Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell drives past Golden State Warriors guard Damion Lee (1) at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — With time to have two full practice sessions, the Utah Jazz (15-11) are doing their best to work on elements of their game that can help them play better and more consistently. Among those elements is getting back on defense after a turnover or missed shot. During the past 10 games, transition defense has been a glaring issue that has cost the Jazz in tangible ways and contributed to some losses and blown leads over the last few weeks.
Guard Donovan Mitchell said having time to work on issues like defense and communication will eventually translate into better play.
“Obviously there are times where we have our faults but I think we’re improving,” he said. “The biggest thing is just improving our communication and having each other’s backs, it’s continuing to trust (each other).”
“They preach in baseball when playing the outfield your first two steps are (going) back. It’s basically the same thing here (with) transition defense, your first two steps have to be back so that way you’re prepared to run and get back and talk and communicate,” Mitchell added.
Besides working on team issues, Mitchell said he is also working on improving his individual play — both mentally and physically. One element is maintaining his dribble on offense longer rather than utilizing his athleticism so much trying to avoid defenders.
“With me having jumped so much from my past two years in the league, everybody’s expecting that,” he explained. “You never know what opens up from keeping your dribble alive on the scoring end as well. It helps you as far as being able to distribute as well as being able to make the shots easier, as opposed to having to try and jump around and through and over people.”
He noted that previous players who enjoyed great careers adjusted their play to enhance their longevity and reduce wear and tear on their bodies.
“One of the things I’m learning as far as working with lot of the coaches (is) just trying to be able to preserve my body in that way,” Mitchell said. “I look at a guy like Dwyane Wade, who learned how to post up at an early age — you saw how many years it prolonged his career with his knee injuries and whatnot. Not saying I’m going to be posting up by next year but just being able to do little things that make it easier on my body and make it easy for me to continue to go out there day by day and then when I need to go up there and use my athleticism.”
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