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Former Detroit Pistons second round pick Tony Mitchell agreed to a contract with the Golden State Warriors, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports.
Forward Tony Mitchell, 37th pick to DET in 2013, has agreed to a free-agent deal with the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 21, 2015
There's no indication yet of any guarantees or if it's just a training camp deal. The safe bet is on the latter, as the Warriors roster is now at 18 and they already have several spots dedicated for young, developmental big men in James McAdoo, Kevon Looney, and Festus Ezeli.
After two seasons in the NBA, the bulk of Mitchell's contributions have been in pre-game dunk vines. But he's been unable for the most part to turn his enormous talents into contributions for his team.
His per-minute numbers as a rookie were off the charts, though in only 79 minutes worth of work. But in larger sample sizes in his D-League work with the Grand Rapids Drive, he was less impressive. Last season he played six games with the Drive, averaging 10.3 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 24.8 minutes per game. Not bad, but also not enough to carve out a future with the Pistons.
Rumors about a low motor and a lack of commitment to improving consistently surrounded Mitchell. In his first chance to show his new coach Stan Van Gundy his potential to be more than just a highlight reel player at last year's Summer League, Mitchell coasted through to average six points and four rebounds per game - generally looking lost and failing to make an impact.
After waiting for several months looking for signs of life out of Mitchell, Van Gundy traded him to the Phoenix Suns for Anthony Tolliver to shore up the Pistons frontcourt in the aftermath of the Josh Smith waiving. A few weeks later, Mitchell was waived by the Suns. He finished the season out in Puerto Rico.
With tremendous leaping ability, prototypical size, and displaying a nice jump shot during his college days, Mitchell has as much talent in his 2013 draft class. Hopefully he can figure out how to start turning that talent into a successful NBA career.
We'll leave you with the highlight of his Pistons tenure, his slam dunk contest that was a nice reminder of how awesome Sheed is:
Now your thoughts.