Signing(s): Donovan Mitchell signs max extension (5 years, $163 million)
- Thread starter MMC
- Start date
Oof, that's a lot of money for a player who's best suited as the 2nd or (most likely) 3rd best player on a championship team. But it's Utah, so I understand why they had to do it.
What on Earth?
I wasn't taking a shot at Utah there. It was more that they're probably going to have issues attracting top talent just because of where they play (not a big market), so they need to pay up to keep one of their own.
The things I said about Mitchell, I believe it's true though.
Voight
#winning
Sorry what? Did you not watch the playoffs this year?
He's won one playoff round in the last three seasons. He's a really good player, I just don't think you can win a championship with him as your best player. Has any team in recent history ever won a championship with their best player being worse than Mitchell? Maybe the Pistons back in 2004?
Bare minimum, you need a top-10, if not a top-5, talent as your best player, and Mitchell probably isn't a top-10 player in the league.
Voight
#winning
Aside from Gobert he hasn't exactly had any all star team mates. Jordan won 3 playoff rounds his first 3 seasons... he turned out OK. LeBron missed the playoffs his first two seasons.....
Why is Utahs lack of playoff success being pinned on Mitchell? He average 36 points this year with 5 RPG and 4.9 APG. He did everything he could. While basketball is a sport where one specific player can do a lot for you, hes only played three seasons. A little early to be labelling him as a guy you cant build around. & so what if hes not a top 10 player right now? Neither was Giannis after 3 seasons.
LeBron and MJ were the best players of their generations. There is no comparison to be made between Mitchell and those two.
Can Mitchell reach top-5 or top-10 status? Maybe, but then you can also say the same about 5-10 other guys looking to make that exact same jump, many of those who also have better complimentary skills than Mitchell (Murray, Morant and Booker as examples). Mitchell is a high volume scorer who does all the other things well, just not at an high enough level. I just don't think there's a likely chance he reaches that status.
Last edited:
Ok sure, but 2014 Duncan and Leonard were probably still better than Mitchell currently is, though.
darko
Registered User
- Feb 16, 2009
- 70,268
- 7,796
Voight
#winning
What about Chris Paul who didnt make the playoffs his first two seasons and only made it out of the 1st round once in his first six seasons?
Or Melo who didn't make it out of the first round until his sixth season?
What point are you trying to prove? Neither Paul or Melo have made the finals as the lead player of their respective teams, much less win the championship. That's essentially what I'm questioning about Mitchell.
I'm not blaming Mitchell for their failures. He was great in the playoffs. However, that doesn't really dispel the point I'm making about Mitchell. You need at least one player that is the elite of the elites to win championships, and Mitchell doesn't look like he's one of them.
Last edited:
Case in point: Kemba Walker
He's been a great player for many years, putting up regular season stats similar to Mitchell. However, I don't think anyone is going to mistake Kemba Walker for being the guy. Can we not say the same about Mitchell?
Again, this is not a slight against Mitchell. It just speaks to how many ultra-talented players there are in the league.
He's been a great player for many years, putting up regular season stats similar to Mitchell. However, I don't think anyone is going to mistake Kemba Walker for being the guy. Can we not say the same about Mitchell?
Again, this is not a slight against Mitchell. It just speaks to how many ultra-talented players there are in the league.
Walker's a 4-time NBA All-Star who's posted similar stats to Mitchell over the last three seasons. He's a lot better than you think he is.
Mitchell just turned 24 and is still improving. He may yet become a top 10 player. And measuring him based on winning one playoff round in the last 3 seasons is not accounting for him being a young player in the tough western conference having to contend with the likes of GSW and Houston, and this year adding the LAL and LAC to that mix. Even in the series against Denver, he was the best player on the court in many of those games, but a lot is being asked of him and I don't think you can seriously look at Utah's roster and think they are better than Denver, or those other teams I mentioned. You do need a top player in the NBA to be a contender, but if your team has only one, and your opponent has 2, or has better depth, then you're kind of in a tough spot.
Walker is good, but he is also 30 years old to Mitchell being 24. Mitchell is pretty far ahead if you want to compare them at the same ages.
I agree with everything that you're saying here, so then the question here is who would the Jazz need alongside Mitchell to become a legitimate title contender. If the answer to that is someone like AD or a Jimmy Butler, doesn't that then defeat the argument that Mitchell can be the lead player on a championship team? That's the whole point I'm trying to make here.
Maybe just need another player of his level. He’s probably around a top 15-20ish player right now (it’s pretty close for like 10-20 really if you ask me in terms of who is better than who). If they need an AD caliber player then I’d agree with you, but if it’s someone equal to Mitchell, then they could kind of be co-leads, so to speak, which wouldn’t really be an indictment on Mitchell.
I think my initial reaction to your post was negative at the fact that you think $32m/year is overpaying Mitchell. That number puts his average salary just inside the league’s top 20, which is pretty fair if you ask me.
In no particular order:
LeBron
Kawhi
Giannis
Harden
AD
Doncic
KD
Lillard
Westbrook
Butler
Curry
Tatum
KAT
Jokic
PG-13
Maybe I'm missing a couple, but that's at least 15 players who, imo are firmly better than Mitchell. This next group, you can make an argument that Mitchell is in the same tier (again, in no particular order):
Irving (argument to be made he belongs in the top tier)
Beal
Young
Booker
Simmons
Embiid
Ingram
Kemba
Jaylen Brown
Middleton
Morant
McCollum
Murray
Adebayo
Siakam
That's at least another 14 players above that, imo, is in the same tier as Mitchell right now. That puts him somewhere in the 16-30 range, but realistically, I think he's more like 20-30. Again, that's not a slight against Mitchell. There are just a lot of talented players in this league. I don't see Mitchell winning a championship if he were to team up with someone in this second tier, to be honest.
