'Summer League Is Summer League': Donovan Mitchell Has Some Critics in Denial

LAS VEGAS — On a scorching Tuesday at the NBA Las Vegas Summer League, Donovan Mitchell brought the heat of Sin City inside the air-conditioned confines of the Thomas & Mack Center.

There were pull-up jumpers off the dribble and spot-up threes from deep behind the line. Drives to the hoop and trips to the free-throw line.

And steals. So many steals. Eight of them, to be exact.

Mitchell's Utah Jazz lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 84-81, but not before the 20-year-old rookie out of Louisville had put together one of the signature performances of the summer. He finished with 37 points—a single-game high across the NBA's summer leagues this year—boosted by 17 in the fourth quarter and 14 at the free-throw line (in 16 attempts) to go with eight steals in under 35 minutes.

That was the last anyone saw of Mitchell on the floor in summer league, save for his appearances as a courtside spectator. The Jazz shut him down for the remainder.

After watching him average 20.4 points and 4.4 steals between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, they had seen enough to know they might have a special young talent on their hands. So had the rest of the league, which woke up to a player who might be the sleeper from one of the deepest drafts in years.

Mitchell had flown largely under the radar until this past spring. He had thrived in baseball—the sport that his father, Donovan Mitchell Sr., played professionally and worked in—until his sophomore year, when a collision on the field led him to focus solely on basketball.

He followed up an unremarkable freshman campaign at Louisville (7.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.8 steals) before more than doubling his scoring output for the Cardinals this past season (15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.1 steals). He initially dipped his toes into the predraft process without an agent before diving into the deep end after opening eyes at the annual Chicago scouting combine in May.

From there, Mitchell hopped from city to city, draining jumpers and shooting up draft boards. Not everyone was convinced he'd be a top-20 pick, let alone go 13th overall to the Denver Nuggets prior to a draft-day trade with the Jazz.

"He went higher than we expected," said one official from a team that worked him out and had multiple first-round picks. "We were surprised he was off the board that early."

Even with so many highly touted guards in this year's class, Mitchell managed to make a name for himself, both on draft day in June and during summer league in July. At 6'3" and a sturdy 210 pounds, his strength and wingspan (6'10") allowed him to create shots off the dribble offensively and wreak havoc defensively.

"He's athletic, he's strong, he attacks and he's aggressive," one Eastern Conference scout said.

Utah needed Mitchell to be all that and more just to compete in summer league. Where Mitchell averaged 28.0 points across his two games in Las Vegas, no other Jazz player put up more than Eric Griffin's 10.8 per contest.

"It's tough to judge because he took a ton of shots in summer league," the scout said.

That's 25.0 field-goal attempts per game, to be exact—by far the highest mark of anyone in Sin City. Heck, even Russell Westbrook, the reigning MVP and regular-season league leader in field-goal attempts, only put up 24.0 shots per game during the 2016-17 season.

John Locher/Associated Press

Few seemed convinced that Mitchell might rise to the level of the elite prospects in his class, let alone the very best in basketball.

"This was a 10-player draft and he wasn't one of the 10," said one scout whose team drafted in Mitchell's range, "but he'll be a good rotation player."

"The numbers look nice," said an Eastern Conference executive, "but summer league is summer league."

Which is to say, not exactly indicative of how a player will fare in the NBA. More than a few mirages have made waves in July over the years, from Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Marcus Banks to Anthony Randolph and Glen Rice Jr.

Still, there's a lot to like about Mitchell, so long as he doesn't rest on whatever laurels he'll carry with him from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. There's no indication that he will, even after sitting out Utah's final two summer-league games.

His handles need work. So does his skill as a facilitator. But his length and strength defensively should help him earn minutes as a rookie under Jazz head coach Quin Snyder. His ability to take (and make) tough, contested shots might allow him to do more than that.

The Jazz may or may not need Mitchell to make a dent this coming season. The loss of Gordon Hayward to the Boston Celtics via free agency leaves more than a handful of shots and points on the table in Utah.

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Mitchell, though, won't be the only one looking to make up the difference. Joe Johnson, a playoff hero for the Jazz this past spring, will be back for another year at age 36. Rodney Hood and Alec Burks have both flashed tantalizing scoring potential when healthy. Dante Exum, a lottery pick in 2014, will have his opportunities to show what he can do at guard before he hits restricted free agency next summer.

Mitchell could become the next perimeter project for a player development staff that's helped to turn Hayward into an All-Star and Rudy Gobert into a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. If the Jazz have the goods to contend for a playoff spot—and they just might, pending Gobert's next step and the health of the team's remaining wings—Mitchell may spend the 2017-18 season soaking up a strong organizational culture while watching what it takes to win from the sidelines. And if Utah falters, the squad's new Tristate talent could have his summer-league scoring skills put to the test in significant minutes.

Either way, the Jazz have new hope, and Mitchell will always have that first breakout as a pro in Las Vegas.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats via NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted. 

Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R Lakers lead writer Eric Pincus.