Practice Today

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I really don't think it's fair for people jump on Sam so much. Towns said he thought the session was really good today. No offense guys, but I kinda trust his view over yours, even if you used to be a coach.

I've watched every game this year, and yes, Sam definitely could have coached this team better and I'm totally on the Q train to stretch the floor offensively . . . but coaching can't explain the following: terrible communication on defense, lack of hustle, horrible shot selection, failure to move the ball, a total inability to get out on the fast break (even though Sam is obviously yelling at them constantly to do it), and just plain individual sh*ttiness that way too many of our players have exhibited this year. In jumping on Sam so much, I really feel like a lot of guys here are letting the whole team (especially their favorite players) off the hook.

Yes, this all ultimately lands at Sam's feet as the coach, but what about ALL the players (other than everybody's favorite piñata, Kevin Martin)? Don't others deserve some criticism too? Honestly, with the exception of Towns, I think there's a lot of criticism deserved. Rubio has been great (except that shooting), Dieng has been pretty good although his defensive lapses hurt us, after that, our best players have honestly probably been KG and Prince and Miller, which is really sad, because they are ok but still playing like the old guys they are. Everybody else has kind of stunk this year, and we haven't consistently clicked as a team. I'll throw Wiggins in with that list too. He's scored well, but not efficiently, he doesn't do much else for us, he turns the ball over too much, and he basically disappears for long stretches of the game when we need his presence defensively.

We can't beg to shoot more threes and then go ballistic when Sam thinks about putting a three point shooter (Martin) in. We can't complain that the old guys are playing too much and then complain that we're losing so much (because it's mostly the young guys who are blowing it). There's a lot of frustration around here, and justifiably so, but let's be fair about how we dole it out and not just target Sam, Martin, and old guys in general while giving so many guys (like LaVine) such a huge pass.

[thedoper]

I really don't think it's fair for people jump on Sam so much. Towns said he thought the session was really good today. No offense guys, but I kinda trust his view over yours, even if you used to be a coach.

I've watched every game this year, and yes, Sam definitely could have coached this team better and I'm totally on the Q train to stretch the floor offensively . . . but coaching can't explain the following: terrible communication on defense, lack of hustle, horrible shot selection, failure to move the ball, a total inability to get out on the fast break (even though Sam is obviously yelling at them constantly to do it), and just plain individual sh*ttiness that way too many of our players have exhibited this year. In jumping on Sam so much, I really feel like a lot of guys here are letting the whole team (especially their favorite players) off the hook.

Yes, this all ultimately lands at Sam's feet as the coach, but what about ALL the players (other than everybody's favorite piñata, Kevin Martin)? Don't others deserve some criticism too? Honestly, with the exception of Towns, I think there's a lot of criticism deserved. Rubio has been great (except that shooting), Dieng has been pretty good although his defensive lapses hurt us, after that, our best players have honestly probably been KG and Prince and Miller, which is really sad, because they are ok but still playing like the old guys they are. Everybody else has kind of stunk this year, and we haven't consistently clicked as a team. I'll throw Wiggins in with that list too. He's scored well, but not efficiently, he doesn't do much else for us, he turns the ball over too much, and he basically disappears for long stretches of the game when we need his presence defensively.

We can't beg to shoot more threes and then go ballistic when Sam thinks about putting a three point shooter (Martin) in. We can't complain that the old guys are playing too much and then complain that we're losing so much (because it's mostly the young guys who are blowing it). There's a lot of frustration around here, and justifiably so, but let's be fair about how we dole it out and not just target Sam, Martin, and old guys in general while giving so many guys (like LaVine) such a huge pass.

Great post. I am baffled how quiet everyone has been about how god awful Lavine has been since he got moved to the two (which seemed to be what everyone was yelling at Mitchell to do). My biggest disappointment has been Rubio. I love the guy and am absolutely a fan, and have made excuses for him from day one. I have been optimistic that one day the shots will fall. But I think it is simple, if he isn't going to get out and push transition ball he is so much less effective because he ruins so many half court sets by his inability to hit a shot. But it is more his leadership, he should be stepping up to win games at this point in his career as I see it and I just don't see the fire that I felt was there in his first few years.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Drew, I completely agree with you. In a lot of ways, Sam has done a lot of the things people here asked for:

- Starting KAT and Wiggins - Check
- Moving Zach to the 2 - Check (LST might be the only that didn't want this)
- Bench Martin - Check
- Getting Tyus into the rotation - Check
- Emphasizing defense - Check
- Getting KAT, Wiggins, and LaVine lots of touches - Check

There are also lots of things Mitchell hasn't done well which we've harped on, such as the 3-point shooting and flip-flopping on certain guys.

