{"id":97421,"date":"2024-09-24T17:16:59","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=97421"},"modified":"2024-09-24T17:16:59","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:16:59","slug":"5x-nba-all-star-reacts-to-omission-from-top-5-players-in-the-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/24\/5x-nba-all-star-reacts-to-omission-from-top-5-players-in-the-east\/","title":{"rendered":"5x NBA All-Star Reacts to Omission From Top 5 Players in the East"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchdo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Donovan Mitchell<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0was omitted from the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">CBS Sports Top 5 East player rankings, coming in at No.8. Surprisingly, though, he understands why he wasn&#8217;t considered. The five-time NBA All-Star opened up about his snub on a podcast this week. He also talked about where he sees himself in the league and how he can take his<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> game to another level this season.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Donovan Mitchell Reacts to Omission From Top 5 Players in the East<\/h2>\n<h3>Top 5 East Ballot Snubs 5x All-Star Donovan Mitchell<\/h3>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nba\/news\/nba-player-rankings-top-25-players-in-east-from-knicks-julius-randle-to-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">CBS Sports&#8217; Top 5 East list<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> of the best players in the conference going into the new season kept Donovan Mitchell out of the top five. He engaged in an almost\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Rq9RFQYZYFI\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">hour-long\u00a0sit-down<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> with\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anthoca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Carmelo Anthony<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> on Carmelo&#8217;s\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">7PM in Brooklyn\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">podcast this week. Mitchell spoke in length about various subjects, such as his college days, being left off Team USA, and being left out of the top five that CBS acknowledged regarding Eastern Conference players.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He expressed confidence <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CbH5qJXdloc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">in himself as one of the NBA&#8217;s top players<\/a>, saying,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Realistically, I look at myself as one of the top 10, top 15 players in this league<\/em>.&#8221; He went on to speak on why he didn&#8217;t make the list. He alluded to the fact that he has never played in a Conference Finals. However, he seems to be in an understandable state of mind with his ranking omission, admitting, &#8220;<em>So, in order for me to make that jump, I can&#8217;t sit here and get mad. I can sit here and get mad and use it as fuel, but I can&#8217;t get mad at this list cause it&#8217;s an accolade-based world we live in. Whether it&#8217;s right, wrong, or indifferent. It&#8217;s just what it is,<\/em>&#8220;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mitchell knows exactly what he needs to do. The more success you have in the playoffs, the more potential to elevate your name. So, when it comes to lists, rankings, and the hierarchy element of the sport, your personal recognition elevates the more you accomplish as a team.<\/p>\n<h3>Mitchell&#8217;s Lack of Playoff Success<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At least Mitchell isn&#8217;t<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> delusional about his own career because many athletes are. It is true that in\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/18\/utah-jazz-trade-rumors\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Utah<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, Mitchell and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rudy Gobert<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0failed to create deep playoff runs. In five seasons with the Jazz, they were bounced in the first or second round each postseason. Despite leading the Jazz to some great regular seasons, it never translated further for Mitchell or Gobert.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Unfortunately, that disappointment has lingered into his tenure in Cleveland so far. In year one with the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/17\/cleveland-cavaliers-keep-core-together-ahead-of-2024-25-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cavaliers<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, they lost in the first round; last season, they fell in the semis. For whatever reason, Mitchell has not found a way to propel his team.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Not for Lack of Skill or Talent<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When Mitchell describes himself as a top 10-15 player in the league, as he does in his conversation with Carmelo, his pure skill and talent back him<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Mitchell<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is one of the highest-skilled players in the NBA. Mitchell&#8217;s elite finishing paired with his three-point shooting (career 36.6%) has kept his teams in countless games in Utah and Cleveland. He can take over a game and dominate, usually by driving to the rim or shooting midrange shots.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Based on his basketball ancillaries alone, Mitchell is an elite player. However, as with CBS&#8217;s list, stats and accolades don&#8217;t always intertwine. And when\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Joel Embiid<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">,\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jayson Tatum<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jaylen Brown<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> are your contemporaries, it might be hard-pressed to have your name elevated over those names.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donovan Mitchell\u00a0was omitted from the CBS Sports Top 5 East player rankings, coming in at No.8. Surprisingly, though, he understands why he wasn&#8217;t considered. The five-time NBA All-Star opened up about his snub on a podcast this week. He also talked about where he sees himself in the league and how he can take his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":97457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,9,62,3],"tags":[67,900,306,450,798,267,605,394,2081],"class_list":["post-97421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-nba","category-news","tag-carmelo-anthony","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-joel-embiid","tag-nba-eastern-conference","tag-rudy-gobert","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}