Utah Jazz: (Over)reactions from game one of 2018-19

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SACRAMENTO, CA – OCTOBER 17: Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Utah Jazz stands on the court during their game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on October 17, 2018 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Donovan starts out inefficient

Donovan Mitchell had a phenomenal rookie year, and even if he were to no more than match that production across the board in his sophomore season, he would remain an All-Star caliber talent. Even so, expectations, both from himself and from fans, were that he would get better in 2018-19.

He probably will do just that. After all, he did put up 24 points in his regular season debut and had some of his trademarked brilliant moments. However, the main area that the Jazz would like to see Donovan improve isn’t in mere scoring output or points per game, but rather in efficiency. As incredible as Mitchell can be, sometimes last season he had a tendency of putting up a lot of shots and being more of a volume scorer than a sharpshooter.

That trend continued on Wednesday night as Donovan Mitchell’s 24 points came on a lackluster 8-of-21 from the field (38 percent) and 3-of-10 from the perimeter (30 percent). Mitchell is at his best when he’s attacking the rim and capitalizing on open looks. Some of his shots were far from that.

But some were good takes that simply didn’t fall. After one game, it’s hard to know whether it was just a matter of his shot not dropping, or if efficiency will remain an issue for Donovan once again this year. As of right now, the sample size is much too small, but Jazz fans will have to hope that Spida can get his efficiency way up to make his team significantly better than they were in the regular season debut.

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