A Mad Men guide to the 2018-19 NBA Season

“You’re good. Get better. Stop asking for things.” — Utah Jazz

When I look at Donovan Mitchell, I see a guy who’s punching above his weight, who’s already exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations, and who carried a team no one saw coming to a place few would have guessed they’d end up.

So yeah…when I look at him, I see Peggy Olson.

Olson, far more than anyone except Don, carries the show. She is vital to its success, as much as its lead, and in some ways more so. She is a dose of coffee injected into the drunken orgy taking place around her. Without Peggy, things would be far, far less interesting.

That was Mitchell to the 2017-18 NBA season. No one was ever going to beat the Warriors last year, and every major player storyline we followed was either tired (Russ), annoying (Kawhi) or both (anything involving the Cavs). The kid from Louisville, meanwhile, didn’t care about what he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He didn’t care that at 19-28, Utah’s season was supposed to be over. He became the best kind of star: the one from out of the blue.

And now, as Don would say, it’s meaningless. Last year’s campaign is over. It’s time to start making believers out of everyone once again.

(as for the last part of this quote, Mitchell’s little back and forth with Ben Simmons may have rubbed some people the wrong way, but I loved it. Besides, no one’s going to care when he’s butting into the MVP race next spring. You’ve been warned.)