Tracking the Preaux Career of UL's Dwayne Mitchell

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#9 Iowa Energy

Dwayne Mitchell
Aristide Sawadogo
Courtney Sims
Curtis Stinson
Chris Lawson
Chris Moore
Jamaal Moore

Iowa returns two important players in Dwayne Mitchell and Courtney Sims to their roster, but will need to have a good draft to have a chance at staying competitive.

Mitchell is one of the best athletes in the D-League, a chiseled 6-3 shooting guard with excellent defensive potential, albeit questionable range on his shot and improvable ball-handling skills. He was having a good season last year before being bought out of his contract by German team Bamberg.

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 EL SEGUNDO, CA – The Los Angeles D-Fenders have acquired guard Dwayne Mitchell in a trade with the Iowa Energy. In exchange Iowa will receive forward Patrick Sanders.

Mitchell, a 6’5” 220-pound guard out of Louisiana Lafayette, played the majority of last season for the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League. In 31 games including 29 starts with the Energy, Mitchell averaged 20.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.60 steals in 37.3 minutes, earning a spot in the 2008 NBA D-League All-Star Game.

Most recently, Mitchell played for the Lakers entry in the 2008 Summer League in Las Vegas, averaging 6.7 points on .619 shooting, 1.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.83 steals in 15.0 minutes over six games.

Mitchell will join allocated players and former Lakers training camp teammates Joe Crawford and Brandon Heath along with the 2008 D-Fenders draft class, returning players and local try-out invitees at the D-Fenders training camp.

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  Dwayne Mitchell is one of the D-Fenders’ most consistent players this season. Heading into Christmas week, he was leading the team in minutes (42.0 mpg), rebounds (7.4 rpg), and steals (2.8 spg) and was third on the squad in points scored (16.0 ppg).

Last year, Mitchell was an All-Star for the Iowa Energy, but after playing for the Lakers’ 2008 Summer League team, Dwayne figured that LA might be a better fit. On November 11th, he got his wish when the D-Fenders traded Patrick Sanders to Iowa in a deal that brought Mitchell to Los Angeles. Dwayne talked with me about the transaction and a whole lot more.

“I kind of asked for the trade. I felt that playing for the D-Fenders would give me a better chance to get called up to the NBA. I felt real comfortable in the triangle offense. It’s a system that forces you to sacrifice your individual game for the sake of the team. I was willing to sacrifice my game because, in the long run, I think it will help me to become a better player and give me a better shot of making it to the NBA.” - Dwayne Mitchell

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by Larry Burnett
nba.com/dleague