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Court Vision: Donovan Mitchell's sophomore slump is officially over

Andrew D. Bernstein / National Basketball Association / Getty

Welcome to Court Vision, a weekly video-breakdown column on emerging trends around the NBA that you might have missed.

The re-emergence of Donovan Mitchell

The Utah Jazz have won nine of their last 11 thanks in large part to Mitchell averaging 29.2 points over that span.

Mitchell was stuck in a funk for the early portion of the season. Opposing defenses keyed in on him in response to his sensational rookie campaign and the sophomore struggled to adjust. He was either forcing the issue or overthinking possessions.

His shooting percentages hovered around 40 percent from the field and 29 percent from deep as recently as New Year's Day. He averaged 18 field-goal attempts against just three assists per game, including one particularly embarrassing outing against the Philadelphia 76ers during which he took 35 shots with zero assists. In short: Mitchell was turning into the second coming of Andrew Wiggins.

The solution was to create more opportunities for the sophomore to get downhill toward the basket. He's averaging a league-leading 21.5 drives per game over the 11-game stretch - up from 14.2 drives in the 34 games prior - which is directly translating to 12.6 points every night.

Mitchell has been particularly effective going left off the high screen. It's a counterintuitive approach, but driving left allows him to cut to the middle where he switches back to his preferred right hand. Mitchell is able to pin his opponent behind him before attacking the second defender. If that big chooses to sit back to protect the basket, the 22-year-old gets an open look at his nifty push shot, and if the big steps up, Mitchell has the burst to get around him and finish at the hoop:

Courtesy: NBA League Pass

The next step in Mitchell's development is to learn the dark art of creating contact. All the best drivers in the game - James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, and Russell Westbrook come to mind - supplement their scoring by pulling tricks to get to the free-throw line. A prolific slasher like Mitchell should be living at the line given how frequently he gets inside the paint, but he's averaging only 4.6 attempts per game thus far.

Justise Winslow becoming a bully

There's always been a sense Winslow has more to offer. He entered the league with a tremendous pedigree, having won an NCAA national title as a freshman with Duke, and comparisons were immediately made to Ron Artest or even Kawhi Leonard.

He's yet to live up to those lofty expectations. Winslow is still very much a work in progress in his fourth season. He shows enough flashes of greatness to inspire hope, but he also hasn't found a consistent role. Winslow does so many things well but doesn't quite excel at anything. It's not even clear at this point what position he should play.

Perhaps point forward is his calling. Winslow has assumed more playmaking duties since starting point guard Goran Dragic underwent knee surgery, and is averaging 14.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists since the start of December while leading the Miami Heat in plus-minus.

Having the ball in his hands has allowed Winslow to flourish as a driver. When he played off the ball, the 22-year-old would try to burst to the basket after the catch, which led to poor results around the hoop because he was rushing. Now that he's handling the rock, Winslow can afford to be more methodical in his approach.

Slowing down has allowed Winslow to weaponize his bulk. The 6-foot-8 forward is purposely slowing down on his drives, knocking defenders off-balance before getting to his preferred left hand.

Courtesy: NBA League Pass

Winslow has been an awful finisher for most of his career but has bumped his average on shots within the restricted area to 65.3 percent since shifting to a point forward role.

Trae Young has every pass in the book

It's not Young's fault that Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk passed up a generational talent in Luka Doncic.

Young is clearly the inferior player, but the one area in which he's better than Doncic is playmaking. Young can throw just about every pass in the book - he can thread the needle with a pocket pass, lead the rolling big man to the basket with a soft lob, is a quick thinker in transition, and he can whip the cross-court feed to the weak-side corner.

Moreover, Young has an innate gift for throwing opponents off the scent with subtle fakes. Watch how he gets the defender to close out to the wing before sliding the pass to the corner:

Courtesy: NBA League Pass

DeMarcus Cousins gives Warriors another dimension

The Golden State Warriors became even more unfair with the debut of Cousins.

Golden State was always lacking at the center spot. Andrew Bogut was a great screener and a clever passer but couldn't shoot. Marreese Speights could stretch the floor but was a defensive liability. Otherwise, the Warriors have mostly used rookies who don't know how to play or veterans who can barely move.

But now, they have Cousins, who does everything the Warriors have ever wanted from the five spot. He dominates the defensive glass, is an unselfish passer, can score in the post, and can shoot it from deep.

Take this simple curl play for example. The Los Angeles Clippers did the right thing by chasing Klay Thompson off the 3-point line while also tagging his cut through the paint to deny an open layup. Both defenders followed Thompson on the play, which would have been a perfectly acceptable strategy if it was still Kevon Looney or Jordan Bell setting the screen.

Courtesy: NBA League Pass

But now, it's a two-man game involving Cousins, and there's just no right way to defend it. If the defense wants to stop Thompson, 36 percent 3-point shooter Cousins is getting a wide-open look from deep. Close out on Cousins and it's likely an easy basket for Thompson. And if the defense switches, you either have a center chasing Thompson around another screen, or Cousins taking a wing player into the post.

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