The former five-star prospect already supplies defensive flexibility and rim finishing. Now, he’ll try to fine tune his jumper with the Tigers.
Is this what you might call a hot streak?
Quickly after landing two important guards from the transfer portal, in Tony Perkins and Marques Warrick, Dennis Gates went out and secured the biggest fish to date in Duke transfer Mark Mitchell. If you’re a RockM+ subscriber, you probably knew about this last Friday! Now it’s #TiptonConfirmed:
A former McDonald’s All American, Kansas City, Kansas native, and top target for Cuonzo Martin in the 2022 recruiting class, Mitchell chose Duke and started all but one game in his two seasons in Durham. Now he’ll slide into the starting lineup for Missouri and try to help give Dennis Gates the bounce back season he needs after last season.
Let’s Meet Mark Mitchell
- From: Kansas City, Kan.
- Former School: Duke
- Position: Hybrid
- Ht/Wt: 6-9/232
- 247Composite Ranking: 0.9300 (Transfer)
- On3 Sports Ranking: 93.0 (Transfer)
- EvanMiya’s Forecasted BPR: 6.46
- Interest to note: NA
The first order of business is obvious: Reminding ourselves Mark Mitchell is a good basketball player.
Looking back over Mitchell’s short career can cloud that observation. A top-20 prospect out of high school, Mitchell’s choice to attend a one-and-done factory like Duke set an incredibly high benchmark for success. Mitchell played on the wing and assembled a solid body of work, averaging around nine points and four rebounds while playing 27 minutes a night.
However, a sophomore breakout never quite came to pass.
Mind you, Mitchell still averaged roughly 12 points and six boards per game on 54.0 percent shooting. Defensively, he graded out in the 89th percentile nationally, per Synergy. And he did this while sliding down a positional slot to play the bulk of his minutes at the four on a team that reached the Elite Eight.
Yet Mitchell’s shooting off the catch slumped to 30 percent, and he occupied a role in the Blue Devil’s system that rarely put him on the ball to create. You could also critique his rim finishing after cutting. And in his last 10 games against teams that finished in the top 100 of KenPom, Mitchel posted just 0.852 points per possession, a level of efficiency close to the Division-I median.
It’s hard for players with Mitchell’s profile to jump to the NBA ranks, and at Duke, it’s virtually a guarantee another elite recruit is coming for your minutes. With Cooper Flagg set to arrive, Mitchell became redundant. And because of the path he chose, draftniks and fans frame your development as stalled. So now, he’s looking to restart the clock that ran out in Durham.
Are there facets of his game that require improvement? Sure. However, plugging Mitchell into the rotation addresses several areas the Tigers need to resolve this offseason.
For starters, Mitchell is an elite off-ball defender. Per Synergy, he ranked in the 90th percentile or higher for guarding spot-ups over two campaigns with the Blue Devils. Last season, he only allowed shooters to connect at a 25.3 percent clip shooting off the catch.
Mitchell’s not just acutely aware of where his man is on the floor. He rotates on time in the shell to be there on the catch. And while he gets caught out at times rotating to the middle of the floor, he can cover ground, close out under control, and use his length to contest on skips and kickouts.
Being on time and under control keeps Mitchell on balance and reactive if his man drives the closeout. But watch how Mitchell handles those attacks. He sticks to the hip of the dribbler to usher them away from their preferred line of attack and uses his length to complicate finishing angles. And if a driver gets too deep, Mitchell’s timing off the floor is good enough to swat a shot.
That methodology is the same one the Tigers employed last season – only it is less effective when used by Sean East II, Nick Honor, or Anthony Robinson II. If ability translates, the Tigers have a plug-and-play defender to throw at the elite wings they see each night in the SEC.
But what stands out is how comfortably Mitchell navigates ball screens. Duke’s coverages had big man Kyle Filipowksi play a bit closer to the level while trusting Mitchell to fight over the top quickly. Mitchell obliged. Unable to drive at a big or hit a pocket pass, ball handlers settled for dribble 3s – shots Mitchell could complicate with his wingspan.
Missouri’s incoming freshmen class is replete with players with the body types, athleticism, and tenacity to make a dent defensively. Aidan Shaw might also take another step toward becoming a terrifying switch defender. But we’ve seen Mitchell executing the tasks this scheme demands – and we have two seasons of evidence.
That’s what the Tigers get out of this deal. What’s in it for Mark? Presumably, it’s an offensive role that doesn’t box him into rim-finishing alone. That said, he can be a potent presence when occupying the corner to take feeds on interior passes from a big like Filipowski or dump-offs out of pick-and-rolls.
There were possessions where he showed comfort driving the ball with his right hand off the catch. Duke would also occasionally deploy him in empty-side pick-and-rolls, where there wasn’t a help defender to tag him as a roller.
Figuring out those solutions became imperative because it’s easy to identify Mitchell’s swing skill: Can he knock down jumpers at a respectable clip? The issue isn’t just a matter of shooting percentages. Mitchell only hoisted 40 catch-and-shoot attempts last season, barely one per game.
Moreover, the clips above demonstrate that Mitchell has more than a little mechanical work waiting for him. He might be shot-ready on a catch, but his knee bend starts afterward. Mitchell’s shot pocket is low, starting close around his hip. His shot motion is up and down, but it’s not fluid. A pronounced hitch on the release results in a flat ball coming off his hand.
It’s not quite a teardown, but Mitchell had better steel himself for a summer in the gym, correcting issues that got worse from his freshman to sophomore season.
Assuming the rest of the offseason unfolds the way MU intends, its roster will also have other capable shooters at its disposal: Tamar Bates, Jacob Crews and Caleb Grill. Should Mitchell find success, it’ll only buttress what — for now — projects as an adequate supply.
MU entered portal season needing to secure multiple starter that fit a perky pace and an assertive defensive scheme. At a minimum, Mitchell ticks those boxes, and even if his role only modestly expands on offense, he’s shown consistent output at a winning program. He also plays a position that — outside of Kobe Brown’s last two season — has been a conundrum for the Tigers.