Trae Young vs Donovan Mitchell

[toooskies]

Mitchell's not a Trae level defender lmao. What are yall smoking?

He's not as bad as Trae, but he is the type of guy you're perfectly happy to attack if he gets switched onto you in a playoff game with your bigger wings (or if you're Jalen Brunson).

Small guards are always some level of defensive liability, even if they're a very solid defender against other players their size.

Mitchell has an inch or two of height, 7 inches of wingspan, and significant weight over Trae. There are levels to this.

[Jamaaliver]

Mitchell's not a Trae level defender lmao. What are yall smoking?

He's not as bad as Trae, but he is the type of guy you're perfectly happy to attack if he gets switched onto you in a playoff game with your bigger wings (or if you're Jalen Brunson).

Small guards are always some level of defensive liability, even if they're a very solid defender against other players their size.

Mitchell has an inch or two of height, 7 inches of wingspan, and significant weight over Trae. There are levels to this.

Still unsure why you're debating the merits of Donovan or Trae...and focusing on defense.

• Trae's an elite offensive engine.
• Donovan's an elite three-level scorer.

Maybe begin the conversation there?

[cgf]

Trae is a way better playmaker and floor general. But I've got an advantage to Mitchell in everything else, especially defense...where Mitchell is one of the best defensive high scoring guards in the NBA behind Ant & SGA...but DM is also the better shooter, better finisher around the rim, and better rebounder.

Trae's defense is just such a massive liability in a comparison with the other offensive backcourt dynamos of the NBA, that comparing him to one on the opposite end of that spectrum makes it really hard for me to pick Trae...even though I almost always pick the guy who is better at controlling an offense / creating for his team-mates.

[cgf]

He's not as bad as Trae, but he is the type of guy you're perfectly happy to attack if he gets switched onto you in a playoff game with your bigger wings (or if you're Jalen Brunson).

Small guards are always some level of defensive liability, even if they're a very solid defender against other players their size.

Mitchell has an inch or two of height, 7 inches of wingspan, and significant weight over Trae. There are levels to this.

Still unsure why you're debating the merits of Donovan or Trae...and focusing on defense.

• Trae's an elite offensive engine.
• Donovan's an elite three-level scorer.

Maybe begin the conversation there?

Because Trae is an exceptionally bad defender, even for an elite offensive engine; while Donovan's a genuinely good defender...especially for an elite three level scorer. It makes a huge difference even if you give Trae the offensive advantage.

[Rainwater]

Mitchell and it’s not even close. This should be a poll to show the landslide, lol.

[chilluminati]

I'll take the one that plays defense.

But.... why? Although Mitchell is a little better of a defender than Trae he's not great either. For both of these dudes 99% of their value and the reason they're on the court is the offensive side of the ball.

Yep and Don is marginally better defensively, so I'll take him. Plus he can do most of the things Trae can do offensively and has a better playoff track record.

[Jamaaliver]

Yep and Don is marginally better defensively, so I'll take him. Plus he can do most of the things Trae can do offensively and has a better playoff track record.

Read on Twitter

[cgf]

Just because I saw a few people suggest Mitchell is a bad defender or that it's even close defensively, thought this might be handy:

Trae
-2.12 D-DARKO, -1.4 def-EPM (22nd percentile), 121.49 DRTG w/ 117.73 DRTG w/o

Spida
+1.2 D-DARKO, +1.5 def-EPM (89th percentile), 110.45 DRTG w/ 115.95 DRTG w/o

Trae was really trying on defense this year and did a better job fighting around screens than Murray in the month & a half I watched the hawks, but he's still a uniquely bad defender. While Mitchell upping his defensive effort has turned him into a legit good defender...even if he's not going to lock up the elite offensive creators.


https://apanalytics.shinyapps.io/DARKO//
https://dunksandthrees.com/epm
https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612737&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1629027
https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612739&Season=2023-24&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1628378

[chilluminati]

Yep and Don is marginally better defensively, so I'll take him. Plus he can do most of the things Trae can do offensively and has a better playoff track record.

Read on Twitter

Okay

[louc1970]

Mitchell every day. The big difference when looking at stats is Young is a PG, Mitchell is the off-guard.
Assist numbers will be different just like rebounding numbers will be different.

[JJ_PR]

I'd rather have Mitchell. Young is a fine player, but Mitchell is considerably better on both ends.

[brutalitops]

I'll take Mitchell's doesn't play defense over Trae's refusal to play defense. Will say though. People often think Mitchell is a good defender. He can be, but for long stretches isn't. Trae at least this year actually started to try. Still is in the top handful of worst NBA defenders

Also Mitchell's willingness to get off the ball to Trae's "If I'm off the ball I'm literally going to stand at this exact point till I get it back" offense. Trae has much more gifts in terms of shooting but hasn't been much of a positive player for a while now