Coach Sam Mitchell Thread

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I hear what some of you are saying about Sam not articulating a plan and a vision, and I agree, but I'm also cutting him some slack here. He's in a difficult position. Flip is clearly struggling with his cancer battle, and Sam has to tread lightly here. The easiest thing to do is to not say much to the media, to make it sound like he will continue to operate Flip's plan. To come out and lay out a strategy that is quite different from Flip's would be inappropriate at this time. I'm going to watch Sam's actions closely...there will be plenty of opportunity to praise or critique him as we watch what he does with this team.

While Sam has been put in a delicate, difficult situation, in many ways he has also been given a very good situation. All the reasons that Flip wanted to continue to coach this roster are now there for Sam. Flip has assembled a promising, albeit green roster, and injuries severely suppressed last year's win total. A lot of us probably think that if the team could stay reasonably healthy this year, and assuming the young players show typical improvement, that any one of us could coach this team to at least a 10-win improvement :) . Sam was front and center for last year's debacle and also has seen firsthand the assembled talent, so he has to be licking his chops to be taking over at this time. He has a very easy act to follow with only 15 wins last year, and he may even be a COY candidate if the Wolves can win 30-35 this year.

[bleedspeed]

I like Sam and really hope the players respond to him. It would be the best for everyone not to have anymore turnover.

[mjs34]

Why do fans expect coaches to tell them what they are going to do and give away any advantage they might have. Sam said we would find out our starting five and what they were going to run on opening night. That is exactly what I would expect to hear from Popovich.

It sounds like Sam is planning on using Prince in very limited spots, and must be thinking about his veteran leadership in practice as his biggest asset. Thank God!

I am not a Tyus fan, but why is it that he can't carve out a career similar to what Lawson has? no size, limited athleticism, and a bad defender. Sound familiar?

As for health of the team, we all know the definition of insanity!

Pek had surgery to shave down a bone in his ankle and still isn't ready to practice. Read between the lines (the guy is done).

I am just as concerned that Sam doesn't think Ricky is at full strength from a sprained ankle and surgery that took place over five months ago. There was clearly more damage than the team is letting on. If Ricky can't log 70 games "healthy" this year, it is time to move in another direction.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Wow, Sam is feisty in that interview! I think some of it is just him and Jerry having a little fun, but he also may have been annoyed at times with some of the questions.

I like the straightforwardness of Sam's answers. But also keep in mind that Sam is a smart guy, and he is going to do what's best for him...and what's best for him is the Wolves winning now rather than working on development. Sam knows he is auditioning for the head coach job that he really wants, either here or somewhere else, and it's wins that will get him there, not the long-term improvement of his young core.

As I re-read the interview, I see Sam managing expectations. Saying definitively that he is coaching for development rather than winning now immediately lowers expectations, and gives him a better chance of exceeding expectations, I also found his Towns comments interesting. He talked about the guy only having KG-like minutes in only 32 college games, and how we shouldn't put too much pressure on him. This suggested to me that he prefers to see Towns coming off the bench, rather than starting from Day 1.

It's interesting to me that it's clear there has been no communication between Flip and Sam. That gives me a lot of concern for the current status of Flip's health, but I also think that it is good for Sam...much easier for him to make his decisions without feeling he is being second guessed.

Thanks for posting this, monster...so much of this interview didn't make it into the newspaper version, such as all the 3-point talk and the comments about Jones. It's clear to me that Sam has built a special relationship with Tyus Jones already, and is going to give him every chance to succeed. Yesterday, I also read some comments from Tyus about his relationship with Sam. It's apparent that they became very close this summer travelling together on the Wolves' Caravan...almost like a father/son relationship.

How stupid was Zgoda's question about whether coaching Calderon was going to help Sam in coaching Rubio? Yeah, because all guys from Spain are exactly the same. Good god, Jerry!

Oh my God, I can't believe I missed that. It's unreal to me that he's kept around. Are these guys in unions or something? It couldn't possibly be hard to upgrade with a modern-day journalist that doesn't troll the fan base and neglect to ask about the #1 glaring issue from last season (defense).

[Monster]

Why do fans expect coaches to tell them what they are going to do and give away any advantage they might have. Sam said we would find out our starting five and what they were going to run on opening night. That is exactly what I would expect to hear from Popovich.

It sounds like Sam is planning on using Prince in very limited spots, and must be thinking about his veteran leadership in practice as his biggest asset. Thank God!

I am not a Tyus fan, but why is it that he can't carve out a career similar to what Lawson has? no size, limited athleticism, and a bad defender. Sound familiar?

As for health of the team, we all know the definition of insanity!

Pek had surgery to shave down a bone in his ankle and still isn't ready to practice. Read between the lines (the guy is done).

I am just as concerned that Sam doesn't think Ricky is at full strength from a sprained ankle and surgery that took place over five months ago. There was clearly more damage than the team is letting on. If Ricky can't log 70 games "healthy" this year, it is time to move in another direction.

Great points about what Sam is gonna say.

I think Lawson is/was a better athlete both in quickness and explosive. Plus he had ridiculous shooting percentages his last year in college. He played longer in college and was older and had some other questions coming out of college so I don't like that comp but Inlike Tyus and I get what you are trying to say.

As for the health of Pek everything I've heard from Pek himself is he feels the best he has felt great better than he has felt in over a year. Sure you always hear great things from players but Pek doesn't seem like a guy to give BS answers. The reported outcome of surgery gave some real reason for some optimism. They are going to take it easy with him. They aren't competing for a title this season and have plenty of guys they can play at C so take it easy. He is right on track to be where he was supposed to be based on what they said soon after the surgery.

