All-NBA snubs: Donovan Mitchell
There are a few reasons why I felt that Donovan was deserved All-NBA honors. The most glaring reason is that he’s the best player on the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz. Literally the top team in the regular season. Let’s not forget, all NBA is a regular-season honor. The Jazz was led by Mitchell, he’s the battery that makes them go.
When he’s not playing they’re a different team, and they’re a heck of a lot worse. There are only a few guys in the league that can do what Mitchell has done. A guy who can come in the league, and carry a franchise from his rookie year. Think about that, from the moment he stepped into an NBA locker room, he has been “THE GUY” for the Jazz. In his Utah tenure thus far, they’ve been good, playoff team, lower seed usually, but this year they were the best team in the regular season.
If there was ever a year to reward Mitchell with All-NBA honors, (especially with the plethora of great NBA guards) it would have been this season. Is Utah really going to have a better regular season than this year? How many times are the Utah Jazz going to get the No. 1 seed during the regular season? My guess would be, not many. So with that, is Mitchell ever going to be rewarded all NBA? I’m not sure how much better he would have to be individually to make it, because as far as team success goes, he’s up there. If I were him I would feel frustrated.
The second reason is that his numbers compare to the other two borderline players who made All-NBA third team. Jimmy Butler is in the low 20s for points per game but edges out Mitchell in assists and rebounds. Kyrie and Mitchell’s numbers are almost identical in points rebounds and assists. But again, I’d give the nod to Mitchell based on the team success.
Another thing that factored into this decision for Donovan Mitchell was similar to pick up basketball at the park. I’ll explain, if I had a choice of Donovan Mitchell, Jimmy Butler, and Kyrie Irving to be on my team base on what I saw from this season alone, I’m taking Mitchell no questions asked. Jimmy is considered a forward which may be a stretch, if Jimmy can be considered a small forward then so should Mitchell.
The last reason was the position structure. If the All-NBA was position-less, then maybe Mitchell gets on there. But unfortunately, he was a casualty of the position. Did the NBA reward the Jazz’s great regular season with some end-of-the-season awards? Yes. But Mitchell wasn’t. Mitchell and teammate Rudy Gobert were both all-stars this season, but when it comes to the end of the season awards, Rudy was the only one rewarded.
The one dimensional defensive stopper won defensive player of the year and was voted for all NBA third team. If you break it down like this, it’s fundamentally easy to tell that the All-NBA awards have a flawed format. Let’s ask ourselves this, is Rudy Gobert a top 15 player in the NBA? No. Was Rudy a top 15 player in this season alone? No. Was Rudy a top 3 center in the NBA? AH HA! Yes, he was! And that is the loophole of the position format of the All NBA teams.
There’s such a lack of centers, and such a log jam of guards and forwards that the guards and forwards are always subject to get snubbed. Good for Rudy, he can put it on his hall of fame resume once he’s done playing. Too bad for the real bonified killer on their team, otherwise know as Donovan Mitchell.