Iman Shumpert has a suggestion for the Cavaliers when opposing defenses turn up the heat. Put the ball in Donovan Mitchell’s hands and let him go.
Shumpert, a member of the Cavs’ 2016 championship team, offered that assessment on ESPN’s NBA Today following Cleveland’s season-opening collapse against the Sixers. His message to James Harden was fairly direct.
“If James Harden wants to make this better, there’s gonna have to be times Donovan Mitchell is gonna have to take the reins and play the point, not because his handle is better, he’s just younger and more willing to go sometimes with pressure,” Shumpert said.
“You cannot fight pressure with X’s and O’s. It can’t be that. It got to be, you’re too far up on me one or two moves. I’m going past you straight line drive. Whoever’s in the lane is getting dunked on. If James Harden can’t do that, he’s got to give up the ball.”
The Cavs blew a 29-point lead, prompting Mitchell to say they need to look inward. One game into the season, they already have a fairly unpleasant example of what happens when a comfortable lead stops being comfortable.
Shumpert’s proposed answer is to attack sooner and make the defense retreat. Harden can organize an offense, but the Cavs also have Mitchell for the possessions that require someone to beat his man and get to the rim.
They shouldn’t need to wait until a big lead disappears to turn to him.
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I get the whole Harden is a scapegoat thing.. but why are people so blind on Mitchell’s shot selection. Go rewatch that third quarter where the lead disappears. Rank the difficulty of the shots Donavan Mitchell is choosing to take. Shot clock is not expiring. There are choices. It looks like a guy trying to rub it in instead of just making simple plays, and it always seems to backfire.
Maybe Shump means just bringing the ball up, maybe save some of James energy to create shots for himself and others. That makes a little more sense. Mitchell has the handles to get the ball up the floor.. but then he’s going to have to learn to give it up. Just do those small jobs and make the team better. The hero ball, when we don’t need a hero, has to stop. Look inward DMitch.