Donovan Mitchell has been a Cleveland Cavalier for well over a month now, but it’s still a little hard to process fully. The All-Star guard has been with the Utah Jazz for most of his career so far, so it’ll take some time to adjust to seeing him in a new jersey. But his new team is incredibly promising, with lots of young stars on a similar timeline looking to make some noise in the league this season.
Having played on just one team before this, Mitchell has been used to playing a certain way with the same teammates. He developed a partnership with Rudy Gobert over the years, and they were one of the best pick-and-roll duos in the league, if not the best. But if he was worried about playing without Gobert, he has a very similar presence in the paint to link up with in Jarrett Allen.
Donovan Mitchell Compares Developing Chemistry With Jarrett Allen To What It Was Like With Rudy Gobert
Gobert was with the Jazz since the year Mitchell was drafted, so they had a long time to develop together. Mitchell’s time with Allen is shorter, but there is a reason he expects them to get it right pretty soon. As reported by Cleveland.com, Mitchell thinks that his new pick-and-roll partner will figure it out with him in significantly lesser time than it took him and Gobert.
“I think it’s coming along very well,” Mitchell said of the new collaboration. “I think it’ll be quicker than mine and Rudy because I was a rookie when Rudy and I first started. But we were the number one or number two pick-and-roll duo in the league. That’s six years of repetition.
“Obviously, J.A. and I don’t have that. But for me I think it’ll come easy because one, I’m better than when I first started with Rudy. I’m not the same rookie coming in. I have an understanding of where things should be. But I also have an understanding of bigs setting pick and rolls. It takes time, but J.A. is fantastic at it.”
This must be great to hear for Cavs fans, if their stars all start linking up, they have every opportunity to make a deep playoff run this season. Allen is an elite center, and Mitchell is one of the best young guards in the whole NBA. With how stacked the rest of the roster is looking, the only ceiling on the Cavs is one they put on themselves.
