Utah Jazz: 5 goals for Donovan Mitchell’s rookie season

4. Focus on shot selection

One of the bigger knocks on Mitchell’s offensive game during the draft process was his shot selection. He shot just 41 percent from the floor last year on over 13 field goal attempts per game, a rate that would have placed him tied for 13th on last year’s Jazz roster.

Part of this was due to his finishing around the basket, where he shot 50.7 percent on 142 attempts. Although he has the bounce to finish lobs and dunk over defenders, he tends to contort himself into wild layups that have little chance of going in.

Mitchell also fell prey to taking many ill-advised contested jumpers at Louisville. However, some of the blame here has to be put on the Cardinals’ roster, which housed only three double-digit scorers.

With the Jazz, Mitchell won’t need to take on an outsized burden on offense, so his percentages should go up if he can cut down to higher-quality shot attempts and pick his spots to attack.

Though Mitchell is averaging 28.0 points per game in Vegas Summer League, second only to Bryn Forbes, he’s doing it on 36 percent shooting.

It might be a personality shift for him, but Mitchell needs to put less of the weight on his shoulders with the Jazz in order to bring out the best in himself and his teammates.