Ajay Mitchell, a new star is born.
Ajay Mitchell
24 points 10 assist 4 rebounds 3 stls and no turnovers. Elite talent discovered by Sam Presti.
Ajay reminds me of a Jalen Brunson. He can get up shots without much effort.
He’s way better defensively than Jalen though.
It’s not just “oh you can’t hunt him,” it’s “let’s actually have him guard Reaves.”
If he could reach Brunson’s level of offense he would be an MVP candidate.
To be fair, most players at a Brunson level of offense could be MVP candidates
But not Brunson himself…
He could be with the right context. Theres just quite a few players who are much better than him offensively that it would take quite a bit to get a Brunson level MVP candidate (like a tier 2⁄3 candidate) to win.
Many have said that.
I would compare him to a guy like Jalen Brunson myself.
I also would say the same of what you said.
he does it so much it’s actually kind of nuts. like I’ve never seen a player consistently layup off the top of the glass, like waaayyyyyy tf up there.
it’s like Dort’s moonball, just way closer to the hoop.
Curry?
honestly yeah. it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Ajay has modeled some of his game after Curry. he and McCain literally grew up during the Warriors’ dominance and I see flashes of Curry in both of them.
He pays for those drives, or maybe it seems like he should. Dude falls in a way that would cripple me like five times a game and just gets up and keeps going lol
Yep, I’ve been making the Jalen Brunson comp since his 25th game in his rookie season. Dude is a straight hooper and came NBA ready immediately. Insane that he was a second round pick - he’s a top 5 player in his draft lol
But hes 10x the defender . Bro is a star no doubt
I find that he more or less resembles a Jalen Brunson type.
Brunson and very young Harden. I beg we don’t make that mistake. We need all hands on deck going forward to deal with the 👽
And is on 3 mill a year lol
I dont believe in the hype on this guy.
He’s surrounded by way more talented players than him, allowing him to have open and easy shots and passes.
Put this guy on the Wizards or Nets and he’s getting doubled every night.
I think most second year point guards would struggle playing through a double team.
A player that has to be doubled every night is a star
Smoking that copium
You don’t believe in the hype, but you think he - a second year, second round player – would be double teamed if he was the lead player on a team?
I think the only possible real knock on him at the moment is that he’s getting these numbers off against some of the Lakers’ god awful defenders
How has Mitchell done against competent defenses?
Admittedly, I haven’t seen a lot of him—he’s looked great this series. But some of that seems circumstantial because the Lakers have horrible perimeter defense and no center deterring his drives to the basket
If he was healthier this year he would have been the consensus 6MOY. He’s been consistently great all season long. Honestly he was pretty great as a rookie last year too
The only knock on him so far is health. He missed the entire second half of his rookie year and was out a couple months this year. If we can keep him around for a couple full seasons, sky is the limit for him.
He’s been good all year. He’s been really important as a second ball handler because Dub missed most of the year. He showed a lot of flashes last year, but I think the real surprise has actually been his defense. That’s why he gets the starting nod over some of the other guys when we don’t have the full five. Because he does it on both ends and makes offense easier on SGA.
Boy you dumb as hell
Nah bro with more usage his game deffo seems more finesse and skill, will deffo become a star.
lol bet you buy into the Reaves hype though
What are you smoking
To be fair, no one in your life has believed in the hype around you either.
You thought this would get upvoted ?
He just cooked your team, bud.
people say every single player including sga is only good bc of their teammates LMAO. if everyone is only good bc of their teammates basically the entire team are top 3⁄4 offensive option talent or all defense level talent
He averaged 15 ppg on 36% FG vs the Suns.
This series he’s going up against Reaves or any of the other lakers bbq of his choice bc Shai is the primary focus on defense and Lakers are going all out energy wise on him.
Maybe slow down a bit yall lol. Hes got Spurs (or Wolves) defenders next.
he was coming back from injury
It’s body of work at this point. He’s been impressive all season and is just getting better. While you’re right that he is having an easier time right now, he’s shows week in and week out that he’s very likely a star ascending.
It’s funny watching people downplay him who clearly haven’t seen him play a single game until this series. He didn’t get drafted last week lmao
This is it tbf. People just see this guy popping off and are like: look at Presti go, another rotation guy having a good series.
