.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n

Donovan Mitchell is extremely athletic which allows his raw talent to dominate the game no matter the talent around him. Improving every year in the league so far, Mitchell went from 20.5 points per game his first season to 24.2 in 2019-20.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mitchell also has grown tremendously as an overall shooter, increasing his true shooting to 56 percent this season. Becoming a better free throw, mid-range, and three-point shooter has allowed Mitchell to take his game to the next level at every point on the floor. Throughout his short career, Mitchell has the ability to take over a game in crunch time and has proven the ability to be the number one option in an NBA offense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weaknesses<\/b><\/h3>\n

Although Mitchell is a star in the making, any young star has flaws. While he has improved his shooting percentages in each of his seasons so far, his efficiency leaves much to be desired. Mitchell lags behind the NBA average in all shooting percentages. The only place Mitchell is above average is at the free-throw line, where he is slightly above average.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Mitchell could be a better defender, especially on a Jazz team that lacks a lockdown defender in isolation. Mitchell did well in seasons one and two, averaging 3.75 Defensive Win-Shares per season. Although 2019-20 was a shortened season, Mitchell was on pace to finish below 3.0 for Defensive Win-Shares. Mitchell lost a step on the defensive side of the ball after a much higher usage rate in his third season as the clear number one option.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Career Accolades<\/b><\/h3>\n

Although Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell is still on his rookie deal, he holds a decent amount of accolades. Mitchell was First-Team All-ACC in 2017 at Louisville. In the NBA, Mitchell made the NBA All-Rookie First-Team in 2018 and also won the 2018 Slam Dunk Contest at the All-Star Game. Mitchell also was voted to his first All-Star Game in 2020 where he scored seven points in the game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last Word on Pro Basketball Ballots<\/b><\/h3>\n

We believe in full transparency in the top 30 NBA player rankings so we are going to disclose the ballots of our player rankings and where each contributor had each player ranked.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tyler Marling<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Site Manager \u2013 25th<\/span><\/p>\n

Chase Gage<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Managing Editor \u2013 21st<\/span><\/p>\n

David Knight<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Marketing Manager \u2013 24th<\/span><\/p>\n

Zack Kircher<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Associate Editor \u2013 27th<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew Waldman<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Associate Editor \u2013 NR\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

David Ward<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Author \u2013 24th<\/span><\/p>\n

Avinash Chauhan<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 26th\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Adam Zigner<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 23rd<\/span><\/p>\n

Albert Dadson<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 20th<\/span><\/p>\n

Dylan Guest<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 24th<\/span><\/p>\n

Raheem Bashir<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 27th<\/span><\/p>\n

Nathan Levine<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 28th<\/p>\n

<\/span>Bill Huan<\/span><\/a> \u2013 Contributor \u2013 25th<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>