Author’s note: this is hardly the biggest story of the week, but there’s not much left for me to say about Jaylen, or The Trade, or Paul George that hasn’t been said by my talented fellow writers here at the blog. Instead, I want to tell a story about Dillon Mitchell, and how he came to be a Celtic.
Dillon Mitchell’s selection by Boston with the 40th pick of the 2026 draft caps a trip down a winding road that has become rather common for players looking to land a spot in the NBA.
Mitchell, a 22-year-old
college senior from St. Johns, started his varsity basketball career with Sickles High School in Citrus Park, Florida. Mitchell, a Tampa native, played two years at Sickles before transferring to Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School in Spring Hill, a town about 35 miles north of Citrus Park. During Mitchell’s junior year at Bishop McLaughlin, the team made it to the Florida 3A high school championship, where they lost in overtime to Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian.
While Mitchell was enrolled at Bishop McLaughlin the school was engaged in impermissible conduct under Florida High School Activities Association rules, with violations including athletic recruiting, allowing students to participate in athletics without meeting academic criteria, and even allowing a fifth year student to play.
Bishop McLaughlin was barred from postseason competition, fined $70,000 and three coaches were fired as a result of these actions.
Dillon Mitchell subsequently transferred to the Montverde Academy for his senior year.
The Montverde Academy is located in Montverde, Florida, near Orlando and Lake Apopka.
Montverde was started in 1921 as an industrial prep school. It’s a private outfit that offers a comprehensive K-12 education for almost 1,200 students, as well as preschool programs. However, it is also a basketball factory. Some of its athletic programs compete under the aegis of the Florida High School Activities Association, but others, like basketball, compete on a national level.
Tuition along with room and board, as with many private boarding schools, is higher than an average year of college tuition, with total costs coming to more than $57,000.
Notable alumni of Montverde include current NBA players Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Cooper Flagg, Scottie Barnes, and RJ Barrett.
In 2022, Monteverde won the GEICO (now Chipotle) High School National Tournament, with the Eagles being led by Dillon Mitchell’s 17 points and 12 rebounds in the championship game. Montverde beat Link Academy, which would enroll fellow Celtic draftee Chris Cenac, Jr., two years later in 2024. The Eagles led the game nearly wire-to-wire, taking over from a 4-4 tie to win handily. Montverde finished the game on a 12-2 run, winning 67-54.
The tournament, which runs simultaneously with a girls basketball tournament, put Montverde in rarefied air as their girls’ team also won a title.
The title was Montverde’s sixth GEICO championship. Coupled with three runner-up finishes, Montverde had participated in nine of the tournament’s thirteen championship games at that point.
By then, Mitchell had committed to the Texas Longhorns, where he began his college career in the fall of 2022. Mitchell was a five-star recruit and ranked 18th in his class by ESPN. He was a McDonald’s All American, and a significant contributor to his team in the “Each 1 Teach 1” program affiliated with Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League.
In a writeup on Mitchell, ESPN noted that he had “most of the tools and traits needed to be a first round draft pick.”
Mitchell started every game for Texas and led the Longhorns in field goal percentage his freshman year, shooting 63.6% on nothing but two-point attempts. Notably, he was also selected to the Big 12’s Academic All-Rookie Team. After his freshman year, Mitchell declared for the NBA Draft, using a new provision from the NCAA that lets players test the waters before committing to a step that would end their college eligibility. Celtic wing Baylor Scheierman also took advantage of this provision the same year.
When teams failed to express sufficient interest in drafting him, Mitchell returned to Texas. As a sophomore, his shooting average dipped to 58.5% on higher volume, and eight missed three-point attempts against no makes. He finished second in the Big 12 in rebounds per game at 7.5.
After his sophomore year, Dillon transferred to the University of Cincinnati, where he shot 61.4% and averaged 9.9 points per game. His three point shooting improved to 29 percent, and volume increased from eight attempts across his first two seasons in Texas to 34 attempts in a single season as a Bearcat.
On wrapping up that season with Cincinnati, Mitchell transferred again, this time to St. Johns, where he was coached by Celtic ‘legend’ Rick Pitino.
At St. Johns, his field goal shooting dipped to 55.9%, with his percentage brought down by fourteen missed three-point attempts and just a single make. Notably, Mitchell’s best performances on offense his senior year came in tournament settings. Across the Big East and NCAA tournaments this past spring, his field goal percentage was 65%, going 26-40 in six games.
If his three point shooting took a dip at St. John’s, his role as a facilitator took off. His assists average nearly doubled from 1.6 in his year at Cincinnati to 3.0 per game, including eight games with five or more assists. His assist to turnover ratio was a respectable 2.9.
Coming onto the Celtics, Mitchell is aware of both his strengths and his weaknesses.
At a media availability following a workout for the Portland Trail Blazers, Dillon said that he wanted to showcase progress on his jump shot. He added that his main focus right now is that shot.
Celtics Vice President of Basketball Operations Mike Zarren, speaking after the Celtics drafted Mitchell, expressed confidence that Dillon will improve, “he’ll get better at his shot. We don’t have any doubt about that. If you watch enough, you’ll see he’s got the ability to get better there.”
On the other hand, Dillon’s defensive skills are much farther along than his jump shot. Mitchell was named to the Big East’s All Defense team, and with his length and athleticism, he looks capable of defending multiple positions with work from the Celtics’ player development coaches. Mitchell told Portland media that he values his versatility on defense, and that even here, he’s working on his game, saying that he is working on “staying low” when matched up against guards.
In his media availability, Zarren praised Dillon’s defensive instincts.
As with Chris Cenac, Jr., the Celtics’ first round draft pick, Mitchell appears to be focused on getting better. Speaking after his workout with the Blazers, Dillon identified work ethic as being the key to successfully transitioning from college to the pros. “It all just comes down to the work ethic,” he said. “You can’t just go out there and play college ball.”