Not realising that Ajay Mitchell is him. Played his way into the rotation as a second round drafted rookie in a big way before an injury that took him out for most of the season. Year 2, comes in and somehow has made a big leap on top of that
He played the spurs only once (cup game) and his presence wasn’t felt. Guards who rely heavily on drives cannot be efficient against Wemby. They just couldn’t.
Yeah next round isn’t gonna look good if the Spurs make it through
yeah unfortunately they got dawgs
He’s a second year player, man. He also was off the bench until Jdub got injured.
He had a notably bad game in the first round that definitely tanked his FG%. I think he was like 5⁄20.
What Austin Reaves as primary defender does to people.
Nah Mitchell has been balling all season
He’s been like that all season.
As soon as he saw he had Reaves in a one on one tonight he just put the foot down and blew by him.
Why are yall having instead of just giving him credit lmfao
Sounds like if the dude is getting smoked by a 2nd year 2nd round pick then that guy maybe should be on a minimum contract.
Does that say 0 turnovers?
I really hope he develops into an MVP caliber player
on another team maybe lol
Another you say
Luka with Brunson 2.0 would be poetic. LA can get their revenge on OKC if they can get MJ Washington
Step 1 is to not pay AR tho
The bitter truth a lot of us are having a hard time swallowing because he’s a homegrown talent.
Why tf would you want that
With owners not giving him a max and getting traded to the Rockets
I think Presti learned that lesson
I really like him, but no offense to lakers, this series is not that competitive.
If he keeps this up in the next series, then I’m a believer
How many Thunder games did you watch before April?
Playoffs are a different game all together.
We’ll see soon how he fairs in the most competitive series yet (including last year playoffs imo).
Did you know he was hurt much of last season?
Yes. I do watch the thunders, but I need to see him in a tough playoff series. Like I said I like the dude.
So you understand that this is largely the role he would occupy if healthy. Dub being out helps as we need more ball handling.
How about you just watch the games and let time tell us?
rhetorical
He’s right though.
He was already playing good early into the season. Am I missing something?
Casuals have started watching. He’s been so good all year
He was good last year too but got injured
If the Thunder move off Lu Dort, can Ajay be the starting point guard and SGA play shooting guard?
This would be ideal, though conventional roles wouldn’t really matter considering all of SGA/Ajay/Dub can bring the ball up and run the offense. Throw the double bigs out there with them and that is the most complete starting 5 that OKC has ever thrown out
Nah man, if Ajay were to move into the starting lineup it would be reversed, much like it is now. As good as SGA is, he’s not a prolific off ball player. Rarely cuts, if he does it’s usually when he’s being denied the ball. And not a great off the pass shooter, I’m much more confident in his step back 3 with a hand in his face then a wide open shot off a dish lol. In all honestly, I would see Caso moving into the starting spot for defensive to offset the three main offensive/ball handlers in SGA, JDub, and Ajay.
His catch and shoot numbers were off the chart when he played with cp3.
Shai doesn’t get wide open 3s because he doesn’t have a real playmaker to play off of.
I would wait a bit. Not because of anything he’s done, but the system is incredible. Every star player should be able to stand on their own.
dafuq, presti is a talent founding machine and he still got jared mccain on factory floor and another lottery pick this summer…
Flops like a fish, product of the system
Really glad thr raptors drafted Mogbo instead of him
3 year 8 million contract. That is all folks!!!
I thought he was going to win 6MOY until he got injured for a stretch. He already broke out during the regular season.
He’s the new guy from the last….. warriors run that looked promising, then got a big contract eventually and now lives in basketball purgatory.
Or a thunder lifer. We’ll see if he calls Dort an expensive backpack.
His game is really simple, so simple that it’s hard to imagine that he’ll be an all star calibre player
How does everyone they trade for and draft become a difference maker but my team can’t get out of the play in and continually makes bad decisions.
I hate his foul baiting but Shai really is that special and the defense on this team allows OKC’s draft picks/project players (Ajay, Cason, McCain, etc.) to shine without having to be a complete playoff level player yet.
For example, think about how well some of the Wizards good players (Sarr, Kyshawn) or the Jazz’s young players (Keyonte) would look on the Thunder where they’re surrounded by other players who can dribble, pass, and shoot well for their position. If they were on the Thunder league would be even more scared of the dominance of this team.
MIP
Flair up, pussy
He’s an All Star-level talent which is criminal he ended up with us lol
lol he not gonna do shit against spurs.