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It's been easy for Donovan Mitchell to envision himself in a Jazz jersey. In fact, he's already played a few games.

OK, a clarification: He's played a few games with a joystick, getting familiar with the Utah roster on the popular 2K basketball video game series.

"The rosters were already updated after the draft, so I went back and played as myself," Mitchell said. "I already got a triple-double. It was fun."

The No. 13 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft knows, however, that the real path to playing time with the Jazz — the team that traded up 11 spots to get him — will be much tougher. Introduced to Utah media for the first time on Wednesday morning at the Grand America Hotel, the 6-foot-3 combo guard said he would be ready to begin Monday, when the Jazz start Utah Summer League.

There's high expectations around Mitchell, who cost Utah a former lottery pick (Trey Lyles) in the trade to acquire his rights. The former Louisville star said he's anxious for the climb.

"At the end of the day, I'm ready to work and ready to play," he said. "I was excited about the draft, but now that's in the rear view. I'm excited for Monday."

Utah also brought in No. 28 pick Tony Bradley of North Carolina and No. 55 pick Nigel Williams-Goss of Gonzaga. With Mitchell, the trio sported glowing smiles as they held up their new Jazz jerseys: Mitchell will wear 45, Bradley will wear 13 and Williams-Goss will wear 0.

Whenever draft picks arrive with their new NBA teams, it evokes a mountain of cliches about how glad they are to be there. But with the Jazz draft picks, the trio echoed a sentiment of general manager Dennis Lindsey: Even before they were picked, they wanted to be in Utah as much as Utah wanted them.

Mitchell said he "fell in love" with the organization during the pre-draft process, and he's enjoyed Utah's scenery on his visits to the state. Similarly, Williams-Goss said he had Utah "circled" pre-draft as a spot he wanted to end up.

"This is where I hoped I would end up," he said. "Just the way they play, very balanced, was really similar to the way we played at Gonzaga. All we wanted to do was win. I think that's what you see here with the Utah Jazz."

In many ways, Mitchell is already plugged in to his new team: He's been following them on social media, noting a Rudy Gobert Instagram post from Monday night. Gobert and Dante Exum have also spoken to him personally to congratulate and welcome him to the Jazz.

Beyond his conversations with Lindsey and coach Quin Snyder, Mitchell said he feels Utah's defense-first style of play is conducive to his experience at Louisville and his strengths as a player. Although the Jazz were swept by Golden State this year in the playoffs, Utah's defense in the series made an impression on him.

"They played them tough defensively — not a lot of teams can do that," he said. "It wasn't a lot of blowouts. It was a lot of hard fought games. Being a great defender is what I pride myself on. It's really what I think I can focus on."

Utah's other first-round pick, Bradley, said Utah's history of player development has stirred his interest in the franchise.

One of the big reasons he went to North Carolina was its big man legacy, from James Worthy to Sam Perkins. He played off the bench for his one season with the Tar Heels, averaging only 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. But based on advanced analytics that convinced the Jazz he was more productive on a per-possession scale, as well as a workout that showed additional skills, both Bradley and the team think he can be much more than he was as a college freshman.

"I can handle the ball a little bit, my footwork is better than what a lot of people expected, I use my length really well rebounding and stuff like that," he said. "It's just a lot of things people just don't know, and I'm trying to show and improve."

Practices for Summer League are scheduled to begin Friday, and Utah's first game will be against the San Antonio Spurs at the Huntsman Center.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon