Game Report - Wolves v. Blazers

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Good article here from AWOW that fits into the dialogue we're having about Mitchell: http://www.awolfamongwolves.com/2015/12/trail-blazers-109-timberwolves-103-the-good-and-bad-of-sam-mitchell/

He does himself no favors with his attitude toward the press. Man, this is one area Flip excelled at, even though he sometimes over-sold things a bit.

I'm still firmly on the fence with Mitchell. We're on pace to win 34 games, which is better than I expect. However, we've been pretty healthy thus far and my 26-win prediction assumed some injuries. The games Rubio and Bjelica missed is pretty much the only issue we've had, and those weren't THAT bad. So one could argue we're right on the cusp of under-achieving given our relative good health and recent stretch of games against not-so-great competition. Stay tuned!

[Carlos Danger]

Good article here from AWOW that fits into the dialogue we're having about Mitchell: http://www.awolfamongwolves.com/2015/12/trail-blazers-109-timberwolves-103-the-good-and-bad-of-sam-mitchell/

He does himself no favors with his attitude toward the press. Man, this is one area Flip excelled at, even though he sometimes over-sold things a bit.

I'm still firmly on the fence with Mitchell. We're on pace to win 34 games, which is better than I expect. However, we've been pretty healthy thus far and my 26-win prediction assumed some injuries. The games Rubio and Bjelica missed is pretty much the only issue we've had, and those weren't THAT bad. So one could argue we're right on the cusp of under-achieving given our relative good health and recent stretch of games against not-so-great competition. Stay tuned!

I'm on the fence as well. But I've always felt Sam has the inside track to continue coaching this team as long as the results are there. However, this surly demeanor with the press is not going to help him keep his job. Dealing with the press would suck. But explaining and putting a positive spin on things is part of the job. The team has actually been playing better than many expected and he's this combative....imagine what it will be like when we go on our first long losing streak? He might self destruct at some point and really say something stupid. If I were him, I'd get some coaching/training on how to deal with the press soon.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't understand why Sam is still being defended so much. The worst outcome of any given game is losing while guys like Towns, Lavine, etc. watch from the bench. Guess what's been happening lately? Exactly that for Towns and it happened to Zach several times before Sam finally noticed he was producing in crunch time. Sam needs to manage the minutes so Towns finishes games. Period. End of story. There is no excuse for Towns not closing out a game unless he fouls out. I'm sick of the short-term sacrifices Sam makes for the sake of winning when they don't pan out. Martin starting instead of Lavine. Dieng closing games instead of Towns. Win the game or develop your young players so they can start winning the games for you moving forward. Stop consistently losing games and negatively affecting on-court experience for Lavine and Towns. How many more games does Sam need to throw for some of you to realize he's not a good coach?

The rotation is still too big and it's still wrong. We have plenty of shooting on the roster. Sam just isn't playing it correctly. Rudez is shooting 45% from 3 this year and has only played 8 games. Payne is at 50%. Belly is at 38% and he's still only at 5.3 shots per game overall (3.3 3's). Zach is at 36% and that number could be even higher if he would play more off the ball where he traditionally shoots a much higher percentage than off the dribble. Martin meanwhile is at 31%. Prince is at 20%. KG and Dieng can't shoot 3's. Bazz is at 29%. Wiggins is at 28%. Send Prince's minutes Rudez's way. Even if Zach stays at the point, run more action with him giving the ball up and then getting into some catch and shoot action off screens. Either give Payne more run or try some small ball with Rudez at the 4 next to Towns. We have the shooting on the team. Sam is just doing nothing to integrate it into his rotations and system which are focused so much on defense that the offense is suffering. That's why I push so much for Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins/NB/Towns. That leaves 3 3pt shooters on the court, a couple guys who can drive to the basket, 2 post players and everyone is at least an ok defender with 3 being really good defenders. It is the balanced lineup this team should be featuring that Sam has tried for all of 8 minutes this year.

Kahns - Absolutely right about Sam's coaching!

Good lord...you Sam-detractors can't find anything positive to say about Sam's coaching! But let's take a closer look at Khan's main points to see if they make sense. (spoiler alert...I don't think they do).

Towns needs to finish games. Gorgui has been the primary closer in 4 of the past 6 games (both were on the court for much of the closing minutes against the Clippers and Portland), and has played pretty well in that role. The Wolves won the first three games with G closing, but still this and other message boards ripped Sam for leaving KAT on the bench. We lost to Orlando with G in at the end of the game and KAT on the bench, but in all fairness to Sam, it's difficult to put a rookie back into a close game when he is 2-11 shooting while Gorgui was 4-6. Sam prefers G at crunch time because he believes G is a better defensive option against PnR offenses that are so prevalent at the end of games. And with the Wolves winning 3 of the 4 games that Sam has put G in the closing role, I find it difficult to question his judgement here.

