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Ben Simmons vs. Donovan Mitchell
The hotly-contested debate wages on over the two players who battled for Rookie of the Year last season. Last year’s Rookie of the Year vote came down to two choices: eventual winner Ben Simmons, who was given 90 first-place votes by media folk, or runner-up Donovan Mitchell, who was selected first by the remaining 11 voters. (For all you Celtics lovers, let’s be honest: 20-year-old phenom and third-place ROY finisher Jayson Tatum’s status did not rise to star level until he became a 19-points-per-game scorer in the playoffs). We find ourselves in a similar predicament having to choose a winner in this ongoing Simmons-Mitchell debate, as both are in their—ahem—sophomore seasons. It is a shame we cannot just declare a tie because these two 22-yearolds deserve ultimate recognition for putting their franchises on their backs, at a time when both Philly and Utah needed to be carried, and at an age at which each star is still developing his franchise-carrying muscles.
01 Scoring: Mitchell is the straw that stirs the drink in Utah, with the prodigious Jazz scorer putting on a clinic for all to see, whether it be in the regular season where he led Utah in scoring with 20.5 points in 33.4 minutes per game, or in the playoffs, where the team leader again kicked it up a notch, averaging 24.4 points in 37.4 minutes per game. The 6-3, 215-pound Herculean guard mostly did this by getting to the paint off the dribble or pulling up from three-point range, quite often once the middling Jazz offense stalled in the final stretches of the 24-second clock. The muscular Mitchell has made it a personal mission to improve on his 3.8 free-throw-attempts-per-game rate to acquire a more Dwyane Wade-like game, which should be reasonable considering his vast skills in the paint and the added respect he will receive from refs now that he is no longer a rookie. Those in Simmons’ camp will clearly defer this category to Mitchell. Though the 6-10 Sixers point guard showed he could average 16 points in both the regular season and playoffs, even while lacking any range on his jumper, Simmons did so while shooting 96 percent of his shots within 16 feet of the basket. Simmons, a lefty, was 0-for-11 from three-point range (Mitchell was 187-for-550 for 34 percent) and a 56-percent shooter from the free-throw line (Mitchell was 81 percent). To his credit, Simmons doesn’t “shoot your shot,” choosing to abstain from shots he can’t make. But if he does not want to make himself a postseason liability—as exposed by Boston head coach Brad Stevens in the East Semifinals, where Simmons was a series-worst minus-63 in 182 minutes—then the Sixer is going to have to hit an open jumper sometime. Advantage: Mitchell
02 Floor Game: Mitchell is a catalyst in the Jazz offense, averaging 3.7 assists per game, and often handling point guard duties when relieving backcourt mate Ricky Rubio a third of the game at the 1 spot. However, Mitchell is not a full-time quarterback and is nothing close to the floor general that Simmons is. What makes Simmons one of those special players in the League is he is one of a few players—along with LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo—who is a one-man fastbreak, able to grab the rebound, start and lead the break, and then equally finish with authority or set up a teammate. Simmons can grab his own rebound (8.1 per game), dish off his own assist (8.2 per game) and help take a team from 28 to 52 wins while doing so. Unlike a jumpshot, this package of skills is something that is innate. Paired with his size and you can understand the Magic Johnson comparisons. Advantage: Simmons
Donovan Mitchell Guard, 6-3, 215 pounds Utah Jazz G
MPG
PPG
RPG
APG
TOPG
BPG
SPG
FT%
2FG%
3FG%
3sPG
PER
RPM
Simmons
81
33.7
15.8
8.1
8.2
3.4
0.9
1.7
.560
.551
.000
0.0
20.0
+2.89
Mitchell
79
33.4
20.5
3.7
3.7
2.7
0.3
1.5
.805
.502
.340
2.4
16.7
+2.15
Key: G games; MPG minutes per game; PPG points per game; APG assists per game; RPG rebounds per game; TOPG turnovers per game; SPG steals per game; FT% free throw percentage; 2FG% two-point field goal percentage; 3FG% three-point percentage; 3sPG three-pointers per game; PER Player Efficiency Rating; RPM Real Plus-Minus. Source: Basketball-Reference.com 034
