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When Giannis Antetokounmpo won his first title in Milwaukee during the 2021 Finals, he had his supporting cast, Jrue Holiday in the backcourt role.

Holiday became an asset defensively not just in the league, but also on the international scenes such as with Team USA.

Meanwhile, Miami Heat guard Davion Mitchell said he is ready to take on the role of becoming a valuable backcourt defender, also earning knowledge from Holiday.

“If I speed people up — it makes Giannis job a little easier…that’s what I kind of learned from Jrue — just being a pesky guy…he (Giannis) wants to block everything at the rim, he doesn’t want to guard on the perimeter — he can do it but he rather be at the rim…a lot of people just see Jrue as a defender but I  think he was a leader on that (Bucks) team and I’m kind of taking things from him,” Mitchell said.

The 6-foot guard is not backing down from anything as he aimed to win the Defensive Player of the Year, where he mainly wanted to have an impact defensively for the Heat.

“My individual goal is to win Defensive Player of the Year. It’s all I got. No statistical goals— that Defensive Player of the Year is just one of my goals,” he added.

Mitchell also explained the value of veterans alongside Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo, playing with strong combinations, creating mismatch opportunities inside the paint.

“They can both dominate the game in their own way. Them playing together is such a mismatch nightmare — there’s not a lot of 5s (centers) that can guard Bam on a closeout and there’s definitely no 5s that can guard Giannis on a closeout….them playing together is going to create so many mismatches — that’s what is going to make them so great…there’s so many combinations…,” Mitchell explained.

Miami is aiming to obtain more team chemistry when they face the Brooklyn Nets in the preseason matchup on Wednesday night.