Long after the day at Adidas Nations was over and the many NBA scouts had left the building, Donovan Mitchell remained.
The rising sophomore at Louisville had participated in a full day of events, but the July evening ended with his team losing to another team of college all-stars. Mitchell was proud that he performed well on defense, but his offense left something to be desired. So there he was, at 10:30 p.m., an hour after every other college player had left the gym, taking jump shot after jump shot.
Before that, though, Mitchell knows he needs to fix a shot that left him at 25 percent last season behind the arc, frustrated that his teammates could not count on him in those situations.
“Jump-shooting is all mental,” Mitchell told Sporting News. “As a freshman, you look to find a role and find what you can do. So when you get open jump shots and you don’t hit them, it’s frustrating. It’s your first year, you’re trying to show coach and everybody what you can do. And to not hit shots is just a piece of your game that you don’t have. So that hurts. It gets to your head a little bit. So one thing I’ve learned this past summer was just don’t let it get to your head.”
So Mitchell tirelessly worked on his jumper. He noticed that holding his follow-through is a key for him as opposed to shooting and then rushing back on defense. He’s also working hard on becoming a better ball-handler and occasionally takes over at the point in practices to improve that.
With just a small improvement on his jumper and an increase in role following the departures of Lee and Lewis, Mitchell could double his scoring, leading Louisville toward the top of the ACC and taking the next leap toward his NBA goals. His game is similar to Raptors rotation player Norman Powell, who was a role player early in his UCLA career before taking over as a star.
The rising sophomore at Louisville had participated in a full day of events, but the July evening ended with his team losing to another team of college all-stars. Mitchell was proud that he performed well on defense, but his offense left something to be desired. So there he was, at 10:30 p.m., an hour after every other college player had left the gym, taking jump shot after jump shot.
Before that, though, Mitchell knows he needs to fix a shot that left him at 25 percent last season behind the arc, frustrated that his teammates could not count on him in those situations.
“Jump-shooting is all mental,” Mitchell told Sporting News. “As a freshman, you look to find a role and find what you can do. So when you get open jump shots and you don’t hit them, it’s frustrating. It’s your first year, you’re trying to show coach and everybody what you can do. And to not hit shots is just a piece of your game that you don’t have. So that hurts. It gets to your head a little bit. So one thing I’ve learned this past summer was just don’t let it get to your head.”
So Mitchell tirelessly worked on his jumper. He noticed that holding his follow-through is a key for him as opposed to shooting and then rushing back on defense. He’s also working hard on becoming a better ball-handler and occasionally takes over at the point in practices to improve that.
With just a small improvement on his jumper and an increase in role following the departures of Lee and Lewis, Mitchell could double his scoring, leading Louisville toward the top of the ACC and taking the next leap toward his NBA goals. His game is similar to Raptors rotation player Norman Powell, who was a role player early in his UCLA career before taking over as a star.
