Is Donovan Mitchell the next Dwyane Wade?
When you think of nuclear athleticism along with great skill and lockdown defence you have to think of a young Dwyane Wade. In his prime, Wade was one of the most exciting players to watch in the NBA. Rightly called "Flash", he was unstoppable on his day. He led the Miami Heat to their first NBA title in 2006. He later teamed up with LeBron James and Chris Bosh to win two more titles.
Eventually, time and injuries slowed Dwyane down. This NBA season is going to be his last season and so the whole of the NBA will come together for "One Last Dance". While this may seem sad, the NBA is fortunate enough to have great young players on the rise. Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Jason Tatum, Lonzo Ball are some of the young talents who have been really impressive. Having said that, the one player who I believe is going to make it to the very top is Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell who plays for the Jazz had a stunning rookie year. He led his team to the playoffs and then went on to beat Thunder. Thunder was stacked with Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony but it was Mitchell that came out on top. With such an impressive rookie season Donovon has drawn comparisons to Dwyane Wade. In this article, I try to see if these comparisons are warranted.
Mitchell has a game which is remarkably similar to that of Wade's. He is blessed with incredible athleticism much like Wade and he too loves to take the ball to the hoop. What separates Mitchell is that he is also a great three-point shooter. Having said that Wade is much better at posting up. Wade has a better jumper and is a much better defender. In his younger days, Wade was much more of a slasher than Mitchell.
Both Wade and Mitchell are shooting guards who can also play the point. They both are the secondary ball handlers for their respective teams. They both are very adept at using the spin move and the euro step. One more huge similarity between both of them is their ability to adjust their body mid-air. Oh, and if one season is anything to go by Mitchell seems clutch much like Wade.
In his rookie season, Wade had a usage rate of 25 percent. Mitchell had a usage rate of 28.7 percent. Wade boasted a player efficiency rating of 17.6. Mitchell, on the other hand, boasts a player efficiency rating of 17.1.
With so many similarities it is clear why many people think of Mitchell as the modern Dwyane Wade. Having said that Mitchell has a long way to go before he can reach the level of the third greatest shooting guard of all time.
What is good to see is that Donovan is a huge fan of Wade and Wade too admires Donovan's game.
Here are a couple of tweets from Wade showing appreciation towards Donovan.
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