Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell has always been driven by criticism.
The star entered the NBA with a chip on his shoulder after the Utah Jazz selected him 13th overall in the 2017 Draft. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Ben Simmons. He’s heard plenty of things about his career and play style in the seven years he’s been in the league.
He used the noise he got to push himself to be better and improve his play. The reward for his drive was a massive contract that bagged him a lucrative $150 million deal that would see him play a lot of his peak years with the Cavs.
While the Cavaliers are focused on creating the best team they could to help him make the NBA Finals, he’s taking his time and enjoying his break. He even talked about one particular doubter who helped him improve.
Cleveland Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell credits Stephen A. Smith’s criticism as his motivation to improve
In a recent appearance on the MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME podcast, he talked about the moment he figured out he made it in the league. He highlighted SAS’s trash talking of his game as an indicator that he’s headed in the right direction.
Per Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann:
“And when people started talking sh*t about, ‘Oh, he not that good,’ and I overcame that little hump, that’s when I was like, ‘Alright, bet. I belong,” Mitchell said. “Because they only doing’ that — they not gonna talk sh*t, like you said, about the last guy on the bench.”
“I realized, like, oh, you got the Stephen A. Smiths talking about, ‘Oh, he can be this. He can be that.’ And then you start struggling then it’s like, ‘Oh, he’s not this. He’s not that.’ That’s when I was like, ‘Alright, bet.’ You overcome that. You start becoming better,” Mitchell said.
He’s taken his words to heart as he’s now one of the best players in the NBA. His most recent campaign with the Cleveland Cavaliers saw him average 26.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.8 steals a game.
You can count on Mitchell to stamp Smith’s and other people’s criticisms of him on a mental corkboard and use them to help him perform better in games and training.
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