Speaking of the league's previous drafts, there is one position that has never appeared in the "champion", that is, the No. 2 position, that is, the scoring guard. However, there are many superstars in this position that can be called historical superstars. The god of basketball Michael Jordan as a quarterback, in that distant 90s, in that period of big men in the inner line, suddenly emerged, won 6 championships to establish the absolute status of the first person in his history; black Man Bakoby in the 00s partnered with two different interior lines to complete the feat of 5 crowns; The Flash Wade was known as "Jordan 5 centimeters shorter", and successfully led the team to win the championship in the third season of his career; James Harden, the first quarterback of the current era, his scoring ability is even more than Kobe Bryant, directly approaching the existence of Jordan.
It can be said that the players in the quarterback position never measure the direction of their entire careers by the initial draft picks.
Young Flying Man
When the time came to the 10s, the black mamba also entered the twilight of his career, when the league quietly chose a "point guard" with the 13th pick in the first round. This also comes from the positive energy brought by the great Kobe Bryant.
So the rumor went: "When you have the first round of 13 picks, when you don't know what type of player to choose, then choose a shooting guard." After all, [the next Kobe] is too shocking to be missed by any team.
Today, our protagonist is also from the 13th pick of the first round, he is from the 2017 draft by the Jazz team Tonovan Mitchell.
Donovan-Mitchell
Before Mitchell appeared, people's expectations for the 13th pick were more from the 13th pick of zach Lavin in the 14th and the 13th pick of The 13th pick of Devin Booker. But objectively speaking, the two of them only inherited one of Bryant's skills, such as Lavine's explosive physical fitness and the pleasing dunk; such as Booker's comprehensive technology and unsolvable 70-point record.
It was not until the emergence of Mitchell that people realized that this is the long-awaited successor of the black mamba, the rookie from the 17th class who wants to have a body, a technology and a technique, a score and a score, a defense and a defense, and is the best Kobe Bryant successor.
Now 3 years have passed, Mitchell is still that Mitchell, although his career has never missed the playoffs, but the best result is only the Western Conference semifinals, especially in the first round of this season, under the huge advantage of 3:1 in the big score, he actually lost 2 games in a magical row, resulting in the advantage disappearing, and also led to the two sides having to go through seven to end the final battle, I have to say that in a way, it is Mitchell's responsibility, he did not have the highlight of the rookie season, but the debut is the peak, Then stand still.
Let's take a closer look at Mitchell's past and present lives to see why the 13th pick in the first round, who was initially hailed as Bryant's best successor, was so hard to take a step further.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the bitter winds of Salt Lake City, the departure of Hayward, and the gift of Mitchell</h1>
The 2016-17 season was kevin Durant's season with The Golden State, the warriors' revenge cavaliers, and the final season of the Jazz's core Gordon Hayward.
Throughout the 16-17 season, Hayward averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists+ 1.0 steals + 0.3 blocks + 47.1 percent shooting + 39.8 percent three-point shooting, and led the team to a 51-31 record in the West. The first round of the playoffs was a difficult crossing of the Clippers 4:3, and the warriors were sent home 0:4 in the semifinals, after which Hayward, who felt deeply troubled to lead the team, decided to leave and go to Boston, leaving the old club with a devastated lineup and a devastated offseason.
Gordon Hayward Jazz era
Later, in the 2017 draft, the team had the 13th pick in the first round and eventually picked the "older rookie" named Donovan Mitchell (at the age of 22).
Although this player is physically strong and has good scoring ability, he is older, and it should be known that Kobe Bryant's first season is only 18 years old; Durant is already the league's "scoring king" when he is 22 years old, so the outside world does not seem to be too optimistic about this older rookie with the aura of 13th pick in the first round.
In this way, Mitchell began his rookie journey in the 17-18 season.
Throughout the rookie season, Mitchell played in 79 games, including 71 starts, averaging 20.5 points + 3.7 rebounds + 3.7 assists + 1.5 steals + 0.3 blocks + 43.7% shooting rate + 34.0% three-point shooting rate data, helping the team to get the 5th record in the West with 48 wins and 34 losses, continuing the pace of the playoffs.
