Welcome to 30Q, our annual September series where we ask a question a day to preview the upcoming season for the Sacramento Kings.
Coming into the NBA everyone knew Davion Mitchell would be known for his defense, and Davion fully delivered on that promise. Even as a rookie, Davion showed himself to be an elite on-ball defender. The question coming into the league was whether Davion’s college shooting would hold up, particularly his three point shooting.
At Baylor, Davion’s 3pt% went from 28.85, to 32.4%, to 44.7% in his final year. If Davion could bring his defensive intensity and shoot at that level, he’d be one hell of an NBA player.
Davion definitely showed the ability to get hot from beyond the arc, but struggled to consistently score efficiently as a rookie. For the year, Davion averaged 11.5 points while shooting 31.6% from 3 and 41.8% overall. Davion shot 21.4% from 3 in October and 29% from 3 in November, a rough start to the season. But he did show some improvement as the year went on. In the final month of the season, a 14-game sample, Davion shot 34.4% from deep.
One noticeable trend is that Davion thrived as a starter when De’Aaron Fox was out at the end of the year. Coming off the bench, Davion averaged 9.3 PPG, shot 39.8% from the field, and 30.6% from three. As a starter, Davion averaged 18 PPG, shot 45.1% from the field, and 33.7% from three. Some of the scoring output can be attributed to more minutes (13 more per game when he was starting), and 6.5 more FGAs per game, but the efficiency stands out. Can Davion find a way to be efficient and consistent when he isn’t a starter?
It would be huge for the Kings if Davion Mitchell could find a way to be a consistent shooter to go along with his amazing defense. The question is whether Davion can develop that consistency while coming off the bench. But if there’s one thing his career has taught us, it’s that we shouldn’t bet against him.
Yes
https://twitter.com/NBCSKings/status/1509327686946025479?s=20&t=dahrsVTaphGWZZc9lnXslQ
I wouldn’t bet against him. As an old defensive minded coach I love the guy. Davion Mitchell is a winner.
Tell me Jack, I keep hearing this term defensive minded coach. What exactly does that mean. Does it mean the person can teach or scheme offense. Is Steve Kerr a defensive minded coach. How about Popovich. Kerr has the Warriors running the best offense in the league, does that mean he’s not a defensive minded coach. I think the Warriors under Kerr have always played solid defense. How did Mike Brown become a defensive minded coach. I mean that term was used with Doug Christie. What exactly did he do over and above the normal coach in the NBA on defense. That term has become as ubiquitous as mentoring was when the Kings added all those washed up veterans like zzzbo, Hill, Ariza, Carter. Once it was proven that this mentoring was really useless, the term included a slow death. Now if the Kings finish at the bottom of the rankings in defense, is Mike Brown still a defensive minded coach. I want complete coaches like Kerr not defensive or offensive minded coaches which are really superfluous terms.
This seems unnecessary & mean spirited
You can be both defensive an offensive. As an old coach I thought myself as both. I remember when I was coaching a few years ago I finally got the players to believe in defense while coaching both. They bought into the system and many times because of their defense were winning games over teams who were supposed to be better than we were. In fact we won a lot of those games by 15 or more points. In 2004 and 2005 we went 66 and 3. A lot of that had to do with defense. We really had some excellent talent and at least 5 went on to play in college and West Point. That particular player had a scholarship to play football but also was an excellent basketball player. I do consider myself a defensive minded coach but I still love coaching offense. It didn’t have to do with me as much as the players and their ability to play defense. Defensive is constant.
I apologize for the above post. I never want to bring attention to myself and that’s what I did. It won’t happen again. Just above comments got under my skin. I love Kings Herald and all of the comments. I love King’s basketball and want the team to do well. I love all the Kings but especially Davion Mitchell. He is one of the hardest workers. He doesn’t bring attention to himself and one of the best team players we have. In my opinion that constitutes a winner.I will leave with a quote I believe in. “Coaches don”t make players, players make coaches” GO KINGS!