But at the end of the day when a team goes from an 8-8 start (which isn't a big sample size, but it isn't small either) to one of the 3 worst teams in the league, all while being nearly perfectly healthy, that's a major problem. Like it or not, Mitchell is the fall guy.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Same- a lot of the points you make do come back on Sam though.

Lack of communication on defense is on the coach for not requiring it. Coach K is notorious for turning his players into talkers defensively (Boozer to an annoying level). That's something you can coach your players to do very easily just by setting that expectation in practice and forcing guys to do it.

Bad shots being taken on offense. What system do we have in place that is generating good looks guys just aren't taking or making? The lack of ball movement and player movement in general is a direct reflection of a bad system being in place offensively. It's too much hero ball which is on Sam for not having any semblance of an offensive system because he focuses so much on defense.

Individual shittyness. Sam's been inconsistent with everyone but Wiggins and Ricky so how are guys supposed to play consistently when they are being played inconsistently. Sam played 12 guys in the 76ers game and the biggest minus on the team (Bazz at -10) played the most minutes. I would bet playing guys with more consistency would lead to more consistent play. He coaches like each night is going to require a totally different path to winning instead of just staying on the same path and then adjusting occasionally if something really isn't working.

The shooting 3's or lack thereof is also on Sam's system. We shot 5 3's against the 76ers. 5!!! For the whole game. Bringing in a shot hunter who just happens to take more 3's isn't the solution. 1 guy isn't fixing this team's 3pt issues. Sam needs to do something to get all of our guys shooting more 3's and shooting them on the right spots on the court.

Most importantly Sam is putting all the heat on the players and doing very little soul searching himself as the orchestrator of this mess. He needs to be focusing on what he can do better more and less on what his players can do better. He's almost treating the situation like coaches don't make much of a difference and it's mostly the players that are responsible when frankly there are way too many coaches proving that they can make a huge impact on players becoming and playing better. I blame Sam because Sam doesn't want to blame himself for seemingly any of this. A coach who's accountable for his role in the mess doesn't get nearly as much heat as one who tries to keep his hands clean through the whole thing.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Also, I'll say Zach hasn't been good at the 2, but I can see on paper a couple reasons why. First being his minutes have steadily dropped since moving to the 2 full time. He went from 26 to 24 down to 20 MPG's this month since the switch. When looking at his numbers as a starter versus coming off the bench, it's pretty clear he's a guy who doesn't play well off the bench. 20/4.5/4.5 on 46/42/87 splits in 30 MPG's as a starting guard versus 12/3/3 on 40/27/84 splits in 23 MPG's off the bench. That's a huge difference. Also, pairing him with Tyus is just going to take time to click because Zach has to learn how to play off the ball because he hasn't had to since he got here. That's one of the drawbacks of playing him exclusively at PG for so long. He's got to learn how to play off the ball in Sam's non-existent system where it seems like the good off-ball plays are more player generated than actually being part of the offense. It's not going to help having him learning to play off the ball next to a rookie who's going to make mistakes. Sam just has to go all-in with Zach and start him with Ricky and Wiggins. Stop worrying about the individual matchups and start worrying about the team play because our team play is atrocious right now due to Sam trying to play for individual matchups.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

"Practice? We talking about practice?"
-Allen Iverson (insert meme here)

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Nothing is all that surprising with a young team. Its growing pains. I don't blame Sam as much as most do. He kind of landed in the spot unexpectedly and without his own coaching staff. The bright side in all this is we get to see how the players respond to adversity, we get a new coach next year and keep our draft pick. Its all good!

[AbeVigodaLive]

Nothing is all that surprising with a young team. Its growing pains. I don't blame Sam as much as most do. He kind of landed in the spot unexpectedly and without his own coaching staff. The bright side in all this is we get to see how the players respond to adversity, we get a new coach next year and keep our draft pick. Its all good!

That's the Minnesota Timberwolves fan spirit!

"Wait til next year. We mean it this time!"

[mjs34]

Why was practice cancelled? Couldn't they do both. Wasn't Sam just complaining in a press conference that they were spending too much time on D, and didn't have enough to cover O. This team is just way too soft from top to bottom.

Maybe they are just too sensitive!

[KiwiMatt]

Everyone should be held accountable. Front office, coaches and the players.

What scares me most is this franchises shortcomings in player development, especially developing guards and wings.

I came in to the season with an open mind to Sam coaching, but he is simply out of his league. And as for our assistant coaches, I see no results coming from them. The coaching panel needs a total overhaul and Milt Newton hasn't done enough to take over Flips role as POBO.

This up coming off season may be the biggest in Wolves history.