During his rookie season, Kings guard Davion Mitchell quickly gained the attention of the league with his suffocating lockdown defense.
He may be young, but he is already ascending into a two-way star.
However, Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry keeps Mitchell in check, and serves as a reminder that there’s still work to do to be considered an elite defender in this league.
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And Mitchell knows that. That’s why he doesn’t consider himself great just yet.
“I think I’m a really good defender. I don’t know if I’m great,” Mitchell said on the “Deuce & Mo” podcast. “Off ball, I don’t think I’m good at all. I think on the ball I’m really good. But off the ball, I’m not as good.
“I just say I’m not good at off-ball because I always look at when I guard Stephen Curry. He kills me every time because he can play off the ball. So when I play him it’s like ‘Man!’. When he passes the ball, I relax, ‘cause I’m used to someone passing the ball and someone else doing a move and I’m just sitting there. When he passes it, he’s like right off. I’m standing in one spot, and he’s coming off the screen.”
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Mitchell even remembers a specific game guarding Curry where he realized he still has some work to do on the defensive end.
“I remember this like it was yesterday,” Mitchell reminisced. “We were playing the Warriors and it was the end of the quarter, and they had did a play and I was sitting there guarding Curry on the ball. He threw the ball but it was like eight seconds left, so I’m thinking ‘Alright, he just gave it to someone else and they’re going to make a move or whatever,’ he threw the ball, I relaxed, I looked over there and as soon as I turned my head, he was literally off the screen. I was still in the same spot I was guarding him, he was off the ball shooting the ball. I’m like ‘Aw man, this is going in,’ and he made it.”
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Yeah, Curry does that a lot. And he’s been known to give rookies and other young guys their “Welcome to the NBA” moments.
Mitchell takes great pride in his defense, and his honest assessment of himself on that end is going to be crucial to someday becoming an elite defender.
He’s got the talent, defensive IQ -- and definitely the time -- to get there.