This is unnecessary and excessively modest. What you had written about your coaching experience was helpful to me.
I agree. People should explain their playing and coaching background as a reference to their comments. That’s a good record. I happen to have 4 players playing division 1 basketball at Cal state Fullerton, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and now Oregon State and I’m damn proud of it. I never thought of myself as a defensive or offensive minded coach. I just coached all aspects of the game and worked at it very hard and continue to conduct coaching clinics on the west coach. These terms people throw around get under my skin.
If I were a betting man, I’d guess he’s going to be good for 12-15 ppg, 5-6 apg, and shoot above 35% from three.
He’s also going to be top five in the league at wearing motherfuckers out on defense. I can honestly see him making an all-defensive team, he’s just that good.
If he put up those kinds of numbers off the bench, and brought his typical defensive tenacity, he’d be in discussion for 6th man of the year.
Totally agreed, which is why my expectations are a bit more tempered. Off the bench, I expect 10 pts and 4-5 assists with the standard defense.
Marcus Smart 2.0
Love Davion!
The problem will be finding minutes for him. I can only see that happening if Brown really focuses on D, if they play Fox off the ball or if there will be a lot of 3 guard lineups.
Or in the not unimaginable case of another disappointing season going down the drain and Fox suffering a mysterious late-season injury.
He’ll find minutes once Monte trades Fox to the Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Doug McDermott and a first round pick. 😉
SAS are not trading a #1 pick until this years draft is over. Along with a few others, they are all-in for Victor.
Yeah, I know they aren’t trading their own pick, but they own a ton others, including ATL’s free and clear picks in 2025 and 2027. I’d take that 2025 pick because it could very well be a lottery pick.
I’m not a big Fox guy, but if that first is not SAS’ own , then I don’t think the return is enough, unless you’re just trying to get out of Fox’ contract.
We are talking about a nonall-star PG who can’t shoot from three and is on a max contact. I think you’d be lucky to get a lottery pick for him in today’s NBA.
I think a fair comp is what PDX got for McCollum (who is better than Fox AND. and shoots from 3). PDX got the contracts of Hart, Sato, Alexander-Walker, a protected 1st rounder (which didn’t convey and is now Milwuakee’s 2025 first round pick) and two second rounders. The Blazers also had to include Larry Nance.
The equivalent of that would be the Kings trading Fox and Lyles to the Spurs for Keldon Johnson, McDermott, some other contract filler and ATL’s 2025 pick. Doesn’t that seem about right?
I’m still waiting for a Fox for Simmons trade.
Monk and Huerter as guards, SImmons point forward, KG as PF and Domas as C
very intriguing…
KG? Kevin Garnett? Too old😜
Looks interesting. Adam do you think we would be getting enough for Fox?
I think many of us have an over valued expectation on what Fox might be worth in trade. Put it this way, I think Sabonis has more value and he was wroth Tyrese and Buddy, but no picks included.
Also a player like Dejounte Murray, who I have a full two tiers above Fox, was worth two future firsts, a lottery protected first, and a pick swap. I currently have Fox ranked around the 20th best PG in the league (Dejounte would be top 10 if not now playing next to Trae), so I’m just not sure he’s worth more than one first rounder, likely with protections.
Off Night gonna take off.
He scores with the fanbase all the time.
He works hard, he works on his game. He has always improved. That said, he is short, he is on a team with a glut of guards, and he is behind Fox as the PG. He was impressive last year when Fox had another “injury”. He really focused on distribution. He is not the perfect PG more like an inverse Collin Sexton (Sexton plays only O and Davion plays a lot of D).
His on-ball D is in top 5, but guards don’t get much DPOY attention.
He needs to improve FT %. That would add 1-1.5 ppg. A slight increase in 3pt % would add n another 3 ppg. and he needs to get better at the rim.
11.5 ppg is actually really good for a rookie. While I don’t see him making a Peja leap from first to second to third year, I expect him to get to 13-14 ppg. What will hold him back is minutes.