Mitchell and Hayward technical data comparison
By comparing the basic data of Mitchell and Hayward, we can find that mitchell's performance in the rookie season is not at all inferior to Gordon Hayward, who has played in the league for nearly 10 years, which also reflects the super strength of the Jazz's new boss.
Leading the team to the playoffs for the first time, Mitchell and the Jazz encountered the Russian City Army led by the new regular season MVP winner Kamikaze Wei Shao, and just when everyone thought that young Mitchell was going to pay tuition for his career, the "punch in the face" incident occurred. The trio of Westbrook + George + Anthony was eliminated by rookie Mitchell 4:2, and no one paid attention to the thunder's information anymore, and the world was paying attention to this old-looking but extremely talented super newcomer.
The outside world is optimistic that Mitchell will become the next Kobe, after all, this kid is too similar to the black mamba, the same draft pick, the same field position, the same dunk contest champion, the same body, sharp scores.
Mitchell and Kobe Bryant
Although the Jazz were ruthlessly eliminated by the Rockets in the semifinals, the future prospects of the Jazz team with the new dunk king are still bright, especially mitchell, who has become more and more courageous during the playoffs, averaging 24.4 points + 5.9 rebounds + 4.2 assists per game, which is like the cornerstone of the team's next decade.
Mitchell and Harden playoff stats comparison
Also as a point guard, also as the first core of the team, Mitchell's personal data for the first time in the playoffs and James Harden, who was in the league at the time, also had a fight, averaging only 4.2 points less per game, 0.7 fewer assists per game, and 0.2 fewer steals per game; but 1.7 rebounds per game, shooting 1.0 percentage points more.
The comparison of the underlying data can clearly and intuitively tell us that Donovan-Mitchell's future will only be exchanged between "good and better", not worse. After all, a first quarterback of this era is only slightly ahead, which is more indicative of Mitchell's brilliant tomorrow and the Jazz's bright future.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > sophomore career did not rise but fell, Mitchell became synonymous with short-lived</h1>
In the 2018-19 season, the Jazz began a new season of journey, Mitchell played in 77 games, all started, averaging 23.8 points + 4.1 rebounds + 4.2 assists + 1.4 steals + 0.4 blocks + 43.2% shooting percentage + 36.2% three-point shooting rate data, leading the team to play a 50-32 Record in the West.
If you look at the performance of the team and Mitchell, it makes sense, after all, the team is still stable in the top five positions in the playoffs, and Mitchell's personal data has shown an upward trend.
Mitchell's 2 seasons stats at a glance
But objectively speaking, such slow progress and the highlight performance of the rookie season form a certain degree of contrast and contrast. After all, James, who is in his second year, is already a league first-line superstar who averaged 27 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game; Durant's career second-year moment also entered the ranks of scoring 25+ points per game, and even James Harden, who is also in the scoring guard position, has also improved his personal data after switching to the Rockets. On the other hand, Mitchell's side really can't get his hands on it.
There are not a few cases in history that are "short-lived".
——Terek Evans, as the No. 4 pick of the 2009 class, the rookie season exploded with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, pushing Curry and Harden to win the Rookie of the Year Award, and later disappeared;
——Brandon Jennings, as the no. 10 sign of the 2009 class, the creator of 55 points in a single game, but his future career is indeed worse than a year;
- Kwame Brown, as the largest parallel importer in the 00s, with the title of champion, became a typical example of failure, although Brown is not a standard flash in the pan, it can only be regarded as a flower that has not yet bloomed and has withered.
Especially in the playoffs, when facing last season's semifinal opponents, the Rockets, the first round was 1:4 out.
From the 17-18 Western Conference semifinals to the 18-19 playoff round trip, Mitchell's first season of career highlights are still warm, but he personally gave the outside world a verbal rebuke.
Mitchell and Harden
Objectively speaking, the second season of Mitchell's career has encountered great resistance, why?
