Davion Mitchell impressing with early season playmaking as part of new-look Heat offense
The Miami Heat’s early season scoring surge has already led to some historic results. In fact, two of the Heat’s five highest single-game point totals in franchise history have come in the first four games of this season.
It’s still extremely early in the season, but at least one Heat player believes guard Davion Mitchell could make his own mark in the team’s record book by the end of the schedule.
“I feel like Davion can be the one on our team that can average double-digit assists,” Heat center and captain Bam Adebayo said. “He gets in the paint, he’s making the right reads, he knows when to be aggressive, when he has an advantage. And you need somebody like that.”
Mitchell entered Thursday night’s matchup against the Spurs in San Antonio to kick off a four-game trip averaging a team-high 8.3 assists per game. That ranks sixth in the NBA behind Denver’s Nikola Jokic (11.3 assists per game), Los Angeles’ Austin Reeves (10 per game), Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball (9.5 per game), Utah’s Keyonte George (9.3 per game) and Los Angeles’ Luka Doncic (8.5 per game).
Only two different Heat players have finished a regular season averaging eight or more assists per game in franchise history — Tim Hardaway (1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98) and Sherman Douglas (1990-91). If Adebayo is right, Mitchell would become the first Heat player in franchise history to finish the entirety of a regular season averaging 10 or more assists per game.
“We love it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Mitchell’s playmaking. “Because he has a great heart that he just wants to set other people up to score. And you need guys like that. He has a great skill for it. He’s an aggressive guy. We want him to play downhill, as well. But how do you not love playing with a guy like that who wants to get you the ball, wants to make sure that it’s delivered on time, on target. And that becomes contagious.”
With the Heat using fewer on-ball screens as part of its new-look up-tempo offense, Miami relies on Mitchell and others to beat their defenders off the dribble without the aid of a screen to get into the paint and collapse the defense.
Mitchell has thrived in that role, as he entered Thursday’s contest in San Antonio averaging a team-high 12 drives to the basket per game, according to NBA tracking stats. Among the 26 players around the NBA who entered Thursday averaging at least 12 drives to the basket per game this season, Mitchell owns the highest assist percentage on those drives (picking up an assist on 20.8% of his attacks to the basket).
Mitchell, who signed a two-year contract worth $24 million this past summer to stay with the Heat, has also done it without making many mistakes. Among the 18 players around the league who entered Thursday with 30 or more total assists this season, Mitchell has committed the fewest total turnovers with just six turnovers to his 33 assists.
“I got a lot of scorers around me,” Mitchell, 27 said. “They make the game a lot easier for me. You got guys who can make plays or you can kind of just get them advantages. Honestly, just one dribble, pass, get off the ball and they’re going to make a play. So I got some really good players around me.”
While the facilitating has stood out most for Mitchell on the offensive end, he’s also averaging 8.8 points per game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field while starting in each of the Heat’s first four games this season.
“He’s just building off of what he did last year. He’s really an underrated playmaker,” Spoelstra said of Mitchell, who was initially acquired by the Heat as part of the Jimmy Butler trade midway through last season. “Getting into the paint, he can make threes, he loves to set up guys. Yeah, it’s good to see him back in that kind of form.”
Of course, Mitchell is also still doing what he does best: make life difficult for players he’s guarding. After all, he’s known as “Off Night” for his ability to shut down opposing teams’ top scorers,
“Davion is a great player, man,” Adebayo said. “As much as people try to down him, he fits our culture. He fits what we do. Obviously, he gets in the paint. He’s making the right reads. So we just look forward to him doing that more often.
“And, obviously, on the other side of the ball, he’s committed to giving people off nights.”
