Utah Jazz: Colin Cowherd slams Donovan Mitchell (sort of?) in odd way

Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd recently made some interesting (and largely inaccurate) statements about Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell.

The Utah Jazz are no strangers to being overlooked or misjudged by the national media. After all, keeping tabs on a team that plays in the Salt Lake City market isn’t often a top priority for the general public. As such, underrating and misinformation often runs rampant when it comes to country-wide analysis on the Utah Jazz.

Such an instance was incredibly clear in a recent segment from Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd. Cowherd began by stating that there were certain guards in the league whose games he simply wasn’t a huge fan of. He listed Derrick Rose, John Wall and Russell Westbrook, all of whom he essentially considered the same player.

His critique was that they were all super athletic guards that the media fell in love with, but that they weren’t great shooters, significantly limiting their effectiveness.

He went on to claim that their constant drives at the rim colliding with bigger bodies wear them down and lessen that effectiveness even further. He also discredited their ability to legitimately compete for a title as a result of this specific style of play.

In the next breath, he went on to add another player to this list, namely Utah Jazz standout Donovan Mitchell. His exact words were, “I think we have a next Westbrook – and I like the kid – but Donovan Mitchell of Utah.” Though Westbrook is a former MVP, Cowherd certainly meant the comparison as a slight, putting Mitchell in the same box as a guard that’s over-hyped because of his athleticism but can’t shoot and isn’t title material.

Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself in the video below–

I can just envision the collective fists of Jazz Nation, shaking in rage.

In fairness to Cowherd, I see his argument at least to a tiny extent. The inefficiency of each of the players he mentioned has hurt all of them at times. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re all phenomenal players (or were, in the case of the injury-plagued Derrick Rose), and if Mitchell’s being compared to those three, he’s in pretty good company.

But the thing that’s odd is that Mitchell doesn’t even fit into the mold that Cowherd is describing. Sure, he needs to improve his efficiency to take the next step in this league – 34 percent shooting from behind the arc isn’t jumping off the page at anyone. However, Colin seemed to forget the fact that Mitchell set a rookie record for most 3-pointers made in a season, a pretty impressive task for someone who apparently can’t shoot.

Not only that, but Mitchell absolutely blew those other three players out of the water as a shooter in comparison to their rookie seasons. In Rose’s first year in the league, he shot 22.2 percent from deep. Westbrook shot 27.1 percent and Wall shot 29.6 percent. Not only that, but in terms of true shooting and effective field goal percentages, check him out in comparison to the rookie seasons of those three players:

John Wall: 42.7 EFG%, 49.4 TS%

Russell Westbrook: 41.4 EFG%, 48.9 TS%

Derrick Rose: 48.2 EFG%, 51.6 TS%

Donovan Mitchell: 50.6 EFG%, 54.1 TS%

Especially compared to Wall and Westbrook, Mitchell’s marks were much higher in those regards. Oh, and did I mention that he did so on a higher usage rating than any of those three guys? But wait, it gets even better. Donovan Mitchell’s ROOKIE true shooting and effective field goal percentages were better than the 2017-18 marks of all three of these vets. See below:

John Wall: 46.6 EFG%, 51.5 TS%

Russell Westbrook: 47.7 EFG%, 52.4 TS%

Derrick Rose: 45.4 EFG%, 50.7 TS%

Before looping Mitchell into a box of non-shooters, maybe Cowherd should have double-checked his data. Compared to the other rookie seasons, Mitchell is on a much better track to become an efficient shooter. You could argue that he already is. For those of you that don’t take to advanced stats, in 2017-18, Mitchell had a better field goal percentage than Rose and Wall and a better 3-point percentage than Rose and Westbrook.

There’s also this fun nugget comparing each player’s 21-year old season from Twitter user @TreyToupee–

Not to mention, throwing the stats to one side, Donovan’s shooting motion in and of itself is one of the more sound in the league. Claiming he can’t shoot, as Cowherd did, is an absolute fallacy.

That’s especially true considering that almost immediately after ragging on Mitchell’s inability to shoot and claiming that it would turn him into the next Westbrook, Rose and Wall-type player that can only score at the rim, Cowherd went on to describe Ben Simmons as a better young player than Mitchell.

There’s certainly arguments to be had (even if you disagree with them) that Simmons is better than Mitchell. But to claim that Mitchell can’t shoot and that’s what makes Simmons better is absolute madness as well.

Simmons took three non-backcourt 3-pointers all season. Three. And he missed all of them. He took only 11 shots from 16-to-24 feet, and went just 27.8 percent on mid-range shots. Sure, Simmons was efficient overall by playing to his strengths, but if you want to talk about someone who can’t shoot and relies on getting his scoring at the rim, then look no further, he’s your guy.

In other words, despite Cowherd’s claim that he watched a lot of Utah Jazz basketball this past year, his assessment of Donovan Mitchell is absolutely unfounded. Not only did Mitchell prove he’s of a different shooting ilk than the three guys he was compared to, but he did so in just his rookie season. As he gets better, he’ll very likely prove just how effective he is beyond colliding with bigger bodies and finishing at the rim.

And trying to convince us that Mitchell is somehow a worse shooter than Simmons was the most laughable instance by far.

On the bright side of all this, apparently Mitchell caught wind of the segment as evidenced by his succinct reply to the video on Twitter seen below–

Not much else needs to be said. Thanks for the extra motivation, Colin! We Jazz fans that have truly watched Mitchell play night in and night out know just what he’s capable of and how he’ll use this slight to further fuel his fire.

I can hardly wait until the 2018-19 season when Donovan Mitchell returns to action and only continues to prove himself as an effective shooter and so much more.