I see a lot of Kyle Lowry to his game, body and play type. If he can even get close to where Lowry got, he’s a future starter in the league, and maybe even a replacement for Fox if need be.
Exactly what Jerry stated in a past podcast . It is easy to see a lot of Lowry in him .
Lowry bounced around and took time to develop and if I remember correctly was a bit of a knucklehead back then as well; hoping this FO patiently allows DM to develop.
If he can just hit the 3 with consistency, he’ll be hard to keep out of the starting lineup.
If the goal is to improve the defense than play the best defender .
I still see the starting lineup to start the season as:
Fox
Monk
KH
Barnes
Sabonis
DM will see plenty of minutes backing up and playing with Fox, with so many minus defenders on the team, DM’s presence will be needed on the regular.
I think Murray is in the starting lineup early in the season.
The funnest lineup (not starting) imo:
Fox
DM
Monk
Murray
Sabonis
With his (apparently) unfortunate attitude and the improvement of Davion, Donte Divencenzo became very expendable, as that is the sort of player the DD was brought in to be.
PatBev is another comp for Off Night- but without the abrasive personality (which is great when he is on your team from a fan’s perspective).
Those guys with moxie – Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, JJ Barea, Bruce Bowen, Edward Najera, Anderson Varajeo, Robin Lopez, Alonzo Mourning, Scott Skiles and even older -Jerry Sloan and even younger Grayson Allen. Kingscentric – Rick Fox on the Lakers, Doug Christie on the Kings. It’s a long list and you can add your favorites (or most hated – they’re usually the same guys).
It’s a wonderful type of player for fans to celebrate. The guy who plays his heart out for all to see. He’s usually not your best player, but he gets the fans on their feet.
What am I saying?
Love me some Davion Mitchell.
And 1:
I enjoyed that Detroit’s draft pick, Jaden Ivey had such praise for Davion. That was nice.
Dennis Rodman, particularly in his time on the Bulls is another that fans loved because he played with heart.
Simple answer, Hell Yes! Mitchell will end up being one of the best players on this team ans shld start at shooting guard
He said he’d work on his shooting this off season. Probably what he’s doing right now.
Davion shot 9 of 14 for 64.3% on right corner threes. Link. Obviously, that’s a tiny sample size, but I’d like to see them explore whether he can maintain a 42%-44% clip in that spot. When Davion is playing PG, he will be roaming above the break, but he will play a significant amount of minutes with Fox.
In those minutes, I could see them run the following. Either on the left slot or centered above the break, Fox and Domas run pick and roll. Fox can dribble off the pick to score or pass to Domas on the roll OR to Domas on the short roll where he can then find either Davion or Barnes on the right. Domas’s short roll action might suck in the right corner defender to give Davion some light after a pass. Or Davion, starting on the right wing, can set a pindown for Barnes in the right corner and stay in the corner to get the shot. Barnes shot 42% on 81 attempts on right wing threes, so that would be fine too. Link. If Fox went left off the pick, the pindown also might delay the tagging of Sabonis on his roll or the tag of Sabonis could lead to Davion getting open once again in the right corner.
Something simple they could try in a few games.
I could see him being a consistent 3pt threat. I think where he might always struggle is at the rim. But with Sabonis and Fox, I don’t think the Kings really need Davion to be that. If he can develop a spot up 3 presence that would be exactly what the team needs. Add an above average mid range floater, and he starts to become a borderline all star.
What excites me about this team is that they have several before their prime NBA contributors (Monk, Fox, Huerter, Sabonis) to go along with some young guys that have tremendous potential (Murray, Mitchell) and I absolutely love having Barnes as the veteran presence. I know Mitchell is already 24, but he’s still in his second year and I think he’s far from a finished product.
If the Kings are to make the playoffs, there are a few not so far fetched achievements that need to be met. Davion shooting above 35% from 3 is one of them. Murray being a ROY or near ROY candidate is another. The team finding a way to be average defensively is another. If two of those three things happen, I think they at least make the play in.
Badge Legend