Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
After failing the Heat’s preseason conditioning test last year, Mitchell revealed this week that team president Pat Riley told him, in May, that he needs to reduce his body fat this season. “The crazy thing,” Davion Mitchell said on the “Deuce and Mo” podcast, “is him and Spo [Erik Spoelstra] didn’t say anything about basketball at the end of the year, when you have your exit meeting, there was no basketball [talk]. It was ‘get your weight down. Be in shape. That’s all we want.’ This is Heat culture to the T.” According to Mitchell, Riley told him bluntly: “We understand the situation but this year, we’ve got to get you back down.” Mitchell listened; he said he has lost “a lot” of weight.
The Heat’s conditioning test is considered among the most daunting in the league. With most teams, “you have to run up the court three times” in one minute, Mitchell said. “Miami does it five times. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. You’ve got to run it in one minute and you only have a two-minute break. You have to do it five times. “When I ran last year, I didn’t even pass. I wasn’t even there [training at Kaseya Center in the weeks prior]. I just had a kid. I just had my daughter, and I literally had to get on a red eye and go the gym. It was tough last year.”
Mitchell further elaborated during his appearance on the Sacramento-based podcast. “The beginning of the year last year, I was going through a lot mentally,” he said. “Having a kid. Honestly, I didn’t feel I was in the best shape at the beginning of the year last year. Spo understood that and respected everything I do. He knows how I work hard. “It was a time that I was so messed up in the summertime, there were times in camp I didn’t feel like myself. I was super quiet, not even myself. “I respected [Spoelstra] because he put me out there and made me grow as a player. He really believed in me. I was going through so much mentally, it was hard to have confidence in everything I was doing. It wasn’t basketball; it was life. People don’t understand we’re still human.”
Speaking of his interactions with Antetokounmpo — including his visit to Greece for a basketball and bonding session — Mitchell said: “You can see why he became MVP. The mentality is so different. All he wants to do is win. Even going to dinner with him and having a conversation with him, it’s winning about everything, not just basketball — life in general. Everything he’s trying to be the best he can be at. When you have someone on your team it’s hard to even lose. When you have so many people with a mentality like that, it’s going to be fun.”
Mitchell also spoke of the tantalizing defensive possibilities with a roster featuring Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and himself. “People knew where to put Bam because they know how good he is defensively,” Mitchell said. “But now they have [to deal with] Giannis too? Where are they going to put him? I can pick somebody out of bounds, and if they blow by me, I know someone will have my back. “They want to win Defensive Player of the Year too just as much as we do. We have this competitive spirit, where, ‘I’m trying to win Defensive Player of the Year’ and ‘I’m trying to win Defensive Player of the Year.’ “We have three, really four [great defenders], with Wiggs. There are some matchups he guards the best player. Sometimes I do. I’ve got shifty, quicker guys. He’s got guys who are much taller, get to their spots. The defense is going to be amazing. I can’t wait.”
Advertisement
Davion Mitchell: "I would say the beginning of the year of last year, I just wasn't, I was going through a lot mentally, just having a kid, it was a lot going on. And I didn't honestly, I didn't even feel like I was in the best shape the beginning of the year last year. But one thing I did like is like Spo, like he understood that and he like, he respected everything that I do because he know I work hard. People know that I work, but it was a time and the moment where like mentally I was so messed up last year in the summertime that it was kind of hard for me to just be myself even in training camp. There is times in training camp but I didn't even feel like myself. I was just super quiet, I just really wasn't myself. But I respected him because like he still put me out there and he kind of made me like grow. Like he was like made me grow as a player and I was like, I am doing these things and he know I am not really confident so he kind of made me confident in a way. He believed in me, I am like, oh snap my coach really believing in me, like I can really just believe in myself."
Davion Mitchell: "I would say the intimidating part was that the end of the year you go in and Pat Riley and you talk to him. And every single time I have been like at the end of the year, we go in there like I just feel like my heart just like it is like started pumping fast. I don't know what it is, I don't know why, I don't know what it is, but it is just like all right like, but when I get in there I talk to him, like he is actually like one of the coolest guys ever, you know what I am saying? Like he will really talk about anything with you, you know what I am saying? And that is what I love about it. But I think the the Heat culture thing, when it came from when he when we first met, when we first sat down and talked and he is just talking about my body fat, all right we got to get you down, got to get you down. That literally that was the first conversation. Like we got to get you down and even this like after this season he was like all right, like last year we understand the situation, but this year we got to get you back down. Like you got to get to a certain percentage."
Heat Central: Donovan Mitchell believes this Heat team adding Giannis and Klay Thompson will be a dangerous team: “All he (Klay) gotta do is stand right there because Giannis has so much gravity. If you help on Giannis, who you gonna help off of? That’s what makes them dangerous. They also got Davion, Wiggins, Bam, Larsson. And they got Spo. He’s a great coach. — Klay is a top 5 shooter ever!”
Heat Central: Norman Powell believes the Heat got WAY BETTER with the Giannis trade: “Anytime you get a generational talent like that it automatically puts you into contention. He’s a generational player… They got some dawgs. Shoutout my man D Mitch. Off night and Bam. They gonna be good. I’m excited to see how it all comes together. They signed Klay. That’s a good pickup for them. They made some good moves”
Heat Central: Norman Powell says Davion Mitchell is one of the hardest working teammates he’s EVER had: “I’ve been around some great players. Dame is a good one. Being around Davion, Davion genuinely loves basketball. Seeing how much he pours into the game every single day. Davion was the one person I seen that I say ‘ok, this guy works out like me.’ He’s committed to the grind.”
Advertisement
NBA Trade Machine: Kyrie Irving was involved in 3.6% of all trades built on HoopsMatic over the past 24 hours. Of those, his top destinations were Miami (24.1%), Boston (14.8%), and Orlando (13.0%). Players traded for him most often: Davion Mitchell (16.7%), Dru Smith (16.7%), and Nikola Jovic (14.8%).
Heat Central: Davion Mitchell describes what makes a ‘perfect basketball’ “In a way to what I call it, They gotta have a heart. So like, this ball feels amazing, so this one has a heart. This one is old, so like, that really don’t got no heart.”
Despite going through daily workouts that often begin at sunrise and even continue in the evening hours this offseason, Mitchell does find time to rest. “I get my sleep and everything,” Mitchell said while making an appearance on Thursday at the Heat’s annual back-to-school shopping spree at a Miami Walmart. “People just see the workouts. But I get my eight hours. I’m staying on that. I eat right. I think people just see the work and think I’m working all day. That’s not what it is.”
This busy offseason workout schedule is nothing new for Mitchell, though. It’s something that he says has been a part of his summer plan since being drafted by the Sacramento Kings with the ninth overall pick in 2021. “I think that people notice it now because I play in a bigger market,” said Mitchell, who has become known for carrying a basketball with him everywhere he goes. “I’ve been doing it since I first got in the league. But I think it gets noticed more, obviously, playing in a bigger market, honestly. “
