Minnesota Sports Forum

sjm34 wrote:If I have my choice of Flip or Sam, I'll take Sam. Would have liked to have gone a different way, but I guess we have to choose our battles.

With the lack of info on Flip, I am guessing things are much worse than originally thought.

Not happy about Milt running things. He comes out and says moving Bennett was about balancing the roster, and now Sam is implying that Brown will be a 4th PG. How is that balancing a roster. If I remember correctly, PF was one of our weak positions last season. Guys can't be playing the 4 when we likely only have two healthy 5's.

I really hope Bjelica pans out, because we really have no other realistic option for a starting 4 moving forward.

Q12543 wrote:I hear you guys on Smitch > Flip as coach. By lack of continuity, what I'm thinking about is going from Adelman to Flip to Smitch to ???? in the course of what could be only a couple of years. I still go back to Flip's diagnosis back in the spring/early summer and the decision to not right then and there hang up the clipboard and find a head coach. Now perhaps Smitch does well enough to ultimately earn the "full-time" tag, but I'm skeptical.

longstrangetrip wrote: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!

monsterpile wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote: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!

How do you come away with the idea that Sam is going to do what is best for him when multiple times he said the exact opposite? Sam said something that lines up with the articles I have read that have been written by the Toronto media that say Sam is his own guy and is motivated but finds himself happy with whatever he is doing. He liked broadcasting he likes coaching. I am sure he would love this gig long term but it sounds like he already knows that you live in the present and you can't control the opportunities you will be given.

That's interesting about him and Sam. Could you post a link or Links to the story? I didn't find it in a quick Google search.

Carlos Danger wrote:I hear you Lip. I just didn't think Sam came off as polished in "Coach Speak" in that interview. Maybe as someone else wrote he was just playing around with Jerry Zgoda and that playfulness didn't translate into print. I know he hasn't had a ton of time to prepare....but the Big Picture/vision wasn't communicated well in this specific piece. Flip was pretty good at that and I always like listening to Flip for that reason.

As far as playing the young guys over the vets - yeah....I sort of get that. But I prefer the "Play your best guys" approach and let competition determine who plays and how much. And that includes 4th quarter of close games. If Prince gives us a better chance to close out a game than Bazz, then make Bazz learn by watching until he can be that guy. It won't stunt his growth. Winning is important. Make guys compete and everyone gets better.

lipoli390 wrote:Carlos - I think what he meant by development over winning a couple more games was playing time -- as in playing the young guys rather than the older vets and giving the young guys the opportunity to learn through experience and failure. He specifically mentioned letting the young guys play in the 4th quarter. That's all it was. And that is positively the right thing to do for this team at this stage in its development.

Other than playing time, I can't imagine what else Sam would do or not do to favor development over winning. Sam isn't going to deliberately call the wrong play for a particular situation as a teaching tool to facilitate the team's development. Is he?

I do share your concern about Sam's failure to articulate a plan of attack. The really good head coaches see the big picture, formulate a comprehensive vision for effectively getting the most out of the team they have, and then effectively communicate their vision to their assistant coaches and players. I've never thought Sam has these qualities.

I wasn't happy to hear him parrot Flip's "Tyus is a winner" baloney. So was Bobby Hurley. NBA history is repeat with failures who won at every level before getting to the NBA. The talent threshold goes up dramatically from college to the NBA. We'll see Tyus has the talent to meet that threshold. But the fact that his college and high school teams won doesn't mean all that much in predicting his NBA fortunes. I'd like to believe Sam knows that.

longstrangetrip wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Carlos - I think what he meant by development over winning a couple more games was playing time -- as in playing the young guys rather than the older vets and giving the young guys the opportunity to learn through experience and failure. He specifically mentioned letting the young guys play in the 4th quarter. That's all it was. And that is positively the right thing to do for this team at this stage in its development.

Other than playing time, I can't imagine what else Sam would do or not do to favor development over winning. Sam isn't going to deliberately call the wrong play for a particular situation as a teaching tool to facilitate the team's development. Is he?

I do share your concern about Sam's failure to articulate a plan of attack. The really good head coaches see the big picture, formulate a comprehensive vision for effectively getting the most out of the team they have, and then effectively communicate their vision to their assistant coaches and players. I've never thought Sam has these qualities.

I wasn't happy to hear him parrot Flip's "Tyus is a winner" baloney. So was Bobby Hurley. NBA history is repeat with failures who won at every level before getting to the NBA. The talent threshold goes up dramatically from college to the NBA. We'll see Tyus has the talent to meet that threshold. But the fact that his college and high school teams won doesn't mean all that much in predicting his NBA fortunes. I'd like to believe Sam knows that.

Lip, your comparison of Bobby Hurley to Tyus Jones is appropriate, I think. Both were highly-touted high school players with underwhelming athletic ability, who went on to star at Duke and then to be drafted in the first round. But let's not attribute his "failure" in the NBA to a lack of talent. After 19 games as a rookie, he was averaging 10 points and 8 assists per 36 minutes before almost being killed when he was hit by a drunk driver. His windpipe was torn away from his lung, and they say he would have drowned in the ditch he landed in if a passer-by hadn't stopped to help. He tried to return the following season, but was never able to really recover from the accident. I was a Hurley Hater throughout his Duke career, and I remember how I didn't like it when the NBA players he played with during summers would say he was going to be an NBA star...I always wanted him to fail, but he never did until his car accident. Tyus and Bobby just seem to have what it takes to win and I think that is the characteristic Sam and Flip both see in Tyus, and actually Tyus' freshman year was much better than Hurley's. If Tyus gives us a per-36 10 and 8 this season, I will be happy. My advice to Tyus would be to always wear his seatbelt!