Donovan Mitchell has struggled mightily from deep in his second season with the Utah Jazz. In a way, he’s unfairly being looked at as a great 3-point shooter.
Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell entered the NBA as a below average 3-point shooter. It was something he had to work on, and still has to work on. Mitchell was highly coveted because of his potential, long wingspan and slashing ability.
The 2018 Rookie of the Year runner-up shot just 32.9-percent from three during his college career at Louisville. That isn’t nearly good enough at the NBA level — and remember, the college 3-point line is shorter than the NBA 3-point line.
Subsequently, Mitchell burst onto the scene as an NBA player and made more 3-pointers than any rookie in league history. He took the record from Damian Lillard, who is an elite shooter from distance. The thing is, Donovan got the record because of his opportunity as Utah’s top scoring option and because of the amount of threes he took.
Mitchell averaged seven 3-point attempts per game, making 2.4 of them. That’s 34 percent on the dot. Again, that isn’t good enough at the NBA level if you want to be looked at as an elite 3-point shooter. Mitchell had the freedom during his rookie season to shoot 550 3-pointers. With that many attempts, of course he broke the record.
Do you see what I’m getting at? It’s a bit unfair to put expectations on Mitchell and his ability to hit from distance because he broke that record, considering he was never viewed as a great 3-point shooter to begin with. His mechanics are great — his shot looks beautiful. He just needs to keep working at it and get more consistent. Personally, I think he needs to apply more arc on his shot. He already shoots it pretty high, but it’s usually back rim.
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On that token, it’s not completely unfair. Donovan is the one shooting the amount of shots he is from deep. He has the keep shooting mentality, which is a double-edged sword. It’s nice to have that confidence, but you don’t want to shoot your team out of games. Unfortunately, Mitchell has done that multiple times this season.
Mitchell isn’t an above-average 3-point shooter yet. He shouldn’t be chucking these shots up, but it’s important to remember that he’s never been an elite shooter. I would bet that over time, he will become a great shooter. For now, he needs to focus on his strengths. Take that ball to the basket with your strong body, Donovan. Don’t settle.