Davion Mitchell continues to quietly drive winning as Raptors extend streak
Prior to being traded to the Raptors this past June, Davion Mitchell’s NBA future was uncertain.
He was coming off a season with the Sacramento Kings where he averaged a career low in minutes per game at 15.3 and found himself in and out of the rotation.
Joining a rebuilding Raptors team without a bonafide backup point guard presented Mitchell with an opportunity to prove he deserves to stick as a rotation player in the league. The early returns were promising, as the six-foot-two Baylor product fit the Raptors new “point-of-attack defender is the most important guy” concept like a glove. He contributed to winning minutes mostly by living up to his reputation as one of the best on-ball defenders in the world.
Yet as the season progressed, Mitchell found himself falling out of the rotation in favour of standout rookie Jamal Shead. In the four games prior to Toronto’s current heater, Mitchell was a DNP-CD in two, and played 25 seconds in another.
The Raptors extended their winning streak to five games on Thursday, easily dispatching the hapless Washington Wizards 106-82. They have also won seven of their last eight.
This successful run of play has coincided with Immanuel Quickley’s return to the injury report, and Mitchell taking his spot in the starting lineup. Over this eight-game stretch, the Raptors lead the NBA with a 103.0 defensive rating (they ranked 28th at 117.8 over the first 39 games of the season). Now correlation isn’t causation, Mitchell isn’t the lone cause of this surge. Scottie Barnes has had his best run of defence this season and has the best defensive on/off rating on the team at –7.5 points per 100 possessions (95th percentile).
But Mitchell is second at -5. And his ability to effectively put a metric tonne of pressure on the ball goes a long way in helping the Raptors successfully enact their defensive scheme. The stout guard’s +4.4 net differential is also second on the team behind Chris Boucher.
The Raptors have been relatively successful at defending other team’s primary actions all season. But Mitchell doesn’t just defend them, he either halts them from happening in the first place or swallows them whole.
After neutralizing the Celtics’ star-studded backcourt and putting Trae Young in the torture chamber, Jordan Poole was easy work for Off-Night.
Poole missed the Wizards first shot of the game, a catch-and-shoot 3 off a pindown that Mitchell fought through and heavily contested. After that Poole didn’t attempt another field goal and posted the Tony Snell line through the remainder of the first quarter as Mitchell blanketed him any time he touched the ball. The Wizard’s lead guard finished with three points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field – both season lows.
Eventually Washington took to avoiding Mitchell like the plague. Poole camped out in the corner, far away from the Wizard’s initial actions. Ball handlers passed away quickly after Mitchell picked up at three-quarter court.
But on Wednesday night, like many others recently, Mitchell wasn’t just contributing on the defensive end.
He started by running a get action with Jakob Poeltl, getting a re-screen, and making a perfect pocket pass that Poeltl finished effortlessly with a push-shot. Next trip down Mitchell bounced in a step-back 3 over Jonas Valančiūnas.
Mitchell drove past Poole, nashed, and found Ochai Agbaji open in the corner where he caught and cashed from 3. The next trip down Poole swatted him in face, and Mitchell immediately got his revenge by blowing by again and finishing with a short floater.
The great thing about Mitchell’s offence; he keeps the ball moving and doesn’t look for his own too much. He’s only averaging 5.6 field goal attempts this season.
In the second half Mitchell found his big again – this time on the short roll – for another classic Poeltl push-shot. He also canned an open 3 and ran through Poole for layup. Off Night finished with 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and added nine assists.
All-around the Raptors ran roughshod over the Wizards, starting off on a 16-0 run and never looking back. Washington’s first basket came at the 6:49 mark of the first quarter. The Wizards ultimately shot 38.9 percent from the floor, including only five made 3s.
As a player with some value on an expiring deal, Mitchell has frequently been mentioned as a potential trade chip in the lead up to the Feb. 6 deadline. There is certainly a non-zero chance he gets traded. If he does, it will likely mean the Raptors end up getting Shead and at least two second picks for Jalen McDaniels – who is currently on a G League deal and yet play in an NBA game this season. That is some excellent business.
But Mitchell has demonstrated that he could also contribute to winning, not just now, but in the future when it might really count.
Quick thoughts on the “reverse standings”
There has been plenty of consternation this season over tanking, rebuilding, the difference between the two terms, which one the Toronto Raptors are doing, and which option is best.
This game was the perfect example of the difference between “tanking” and “rebuilding.”
Of course, there is more nuance to this discussion that these labels, but the contrast between the Raptors and Washington Wizards was plain to see.
The Raptors five-game winning streak is tied for the longest in the NBA, while the Wizards have lost15 straight – the longest skid in the league by far.
Yet, as things currently stand, the Raptors have a nine percent chance at “capturing the Flagg” and a 37.2 percent chance at picking in the top four. The Wizards have a 14 percent chance at the No.1 pick and a 52.1 percent chance at the top four.
The Raptors know what it’s like to be in the mud – they lost 11 straight, including some ugly ones, not too long ago – but the Washington Wizards are buried beneath it. The Raptors have learned that they can play at a higher level and what that can look like, their young players are experiencing what goes into winning at this level, even if it is only brief. They’re being rewarded for their commitment to coach Darko Rajakovic’s schemes, building habits, and maybe most importantly – learning how to be resilient in the face of adversity.
Is sacrificing these experiences worth the extra percentage points? Is a player like Cooper Flagg a fix-all for a derelict franchise like the Wizards?
The answers are a matter of opinion. But the Raptors’ dominance over the last eight games – competing with top teams while handily dispatching lesser opponents – cannot be argued.
Notes:
-The Raptors won five straight for the first time since April 1, 2022!
-We saw old friend Justin Champagnie and Swiss-Canadian Kyshawn George in this one. Champagnie had a nice sequence where he stuck a floater and then picked off a pass going the other way. George knocked down a couple triples with his father Deon in attendance – a former Canadian Men’s National Team member alongside Rowan Barrett and Sherman Hamilton.
– There aren’t enough superlatives to properly express how bad Washington’s defence was at times. Just zero help, not even trying, effort non-existent. Barnes was allowed to walk to the rim, there was zero help when he cut for a lob, Agbaji was left wide open in the corner where he caught and cashed a 3. A lot came easy.
-Kyle Kuzma made an absurd circus shot over the backboard from behind the basket, here it is:
– Orlando Robinson went to work down low on some post ups, drawing fouls once and drop stepping then overpowering Corey Kispert for an and-one on another.
-Barnes knocked down two mid-range jumpers, one from the right block and one from the left, one a quick pull and another on a turnaround over Kuzma. He continues to look immensely confident getting his own shot from this area of the floor. Later Barnes ran to the short corner and sunk another while fading to his right.
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