The Cleveland Cavaliers had a 64-18 regular season record last campaign and finished 1st in the Eastern Conference. Led by Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers are now looking to emerge as title contenders in what is Kenny Atkinson’s second season with the franchise.
And Donovan Mitchell is already out here talking about the sacrifices he is willing to make for this team, revealing that his new coach has challenged him to help other players reach his level as well.
“Everybody wants a sacrifice until it’s your turn. Everybody wants to sacrifice until it’s your turn. What about, you know, look in the mirror? And I think Kenny was like, hey, you are here. We got a mixture, we get guys up here too, and that’s empowering to me,” he explained while speaking in a SiriusXM interview.
Mitchell revealed that Atkinson wanted him to not just focus on his own game, but ensure that he is “empowering” his teammates as well.
“I don’t mean, like obviously, when I have the ball in my hands I can score more but like, putting guys at that level where it is empowerment, you know having, look in the mirror and say, ‘how can I get others better?’ That was the next jump for me and he was really challenging me on that,” Mitchell said.
The Cavaliers’ talisman averaged 24 points, five assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last season. However, the challenge now appears to be bringing his teammate to similar levels.
“You know I appreciate that from a coaching standpoint from like, ‘hey, we already know what you can do. Let’s bring everybody to this point, to this level because no other person has done it by themselves in this league at all. You need to continue to find ways to get everybody to get the best out of everybody. And that was my sacrifice in a sense,” Mitchell explained.
The 29-year-old explained how his goal was to win a championship, not simply to average “30 points in my career” and “then go home and that’s it.” He claimed that he understands this approach may sometimes lead to reduced minutes and not allow him to score as many as points as he can.
However, Spida is “cool” with those possibility because at the end of the day, winning the championship remains the sole goal.
