The Celtics selected Dillon Mitchell with the 40th pick in June's draft after following his development for several years. In the team's June 25 account, basketball operations executive Mike Zarren emphasized Mitchell's perimeter defense and improving passing.
The shooting split explains part of the work ahead. Mitchell made 62.2 percent of his career college attempts inside the arc, but went 11-for-57 from three. Boston's evaluation expressed confidence he could improve that outside shot.
For Celtics viewers, the useful question is how those skills combine on an NBA possession. Watch whether he can defend without conceding an advantage, then make the next pass when the ball reaches him.
Those are areas to evaluate, not a forecast of his rotation role. Boston drafted a prospect whose athletic ability was clear and whose offensive development remained unfinished.
Source: Celtics add athletic, defensive-minded forward Dillon Mitchell with Pick No. 40.
A summer performance to compare
Mitchell supplied an early professional example in Boston's 87-75 Summer League win over Charlotte in July. The league's recap credited him with 24 points on 10-for-20 shooting, six steals, two blocks and eight rebounds. Seven of those rebounds came at the offensive end.
That line gives viewers something concrete to put beside the draft evaluation. It includes the disruptive defensive activity and extra possessions Boston hoped his athleticism could produce. The July recap is a record of one Summer League game, with the usual limits of that setting.
The attached pre-draft tournament video comes from the official March Madness channel and was selected by the Celtics in their evaluation story. Use it as background on the player Boston scouted. College highlights and a summer box score should inform different questions; neither establishes how much he will play in the regular season.
Passing has a statistical foundation
St. John's draft announcement adds a useful measure beyond scoring: Mitchell's three-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio led the Big East. He also finished his college career with 903 rebounds. Those numbers help explain why Boston's interest was not limited to shooting mechanics. Passing decisions and possession recovery were already part of his record before he reached the Celtics, even as his outside shot remained a development project.
