BIO: Michael Eric Mitchell was born in Los Angeles, California, and attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. After graduating he attended Fresno State University from 1985-1988 before transferring to Colorado State for 1989 and 1990 where he made the 1990 All-Western Athletic Conference First-team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Mike Mitchell made his NBL debut with the Gold Coast Rollers at 24 years of age. He scored 21 points in his first game.

After going undrafted in the 1990 NBA Draft, Mitchell travelled to Australia in 1991 to play for the Gold Coast Rollers.

In 1991, Gold Coast re-branded themselves from the Cougars to the Rollers and under new head coach Dave Claxton they recorded their best team result ever, finishing with 14 wins and 12 losses. Mitchell was paired with Andre LaFleur (22 points per game) and together would form one of the best import duo’s of the 1990s. Despite the winning record the Rollers would not qualify for the post season. Mitchell averaged 29.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in what would be the most successful year of the franchise’s six years of existance.

Mitchell would also earn selection to the All-NBL first team, becoming the only Gold Coast player to earn a first team selection in league history.

1992

After narrowly missing out on the playoffs in 1991 the Gold Coast re-signed both Mitchell and Andre LaFleur as they looked to take things one step further.

The team suffered a huge blow when they lost Mitchell on May 31, 1992, after he suffered a horrific injury when he smashed his right arm in anger against a wire-reinforced glass panel of a locker-room door after Gold Coast narrowly lost away to the Illawarra Hawks.

With his arm almost severed, Mitchell was found slumped on the floor in a pool of blood by Rollers teammate Ron Radliff. Doubt was initially cast over whether Mitchell would ever play again, but he recovered in time for the following season.

Mitchell played in only 9 games and averaged 26.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3 assists prior to the injury. Unable to cover for Mitchell’s loss the team finished in 10th place, with a record of 11-13.

1993

In 1993, Mitchell averaged 23.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists during a season where the Rollers struggled to generate wins, finishing with a 12-14 record and their second consecutive tenth place finish.

1994

1994 was the third season in a row where the Rollers finished in 10th place, although they had won fewer and fewer games each year. Mitchell averaged 23 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists this season, which would end in a major revamp at the end of the year with the team not re-signing either Mitchell or LaFleur for the next season.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1995

In 1995 Mitchell moved to the Brisbane Bullets, the nearby rival of his former team and averaged 20.9 points and 6.8 rebounds for the season. He guided the Bullets to a fifth place and a record of 16-10.

1996
–
During the 1996 season, Mitchell averaged 20 points and 7.5 rebounds, and helped guide the Bullets to a eighth place finish in the regular season with a 14-12 record.

NORTH MELBOURNE GIANTS
– 1997

In 1997, the Giants were beginning to feel the pinch financially and struggling to retain talent. He would lose the services of forwards Tonny Jensen (via Newcastle) and Paul Maley (again due to crippling back problems) However, due to the demise of team’s in Gold Coast and Hobart, he would benefit by making some key free agent signings. Import Mike Mitchell and young gun David Stiff, both looking for new NBL homes, joined the team as Coach Brett Browncleverly tried to make the most of his team budget by playing the entire season with the league minimum of 11 players.

Another setback that hurt the Giants was when Paul Rees suffered a severe knee injury that kept him out for the majority of the season, only to then see him return and break his wrist against the Bullets in the second last round of the season. Behind star import Darryl McDonald (17.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.9 assists) and leading scorer Pat Reidy (20.2 points and 5.7 rebounds), they had enough talent to keep the Giants’ competitive. Mitchell would average 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, as the team finished the year in third place, behind a 18-12 record.

Starting centre Paul Rees was able to return for the playoffs, his presence making a huge difference as the Giants handily defeated the Canberra Cannons (2-1) in the Elimination Finals.

The Giants were eliminated in the next round by the extremely talented Melbourne Tigers (0-2), who went on to win the NBL championship.

A little 90's Nth Melb Giants v Sydney Kings. Enjoy!! pic.twitter.com/3VdqfONAJN

— RANDOM HOOPS (@HoopsRandom) May 14, 2023

Mike Mitchell played seven seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Gold Coast Rollers, Brisbane Bullets and North Melbourne Giants. He averaged 22 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in 176 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 29th in steals per game.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dan Boyce (827 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.