The NBA announced Wednesday that Davion Mitchell and Cam Thomas have been named Co-MVPs of Summer League by a voting panel of media members.
Sacramento’s Davion Mitchell and Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas have been named Co-MPVs of MGM Resorts NBA Summer League, as selected by a panel of media. pic.twitter.com/e8Y2NRPRDC
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) August 18, 2021
Mitchell was also voted to the All-Summer League First Team. Due to ties in the votes, the first team ended up with seven players instead of the traditional five.
The 2021 All-Summer League First Team, as selected by a panel of media. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/D1kYcCvU2u
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) August 18, 2021
It’s great to see Mitchell honored for his work in Summer League. He set the tone for the Sacramento Kings summer squad on their way to the Summer League championship. Louis King was named MVP of the championship game.
….Ok, things may have gotten a little out of hand yesternight in Vegas with the championship jokes.
To be serious, I think there’s only one thing Adam Silver can do at this point:
Grant Sacramento a second NBA franchise, the second being this Summer League roster, or if that is too many teams in California then contraction the L*kers out of the league.
You are on a roll. Keep it up.
Good work!
Mitchell’s offensive stats from the Las Vegas Summer League:
24.8 MPG
10.8 PTS
42.3% FG%
47.1% 3P% (3.4 3P attempts)
28.6% FT% (1.4 FT attempts)
1.4 REB
5.8 AST
1.4 TOV
1.0 STL
Obviously, the man defense doesn’t show up in the box score.
Free throws ain’t so free.
It’s a free THROW, not a free MAKE!
He has a form problem with FT’s- he flips it instead of shooting it.
So he was 2/7 from the line? He’s not a good free throw shooter but he’s not THIS bad haha
Yeah, not much to be taken from 7 free throws, but 65.7% in college.
With his defense, I can live with him being a 70-75% shooter from the stripe.
Agreed. I’ll live with less if he’s otherwise better than say, Corey Joseph on offense.
same in HS, he hasn’t improved his FT % in about 7 years of trying
It would be great if our guards could hit free throws but he might be the rare case where the three point shot translates even though the free throw shooting is never great. His off the dribble jumper looks very nice to me and 47% with almost none of them being the catch and shoot variety is really impressive.
It reminds me of how Omri was a great 3 point shooter but seemed to struggle at the line, if I recall correctly.
I liked that I saw him barking on his teammates while they were getting back on defense, and directing things. He definitely seems to have real leadership qualities, and I think that the veterans’ egos won’t be an issue when he exerts control in game situations.
I do believe that Mitchell’s offense will continue to improve, through sheer effort and force of will, if nothing else. With his start/stop & quickness, he may be able to get himself a decent look at the basket when he wishes, or even just to create space to make passes. His shot looks right mechanically, so the free throws are a bit of a mystery, but he’ll definitely take it as a challenge and get better.
Kings got themselves a pit bull.
I think Mitchell’s defense on smaller guards is absolutely going to translate, and whatever his free throw situation is, he shot 7 free throws in Vegas, so you can’t determine much from that (65.7% in college).
I think he’s going to struggle getting shots at the rim early in his career, and though his shot mechanics are good, I also think may take time for his offense to come around. It will be interesting to see how well he defends bigger players, but if he can even be a competent playmaker, he should have plenty of opportunity to play. I agree that he will become a leader on defense, because he’s so obviously better than everyone else on the team today, and that’s a missing quality that the team needs.
He definitely got snuffed a number of times trying to get the ball up to the rim from down low, and that’ll probably be fairly common on drives where he hasn’t juked himself open. He’s still pretty crafty, and with his strength, he’s going to get more points in the paint that someone his size has any right to get. With his ability to create space, if he can turn his floater into something reliable, he’ll be able to do that all day.
Mitchell will figure out ways to contribute on that end, even if he’ll rarely be the first or second option. I’d bet he’s going to pick up a fair amount of buckets making something out of possessions gone awry. This is a guy who figures out ways to contribute and make teammates better.
Question to you and Carl both Sims: What do you think a reasonable line looks like for Mitchell?
For me it would be like 25 MPG 10 PPG, 3 AST 1 TO, 2 REB 1 STL, DRtg lower than 110, TS% 57%+ USG% 17-18%.
Doesn’t seem like a bad result for a rookie, especially one who is going to be one of those “doesn’t show up in the box score guys.”
DRtg isn’t a great stat, because over and over you find objectively good defenders on bad teams, and their number looks bad. It’s too dependent on who you share the floor with.
That said, the additions so far have all been defensive improvements over what was on the opening night roster last season. Mitchell or no, I’d have expected the teams defensive numbers to improve, and not just in a “not the worst defense in history” kind of way. I don’t know if this can be a middle-of-the-pack defense, but I don’t think it’s impossible if everyone buys in.
There are reasons to feel cautiously optimistic that we’ll see a noticeable improvement, along with the effort to achieve it.
Andy, can you stand to wait to see what he might be able to do when he does share the floor with Fox, Hali and Barnes?
And he seemed genuinely happy Louis King won MVP. That’s a leader, not a primadonna right there. He’s comfortable in his skin and knows what he brought to the game. Love me some Dave.
Something Bagley should’ve gotten if he was healthy during his first summer league…
Bagley should have played in this years summer league. Everybody in the organization says he just needs minutes.
Guarantee him a starting spot on the summer league roster.
Interesting that Mitchell was co-MVP of entire tournament (with Cam Thomas) but also was tied with Pritchard in votes for first-team.
Head to head tie-breaker
Sacramento led VSL in both total turnovers forced and least turnovers committed.
5 game SSS shenanigans, no doubt. But nobody else came close to pulling that off either.
I’m not sure that more than half the Celtics turnovers would qualify as “forced.” The pressure was there, but there were times like they played like they were wearing oven mitts. The main thing is that the Kings turned them into a big ol’ pile of points.
I was using the word ‘forced’ loosely.
I love “Off Night”s” attitude and work ethic. He will be a great teammate. Two outstanding draft picks in two seasons. Haliburton has a rare Bird-Magic-like court sense. And Fox is working hard to be an all-star. Baby steps (but watch that pivot foot). I am hopeful.
Caption this:
“C’mon man, let me tickle you”
Can I just laugh at all the possibilities?
Bouknight’s face is my favorite part.
Bouknights face is priceless…he literally looks like he’s ripping his heart out.
Oh damn! haha
G1C is now the Temple of Doom
“Purple nurple!!….Purple nurple!!!”
Name 5 cereals!!!
Nachooooo….
We should trade him while he has value.
“You can always trade talent.”
Yet Bagley and Hield still persist….
His free throw mechanics need work. I have every confidence Davion knows what his areas of improvement are and will move mountains to address them. No worries in that regard. Zero. His entire basketball career has been identifying areas to improve and putting in the work with assistant coaches to get better. Kings are lucky to have him.
So far Davion looks like a player that knows the game well enough that they can put him on the floor and let him learn game. He knows the game well enough to not do stupid stuff repeatedly. He will have some moments but he will learn.
Watching Hield and Bagley is still nerve racking.
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