Swing Skills: Can Dillon Mitchell Improve Right-Handed Finishing?

One of the better wings that should be entering the 2023 NBA Draft this summer is Texas’ Dillon Mitchell. He’s got the upside to go in the lottery, especially if he works on just a few key things.

One of those areas of improvement is 3-point shooting. To this point, Mitchell hasn’t proven to be confident taking shots from the perimeter on high volume. Rather, he’s a threat near the rim, using his explosiveness and athleticism to finish lobs and power through defenders in the paint.

While Mitchell does dunk a high percentage of his shot attempts, he’s got a lot of work to do with his layup package. Being a natural lefty, he often makes shots more difficult than they need to be by avoiding finishing right.

Whether that’s on a drive to the rim or catching the ball in the paint and going up for a shot, Mitchell rarely shoots with his right hand, even when that would increase his chances of converting and not have the shot altered. Furthermore, there’s times in which he could drive right for an easy layup, but makes the shot more difficult by finding a way to try to finish left.

To be fair, he still is pretty efficient even in these scenarios using his left, but as the level of competition and defense rises at the college and then the NBA level, leveraging his right hand will become more of a necessity.