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Can Donovan be a Good Defender

Can he?

  • Yes

    Votes: 24 70.6%

  • No

    Votes: 10 29.4%
  • Total voters
    34
Of course he can be a good defender. He has already been a good defender like he was as a rookie. Will he be a good defender again? I keep hoping for it, but I think that ship has sailed. As his career has gone on, he keeps molding himself into this idealistic view of what a "superstar" is. He's completely abandoned effort on defense in favor of trying to do too much on offense. Spending less energy on offense might actually help him be more efficient because he would have to resort to less no pass possessions and have more spot up and system baskets.

He doesn't have the BBIQ or size to be a passively good defender. He has to do it with effort, but I just don't think he's willing to do that. It is true that many superstars conserve energy on defense, but that doesn't mean they become horrific defenders. They are still smart and positionally sound. They also ramp up their defense in the playoffs. Even a guy like Harden is tough to attack. Yeah he's resting guarding the worst player all the time, but if you do decide to attack him, it's not easy because he can guard inside and outside and he also creates turnovers with good hands. Same goes for most superstars.

Mitchell is also not remotely close to being an offensive superstar. If he was Damian Lillard good, I wouldn't care. But he's basically Collin Sexton good on offense (if that) while also giving 2% effort on defense.
 
Thought he was solid at times tonight... big mess up just walking away from Kyle as he shot three but saw some effort. There were a couple other plays I didn’t love but there was better effort.
 
KqWIN said:
Of course he can be a good defender. He has already been a good defender like he was as a rookie. Will he be a good defender again? I keep hoping for it, but I think that ship has sailed. As his career has gone on, he keeps molding himself into this idealistic view of what a "superstar" is. He's completely abandoned effort on defense in favor of trying to do too much on offense. Spending less energy on offense might actually help him be more efficient because he would have to resort to less no pass possessions and have more spot up and system baskets.

He doesn't have the BBIQ or size to be a passively good defender. He has to do it with effort, but I just don't think he's willing to do that. It is true that many superstars conserve energy on defense, but that doesn't mean they become horrific defenders. They are still smart and positionally sound. They also ramp up their defense in the playoffs. Even a guy like Harden is tough to attack. Yeah he's resting guarding the worst player all the time, but if you do decide to attack him, it's not easy because he can guard inside and outside and he also creates turnovers with good hands. Same goes for most superstars.

Mitchell is also not remotely close to being an offensive superstar. If he was Damian Lillard good, I wouldn't care. But he's basically Collin Sexton good on offense (if that) while also giving 2% effort on defense.
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Dude you're such a douche it's comical

With all due respect


Sent from my SM-G970U using JazzFanz mobile app
 
KqWIN said:
Of course he can be a good defender. He has already been a good defender like he was as a rookie. Will he be a good defender again? I keep hoping for it, but I think that ship has sailed. As his career has gone on, he keeps molding himself into this idealistic view of what a "superstar" is. He's completely abandoned effort on defense in favor of trying to do too much on offense. Spending less energy on offense might actually help him be more efficient because he would have to resort to less no pass possessions and have more spot up and system baskets.

He doesn't have the BBIQ or size to be a passively good defender. He has to do it with effort, but I just don't think he's willing to do that. It is true that many superstars conserve energy on defense, but that doesn't mean they become horrific defenders. They are still smart and positionally sound. They also ramp up their defense in the playoffs. Even a guy like Harden is tough to attack. Yeah he's resting guarding the worst player all the time, but if you do decide to attack him, it's not easy because he can guard inside and outside and he also creates turnovers with good hands. Same goes for most superstars.

Mitchell is also not remotely close to being an offensive superstar. If he was Damian Lillard good, I wouldn't care. But he's basically Collin Sexton good on offense (if that) while also giving 2% effort on defense.
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Geez man. Just trade in your Jazz fan card and walk away. No reason for anyone to be so negative. It’s not healthy.
 
Some discussion might be nice, but I’m not going to apologize for hurting someone’s feelings.

If it makes you happy to blindly support players, more power to ya. I don’t get to choose how others are fans and I’m not going to allow others to police me for having objective opinions.

If you don’t think Mitchell can get more out of his talent, you’re really selling him short. With his talent he can and should be a much more effective player than he is.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
Don came into the league billed as a good defender... at times he has mentioned he wants to be a good defender... well can he be one?

Some context... not every player with athleticism can be a good defender. Demar Derozan is a good example of this. It requires IQ, focus, desire, and the physical tools.

Some make excuses for him about energy and saving it for offense. Plenty of guys have had to carry the load offensively and are still top notch on defense. Prime Lebron, CP3, Kawhi... hell Rudy has to cover all our guys asses and he likely expends more energy than anyone on offense between the multiple picks and dives to the rim.
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My son and I discuss this every game we watch together. What happened to the defensive minded person we got out of Louisville? He certainly has the length and athleticism but it never seems to show up. I dont get it.
 
KqWIN said:
Some discussion might be nice, but I’m not going to apologize for hurting someone’s feelings.

If it makes you happy to blindly support players, more power to ya. I don’t get to choose how others are fans and I’m not going to allow others to police me for having objective opinions.

If you don’t think Mitchell can get more out of his talent, you’re really selling him short. With his talent he can and should be a much more effective player than he is.
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Well said.

telling someone they should not be a fan of a team because they think a player on the team isn’t giving their best effort is the lamest **** I’ve read on this or any other sports board.
 
Don't need him to be. His job is to continue produce on offense when it matters. That's his one job. Let others worry about defense.
 
You know I sometimes actually wonder if Quinn, not necessarily encourages lack of effort for Mitchell defensively, but allows him to be more lax about it so he can focus more on his offense.

If Mitchell is exhausted from the best defense he can give, could he be at full strength offensively? Could he do what he did tonight for the last 90 seconds of the game? Hard to say. It’s really tough to be a primary scorer while also stopping guys on the other end. Probably why so few players are both amazing at both - and equally why those players are so valuable. You only have so much energy.
 
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