As for Rubio he has been cleared for basketball activities for a few weeks I wouldn't expect anyone to say he is absolutely ready to go that seems unrealistic. Kander said his ankles look great. That sounds pretty positive to me.

[Carlos Danger]

Why do fans expect coaches to tell them what they are going to do and give away any advantage they might have. Sam said we would find out our starting five and what they were going to run on opening night. That is exactly what I would expect to hear from Popovich.
.

I'm not trying to make more out it than it was. But part of being a coach is Public Relations and pumping up the fan base a little. Cripes, look at the threads we've been starting/using to get through this off season. We're starved for some new nuggets! Throw the fans a friggin bone. Giving the fans an idea of who they are looking at for a starting five isn't going to ruin any competitive edge for this team - lol! We're going to find out in a couple days when they start practicing anyhow. I just thought he could have elaborated on a few things. Here's an example of a softball question from that interview and what I thought was a limited (weak) response:

Q. You just might have two legitimate candidates for Rookie of the Year, Karl and Nemanja Bjelica. He's 27 and not your typical rookie. What are your expectations?

A. He has experience. I don't have expectations right now. We're going too far here. We're just trying to get these guys in here and get a look at them. I've seen him on tape, watched him play on TV. But I haven't seen him in an NBA game, haven't seen him work with our guys.

Now go back and look at the threads in this forum regarding Towns and Bjelica. We have pages and pages of good info/analysis and debates. As I wrote before, Flip was very good at being candid and I loved that about him. Last year at this team he was asked about Bennett and he flat out said that he saw him as a rotation player. I doubt that ruined our season by allowing teams to stop game planning for AB - HA! It's OK to tell the fans some of your thoughts on players.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

SJM, On Lawson versus Tyus, they aren't even in the same galaxy as athletes. As Monster mentions, Lawson is fast. Like really, really, really fast. He's also built like a fire hydrant weighing about 200 lbs.

The problem with Tyus is he has literally no physical advantages - length, speed, quickness, strength, size....he's average to below average across the board.

[mjs34]

SJM, On Lawson versus Tyus, they aren't even in the same galaxy as athletes. As Monster mentions, Lawson is fast. Like really, really, really fast. He's also built like a fire hydrant weighing about 200 lbs.

The problem with Tyus is he has literally no physical advantages - length, speed, quickness, strength, size....he's average to below average across the board.

Tyus has a significantly longer wingspan, and is also a couple years younger than when Lawson came into the league. Adding ten pounds is very likely over a couple of seasons, although being built like a fire hydrant isn't an advantage in BB.

As far as speed goes, I am not sure where I read it last season but they tested players (PGs) dribbling while sprinting up the court, and Lawson wasn't listed in the top five, but Rubio was second behind only Parker. Running fast really doesn't help a PG that much unless that extends to dribbling, and the speed certainly hasn't helped Lawson defensively.

[Monster]

SJM, On Lawson versus Tyus, they aren't even in the same galaxy as athletes. As Monster mentions, Lawson is fast. Like really, really, really fast. He's also built like a fire hydrant weighing about 200 lbs.

The problem with Tyus is he has literally no physical advantages - length, speed, quickness, strength, size....he's average to below average across the board.

Tyus has a significantly longer wingspan, and is also a couple years younger than when Lawson came into the league. Adding ten pounds is very likely over a couple of seasons, although being built like a fire hydrant isn't an advantage in BB.

As far as speed goes, I am not sure where I read it last season but they tested players (PGs) dribbling while sprinting up the court, and Lawson wasn't listed in the top five, but Rubio was second behind only Parker. Running fast really doesn't help a PG that much unless that extends to dribbling, and the speed certainly hasn't helped Lawson defensively.

It might be helpful to look back at DX strengths and weaknesses for Ty when he was in the draft. There was such a plethora of PG in that draft it's not surprising he dropped to 18 to a certain extent. I was a big fan of Lawson in that draft.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Ty-Lawson-485/

[MikkeMan]

One thing that I found interesting is that Mitchell's most successful coaching season 2006-07 (47 wins) came with the team that had had major roster changes from previous year.

Basically all other starters except Bosh were new players in team. In addition to those four newcomers (Rasha, Ford, Anthony Parker and Garbajosa), that team had also rookie Andrea Bargnani playing major minutes. So five players out of top 6 in minutes played were new for team.

I think this mean that Sam was very successful in integrating new players to team even in case they are coming with quite different basketball backgrounds. Parker, Garbajosa and Bargnani had been playing in Europe previous season, Rasha came from San Antonio and Ford from Milwaukee. Since there had been such a major roster overhaul, team didn't of course start so strong. They had record 7-14 but they finished really strong with 40-21 record. Compared to that team, Wolves have had quite little changes. I think that Towns and possible Bjelica will be the only newcomers at Wolves top 6 in minutes played.

That team used also some really unconventional lineups like their starting lineup with Bosh, Garbajosa and Rasha front court. I don't know whom of those three was guarding small forwards. They played also quite lot of small ball with Bosh as center and Garbajosa stretching the floor. (37% of his shots were three pointers).

That team had quite many familiar sounding player types:

- Young and promising pass first point guard that couldn't shoot and who had missed in his early career more than 35% of games because of injuries (Ford had had .443 and .489 TS% seasons in Milwaukee)
- That year's number 1 pick that was big and very good shooter for his size (Bargnani shot .373 3-pointers in his rookie year with 268 attempts)
- Closer to 30 year old Euro rookie that was playing mainly stretch PF. (Unfortunately Garbajosa suffered serious injury next season and Toronto had major setback)
- Previous year's Euroleague MVP. (Anthony Parker was much improved during his six seasons in Europe. He had Rubio like +14.3 plus/minus 2006-07)
- Former Wolves big that had won championship after leaving Wolves. (Rasha won his in San Antonio)