\n
\nCLEVELAND: From the moment he arrived, Donovan Mitchell received the kind of love once reserved in this city for his basketball idol.<\/p>\n
\nThe New York kid, who grew up cheering for Cleveland from afar while wondering what it was like to be LeBron James, got his first taste.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBlew me away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nTwo weeks after being acquired from Utah in a trade that stunned the NBA and blindsided the three-time All-Star guard while he was playing golf, Mitchell received a warm welcome while being introduced Wednesday by the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n
\nFor months, Mitchell heard the trade rumors and convinced himself he was headed to the Knicks, his hometown team. It would have been ideal, reuniting with family and again being near his mom, Nicole.<\/p>\n
\nInstead, he landed in Cleveland as the newest piece for the rising Cavaliers, who doubled their win total last season before barely missing the playoffs. They don\u2019t figure to again with the 26-year-old.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt would have been nice,\u201d Mitchell said of the homecoming that didn\u2019t happen. \u201cBut for me, once I found out I got traded and what we\u2019re going into, that trumped everything. I\u2019m truly excited to be here, be part of this group, be part of this city.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCleveland received him with open arms.<\/p>\n
\nThe team invited fans to greet Mitchell when he touched down at Burke Lakefront Airport, and he made a good impression by stepping out of a van wearing a Cavs hooded sweatshirt and Browns baseball cap.<\/p>\n
\nFrom there, Mitchell was greeted by team employees at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, most of whom then joined an introductory news conference that felt like a late-night TV talk show, minus the band.<\/p>\n
\nFor Mitchell, who averaged 23.9 points in five seasons with the Jazz, Cleveland has always been sort of a second home. Like many kids, he was enamored with James.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI was a LeBron fan, but I was a Cleveland fan. My man\u2019s over there saying Cleveland Cavaliers; I was saying that at the house,\u201d he said, pointing toward arena host Ahmaad Crump. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how life comes full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMitchell has already begun developing on-court chemistry with his new teammates during workouts. All-Star backcourt mate Darius Garland showed his support by sitting in the front row at the news conference along with forward Caris LeVert.<\/p>\n
\nThe basketball will be a work in progress, and there are no guarantees the Cavs will ascend to contender status immediately. It\u2019s long season filled with ups, downs, wins, losses and surprises.<\/p>\n
\nMitchell knows that better than anyone. He was on a talented Utah team that never quite got over the hump, so he\u2019s a realist when it comes to expectations.<\/p>\n
\nStill, he knows the Cavs have plenty of potential.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThere are going to be expectations, there\u2019s going to be noise, but how can we be the best team we can be?\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt\u2019s five-on-five basketball. Doesn\u2019t matter how many cameras or how many people are watching. It\u2019s five-on-five basketball and just do the little things \u2014 continue to grind, continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMitchell\u2019s comments brought a smile from Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who said he and his staff were meeting about the upcoming season when general manager Koby Altman pulled off the trade.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt was kind of a curveball when it happened,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cWe had had our coaches\u2019 retreat and put a plan in place, so we had to make some changes. But we\u2019ll make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThere will certainly be adjustments ahead for Mitchell. But after playing in Utah, he\u2019s not worried about Cleveland\u2019s dreaded winter.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI love the cold, to be honest,\u201d he said. \u201cI think I dress better in the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAnd if his welcome was any indication, he\u2019s a perfect fit in Cleveland. He\u2019s already learned the Cavs\u2019 fan base stretches well outside Ohio\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how many Cleveland fans there are in America and in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, once I got traded, everywhere people were walking and they were like, \u2018I\u2019m a Cleveland fan, I\u2019m a Cleveland fan.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Wow, I had no idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMitchell should have known. After all, he\u2019s pulled for the Cavs since he could first dribble a ball. When James left Cleveland for Miami in 2010, making his nationally televised \u201cDecision\u201d announcement at a Boys and Girls Club in Connecticut, Mitchell was there in person.<\/p>\n
\nHe also remembered James\u2019 return and making good on his promise to deliver Cleveland a championship.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat was a special moment,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe was screaming and I was in my dorm room in Louisville screaming in front of my friends who bet against him or whatever. To be able to see that and now to be part of this organization and a city that really, truly love their team is awesome.\u201d
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND: From the moment he arrived, Donovan Mitchell received the kind of love once reserved in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n
Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-14T23:56:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/gulftimesuae-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"452\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"111\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2022-09-14T23:56:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":452,"height":111,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/gulftimesuae-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=3525"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut","datePublished":"2022-09-14T23:56:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=3525"},"wordCount":837,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=3525","url":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport","name":"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-09-14T23:56:55+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2162841\/sport#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Haaland haunts Dortmund as Man City triumph but Chelsea held on Potter debut"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}