Sam's rotation is too big, and we need to get our better 3-point shooters into the rotation. Khans didn't specifically say how big the rotation should be, but since Sam typically runs 10-11 guys out there, it's safe at assume he would prefer a 9-man rotation. I don't have a big problem with this, although I prefer taking a longer view in an attempt to keep our guys fresher for the long season. But who are the guys who belong in the 9-man rotation? Khans talks about needing more 3-point shooting and giving Belly, Rudez and Payne more minutes, so that's three. I assume KAT, LaVine, Wig, Gorgui, and Ricky need to be in the rotation. And since Khans is calling for Zach to play more SG and Ricky can't play 48 minutes, Andre Miller has to be the 9th guy in the shorter rotation. So that leaves out KG, Martin, Bazz, and Tay. Here's the problem I have with that:

KG and Tay: They are arguably our best defenders and teachers on the court, and factually rank only behind Rubio in plus/minus per 36 among players getting regular minutes. Is Sam really a fool for including these two guys in his rotation for 15 minutes a game?

Bazz: I agree that he struggles on defense and is having an off-year offensively, but he works his butt off every time he hits the court, and we have seen what a prolific scorer he can be. I think he needs to be in the rotation as well

Martin: This may be your most persuasive argument. Despite occasional flashes of defensive effort, like in the first half against Portland, he still remains inconsistent on defense. And his offense has been uncharacteristically terrible most of the year too. But despite his poor shooting this year, he has the best career 3-point average (38%) on the roster, and made 39% of his 3-pointers just last season. If we knew that KMart's shot was permanently broken and not just in a slump, I would say take him out of the rotation by all means. But it doesn't make sense that a guy would lose his shot so quickly. And for a team struggling to take and make 3-pointers, does it make sense to remove their best shooter from the rotation?

I like staying with the 11 man rotation, and turning to guys like Rudez, Payne and Miller only when needed. Each of them has had some nice moments this season and are not going to hurt us if needed, but I would have a difficult time replacing any of the other 11 guys currently getting more minutes based on their performance to date.

I am a sports fan, and I understand the need to vent once in a while...especially with a franchise that has been so inept for over a decade. But the almost universal and constant criticism of Sam Mitchell seems to be based on something other than his performance, because most of his moves (starting KMart notwithstanding) seem to me to be working. I suspect it may be his defensive, abrasive personality, and if so, I agree that it can be annoying at times (and will eventually cost him his job like it did in Toronto). But meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy a team that defends better than any Wolves team in recent history, and despite Sam's moronic coaching, continues to stay in the playoff race.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Gorgui may be a better option on defense now (I don't believe that at all after watching Towns play effectively on Curry of all people out of the PnR), but giving Towns the time now will make him better than Gorgui at some point this year already. Towns is a much better defensive player than Gorgui who just needs the experience like Wiggins did last year in crunch time when guys would get him to bite on pump fakes at the end of games. Guess what he wasn't doing by the end of the year? Biting on pump fakes during clutch time. Towns is the franchise Center on this team. You play him regardless of how he or Dieng is playing because at some point the experience he gains now is going to make him the better option than Dieng in the future. If Dieng needs to be on the court then keep KG on the bench and play Towns and Dieng. I don't care. All I care is that our franchise Center is closing games now so he can learn and get better quicker. You can't learn how to be a clutch defender from the bench. You can't learn how to close out games from the bench. That's just something you have to keep trying to do until you learn how to do it right. Towns gains nothing by watching Dieng at the end of games. That's simply a waste and short-sighted.

As far as the rotation goes, mine would look a lot like how our rotation was at the beginning of the year, just swap Rudez and Prince.

Ricky/Lavine
Wiggins/Lavine
Rudez/Bazz
KG/NB/Payne (on nights KG sits)
Towns/Gorgui

32 minutes for Ricky/Lavine/Wiggins each. Split Bazz and Rudez's minutes to 24 each. Since KG only plays 16 minutes, give NB 24 and Dieng 8 minutes at the 4 and 16 at the 5 and Towns gets 32 at the 5. Swap KG's 16 to Payne on nights he doesn't play. That's a 9 man rotation for any given game. You just don't need 5 good individual defenders on the court together to be a good defense. Rudez is a better shooting and size fit with the starting 5 than Martin and he'd have 4 good defenders protecting him. Give Wiggins some more run with the second unit to give them the perimeter defender it needs and try some more Rubio/Lavine with Rudez or Bazz next to them. The defense is not going to fall off a cliff because Tay isn't playing any more and if it does that's on Sam because 1 old wing shouldn't be the glue holding this thing together.

Also, we're under .500 and have a negative point differential. How is Sam's performance good when the record and point differential say otherwise?