Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell stands above the rest
A Utah Jazz page names Donovan Mitchell the best shooting guard in the National Basketball Association. Talk about breaking news.
The thing is, it’s true.
The Utah Jazz are 26-14 with Mitchell on the floor this season. They’re 4-7 when he sits. While the latter provides a small sample, anybody watching this club knows that Mitchell is necessary to its cause. He is the unequivocal engine of the team with a league-best 117.13 Offensive Rating.
In trying to avoid bias, we should be cautious to avoid biasing too far in an opposite direction. Frankly, it’s hard to make the case that Donovan Mitchell isn’t the NBA’s best shooting guard in 2021-22.
His basic counting stats of 25.7 points, 5.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game tell much of the story. The only criticism regularly made of Mitchell pertains to his defense, but his -1.1 D-RAPTOR, while unexceptional, is no eyesore. It lands directly between Booker (-0.1) and LaVine (-2.2).
Few players in the NBA are able to captain a team’s offense while retaining enough energy to consistently defend. Those who are ranked among the league’s 5 or so best. None of these players quite make that cut, but the Utah Jazz roster the player who comes the closest.
The Utah Jazz have had an up-and-down season. Donovan Mitchell’s status as the best shooting guard in the NBA has been one welcomed consistency.