The Master believes that there are two reasons:
One: in itself, neither Mitchell nor the Jazz have a more reasonable lineup configuration, look at the Jazz lineup in the 18-19 season, in addition to Mitchell, the team also has the inside Optimus Prime Gobert, the outside organization master Rubio, the shooter Ingles, the small forward Claude, the shooter Korver and so on. Seemingly talented, but in fact not very useful, in addition to Mitchell can complete the independent attack, Rubio is better at organizing and tandem, Gobert is better at defense, and the rest of the players are better at fixed point shooting. So the problem is that when a team has less than 2 players who can attack with the ball and contain the opponent, the upper limit of the team is also extremely low;
The second is to meet the top combination of the backcourt that is at the peak. Whether it is Harden, the new MVP, or paul, the former first point guard, there are enough for mitchell and Rubio and other outside groups to drink a pot. On offense, on defense, on organization, almost a state of defeat, which is also the root of the team's first round of only 1 game.
As a result, the performance of the second season of his career did not meet the expectations of the outside world, the responsibility was not entirely on Mitchell's side, and the internal and external factors of the outside world also accounted for a large part.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Donovan Mitchell, the joys and sorrows of an older rookie</h1>
After the first two seasons of his career, Mitchell and the team came to the 19-20 season, where they finished 6th in the West during the regular season and were able to play against Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets in the playoffs.
In particular, the trend of the series of games once became a matter of the Jazz team's hands, after all, the big score of 3:1 is equivalent to promotion, but things are far less beautiful than the Jazz expected. Jamal Murray staged a one-man savior scene, and after falling behind 1:3, Murray scored 42 points in one game and 50 points in one game, and pulled the total score to a 3:3 draw.
Jamal Murray
At this point, the Jazz, eager to complete the Miracle of The Black Six, came to the edge of the cliff and became the only series of seven battles in the Western Division.
The Jazz only led by six points in the first quarter at 36:30, followed by 20:31 in the second quarter, 23:27 in the third quarter, and 28:31 in the final quarter, losing two games in a row, and the road to advancement became confusing.
The two sides played in four quarters
Both sides shoot hot maps
With the blessing of not having any home advantage in this year's playoffs, all teams and players want to advance and go further, and the on-the-spot play is particularly important. In particular, Murray's average of 34.0 points + 6.2 rebounds + 6.7 assists in 6 series is a super big BUG; on the other hand, Mitchell can play a personal highlight of 38.7 points + 4.3 rebounds + 5.5 assists per game, but the help for the team is not ideal, especially the first game of 57 points still lost the game, and it seems that Mitchell's role and the team's victory can not draw a convincing equivalence.
The outcome of this season's tie-7 is yet to be determined, but one thing is certain, this season's mental journey has been extremely unfavorable for Mitchell.
The reason for this is that it is far beyond the "age" problem of the rookie of the same year. Under normal circumstances, the older the player to participate in the draft, the ranking will not be too high, the status will not be too prominent, the future will not be too beautiful, because the basic skills of the older rookies are good, the technical and tactical skills are mostly fixed, it is difficult to reopen.
One of the most typical cases is the Rockets' elderly rookie from Argentina a few years ago, Luis Scola, who, despite being through hundreds of battles, eventually sank due to age and did not hit the status and achievements of the demon knife.
Then back to Mitchell's side, as a 96-year-old self has been 23 years old, but only played three seasons in the league, in front of the same 90s Lillard, George, Leonard, Alphabet Brother and other players, followed by the new generation of Tatum, Doncic, Trae Young and other players, you can meet Mitchell's future is how difficult and difficult.
If the next 2-3 years can not achieve great achievements individually or the team, the future of Mitchell prospects are worrying, we put aside the first round of the 13th pick draft story and the next Kobe Bryant's beautiful vision, in terms of facts, Mitchell can have the resources and the weight of the two generations of players before and after, less and less, which is nothing less than the saddest thing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary:</h1>
Mitchell is lucky, Hayward's departure gave him the opportunity to be the boss, the highlight performance of the first season made the outside world think that this will be the next Kobe, but it turns out that the next Kobe is a rare and unattainable, and Mitchell only needs to do his own job, and the future is still expected.