NY Knicks: Davion Mitchell is one of the fastest guards in the NBA Draft
The Knicks are often lacking a few different components to their offense, and speed + transition scoring is definitely one of them. The NY Knicks currently rank 3rd last in transition points per game. We know The Knicks are a slower team, but even some of the teams that rank similarly in pace to The Knicks, such as The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat, are able to score a few more transition points per game. That’s where speedy guards and point guard play can help.
Davion Mitchell is easily one of the fastest guards in the draft. Shiftiness, straight-line speed, change of speeds – Mitchell is straight-up an NBA athlete. Even with his size, you can call him an “Above the rim” finisher. The kid has a lot of juice. It’s a level of speed that The Knicks could use more of.
Davion Mitchell’s downhill speed is a terrific asset as a playmaker. When you have burst and blow-by ability, you don’t need to be an all-world passer to create chances for teammates.
To play devil’s advocate – The Knicks’ slower offense is very heavy on isolations and simple pick & rolls, they’re 3rd in the NBA in pick & rolls per game. While Mitchell is a solid and maneuvering and scoring as the pick & roll ball-handler, for a point guard, he’s not “elite” as a playmaker in the half-court. Obviously, it’s something he can develop, but at 22 years old, how much can he improve it?
This is where I’m going to continue to emphasize the importance of that speed. There are some really successful point guards who aren’t incredible passers out of the pick & roll. De’Aaron Fox, Zach LaVine, Dejounte Murray, Derrick Rose – They all utilize their blow-by speed to penetrate and execute the simple reads. I think Mitchell can succeed in a similar way.
I’ll touch on Mitchell’s shooting briefly because it’s been a bit of a debate.
After shooting 32.4% from 3 last season, Mitchell has that number up 44.7% on 4.7 attempts per game this season. As you can see from the above clip, he’s able to shoot off of the dribble pretty smoothly. The bizarre number that sticks out is his 65.2% free throw shooting. It’s hard to pinpoint what the reason is for the low free throw percentage, but I don’t think it should deter teams from thinking Mitchell can shoot it at the next level.
Will Mitchell shoot 44.7% from 3 in the NBA? No, but I am a believer that he can be an effective shooter, even one who can create their own shot. He’s shown the ability to hit NBA-range 3-pointers. So now the biggest question: How would Mitchell fit in with The Knicks?