New York native impresses Jazz with rookie campaign

SALT LAKE CITY — Elmsford native Donovan Mitchell — Utah’s first-round pick — has impressed not just Jazz coach Quin Snyder but even Brooklyn’s Kenny Atkinson for afar.

“Good player, as a rookie to step into a role on a good team in the NBA,” Atkinson said Saturday before his Nets lost to the Jazz 114-106 at Vivint Smart Home Arena. “He’s a competitive, competitive guy. I love how he defends. He’s obviously aggressive offensively. He’s just a competitor on both ends of the [floor].”

Mitchell — whose father was a former pro baseball player and is the Mets’ manager of player operations and community outreach — came into Saturday night averaging 12.9 points per game and flashing impressive athleticism. He had a team-high 26 points in Saturday’s win, along with three rebounds, three assists and a block.

However, what has left the biggest impression on Snyder has been the rookie’s drive.

“His competitive spirit is something you can’t teach,” Snyder said. “There’s certain things you can’t teach. You can try to train them and improve them, but that’s been there from the first day. Some of the plays that’re just a function of experience, he’s going to continue to learn how to make them and learn how to make them within a system, ‘This is how we guard this, this is how we do this.’

“We’ve put a lot on him, and he’s capable of handling it. But I don’t think he came into the year thinking he’d be playing as many minutes at the point as he’s playing. He’s matched up on Goran Dragic. He’s chasing JJ Reddick off screens, which he hasn’t done that before. He’s playing pickand-roll defense on the point of attack, which he hasn’t done a lot of before because he’s been more off the ball. So there are a lot of situations that are new to him.”