Somewhere along the way, we stopped appreciating great NBA players unless they ended every season holding a trophy.
Everything now is rings. Legacy. “Can he be the best player on a title team?”
And maybe Donovan Mitchell can’t.
Maybe he ultimately falls into that group with guys like David Thompson, George Gervin, Alex English, Tracy McGrady, and Charles Barkley — incredible players who thrilled fans, filled arenas and made the league better without ever leading a team to a championship.
And guess what? That’s OK.
Mitchell is a fantastic player. He’s also been terrific for Cleveland.
He shows up. He embraces the city. He says the right things and mostly backs them up. He plays hurt. He competes. He scores in bunches and somehow still manages to make the spectacular look routine.
Basketball is supposed to be fun too, remember?
Not every star who fails to win a title is a disappointment. Sometimes another team is simply better. Sometimes the matchup is wrong. Sometimes the roster isn’t quite enough.
That doesn’t erase greatness.
The Cavaliers just reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time without LeBron James since 1992. Mitchell was the biggest reason why.
Maybe he eventually wins it all. Maybe he doesn’t.
Either way, Cleveland has one of the NBA’s most electric players. He gives the franchise hope, a reason for fans to tune in night after night. That still counts for something.
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Love this piece. I think a lot has been put on Donavans shoulders.. And he’s welcomed the load. However, I don’t think it’s an appropriate load for him.
If fans, coaches, teams, and media, could all be real from the beginning.. I would agree with this piece even more. If Mitchell wasn’t sold as the guy who can make us contenders, people would not have those expectations. If coaches didn’t defer to him as if he were a seasoned vet with 3 rings already, and instead coached him hard, and raised expectations on the young man, I believe he would grow even further.
We all set the stage to be disappointed now. It’s easy to point to shot selection, and defensive effort for Mitchell.. Especially defensive effort at times where its not clear if it’s effort or if he knows what he’s supposed to be doing, sort of wandering at times. Maybe cruising for a steal?
But I agree in general, this should not take away from all that he provides to the team. Which is a lot.
It’s easy to be frustrated at the situation, and see more potential for this team, given the immense talent. However appreciating what these guys do do, and can do, is the key to knowing what tweaks, role changes, adjustments of any form, need to be made to improve the team. Not all criticism is hate. Sometimes it’s just a different vision what roles guys’ strengths can be for a team. The ora of superstardom sometimes ascribes assets that are assumed, or a given, because of the superstar label. This is not the fault of the players, as they are not on TV talking about themselves. The folklore of certain commentators, who I will not name here, and our general culture of blame, all of it, and more is to blame for our blindness to what these players can do.
The best teams, I believe even the Warriors have talked about it in the press, have expressed they put emphasis in focusing on what a guy CAN do, what he CAN provide for a team, more so than what he supposedly can’t. It’s then the coaches job to know how to use effectively.
This piece reminds me of those great ideas, and how the Cavs would be well served to keep that mind set to improve the roster. With feet grounded in reality around all the hype (both positive and negative).