Utah Jazz: 3 Ways Donovan Mitchell Must Improve in 2018-19

Improve Efficiency in Transition Situations

The Jazz is not a team that pushes the pace a ton. They are highly competent in settled offense, and want to have their bigs heavily involved. Both Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert open up many opportunities for pull-ups off dribble handoffs and catch-and-shoot snipes, and pushing it doesn’t allow for that. Rubio is masterful with making scoring passes after defensive breakdowns as well.

However, with Mitchell’s handle and bounce, easy offense on the break has to be taken advantage of. At times, he can overthink things in traffic, leading to inefficient plays going into defenders waiting for his drives. That improved as the year went on, but it’ll take more and more experience.

As others have alluded to, the guy was a rookie. Transition decision-making is far from overnight mastery. As a finisher in transition, he only placed in the 38th percentile, per Synergy. A turnover frequency of 16.1 percent should be cut down a bit if he doesn’t get more free throw chances.

When players are sped up, sometimes it’s more difficult to read plays through. As Mitchell gets more experienced, he’ll be able to space the floor better with Rubio handling it more. This play against the Washington Wizards embodies that concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJZMi8LAKgE

Mitchell times his cut perfectly, noticing he’s in a 4-on-3 situation. With the trailing defender gaining on him, he does the right thing, and goes up for the lob. As he gets more and more with Rubio in his second year, their chemistry will be exponentially better. Anytime Mitchell gets chances for dunks, the Jazz should be happy.

He needs to get more free throw chances, and play through contact more often. He flashed his creativity with both hands at the rim on a number of occasions, which is just fine. His skill level for his age is very impressive.

Nonetheless, he was the Slam Dunk champ for a reason. Mitchell just needs to bring the power a bit more. On the road especially, that will dictate to the opposing defense better and keep them on their heels.