Predictions - How Long?

[bleedspeed]

Thanks Lip, that's very reassuring. Too many good coaches on the sideline to commit to Sam and his weak sauce staff.

I think it is Flip's weak sauce staff not Sam's. The organization is at such a strange point. Nobody is sure what the post Flip era will look like. We even know less what a post Taylor Wolves will look like.

[60WinTim]

I have been thoroughly impressed with how Mitchell has coached this team (aside from media comments he is learning to keep to himself). But it makes no sense to extend him now. Does anyone even know when his current contract as an assistant is up?

But having said that, does anyone believe this team would be sitting at 8-8 if Flip were still the coach? I do not. Which also means I don't put a ton of value in Flip's short list of coaches.

Thus far, Sam has earned the right to have his name considered. And what happens the remainder of the season will determine how seriously he should be considered.

[Lipoli390]

I have been thoroughly impressed with how Mitchell has coached this team (aside from media comments he is learning to keep to himself). But it makes no sense to extend him now. Does anyone even know when his current contract as an assistant is up?

But having said that, does anyone believe this team would be sitting at 8-8 if Flip were still the coach? I do not. Which also means I don't put a ton of value in Flip's short list of coaches.

Thus far, Sam has earned the right to have his name considered. And what happens the remainder of the season will determine how seriously he should be considered.

Tim - I agree that Sam has thus far earned the right to be considered and that the remainder of the season will determine how seriously. However, I think we'd be doing as well with Flip coaching. And no matter how much value we put on Flip's short list, you can bet Taylor puts a lot of value on that list.

[bleedspeed]

I think the team and most importantly the young guys have taken on Sam's character as battlers which is something I don't think Flip would have given them. Sam might not be good with the media like Flip was but Flip was just a nice guy and good in his role as PBO. He had vision, passion, and drive. He seemed to lack the toughness when it mattered. It is something that Sam has in spades.

I like how Sam says the guys need to work at it. They need to be here in the summer. Skipping national teams to make sure they put their job first and work on their craft in the offseason. He is dead on with this. I also love how he says you might need to be someone else on the court then you are off it to be successful. That is just great coaching and it is true for most of this group.

[Monster]

Ive heard AP guy talk about all this a decent amount and I think he knows what he is talking about.

Glen has said he wants to give both Milt and Sam this season to see what they can do. Considering the circumstances that makes a lot of sense. Glen said he has found at times certain guys step up when given the shot and do more than you were expecting. I assume that was more about Milt than Sam since Sam has already been a HC etc and Milt has never been the guy.

Glen has been wanting to sell a piece of ownership to set up a future transition but it's been very difficult to find people in MN that have the resources to make this happen. Not many ownership groups want to go partway in with a sorta promise they may get a shot later which is understandable. From what I remember he doesn't think Glen selling the majority of the team anytime soon especially now that the future looks good and since Flip started something here. That makes sense. On the other hand Lip is probably right nobody beyond Glen wants to own the team after him so he has been looking for years for a possible successor because Glen knows he isn't a young guy and he wants to take care of the team for the future and obviously keep in in MN although with a lengthy TC lease I don't know that it's really that much in question but yeah.

So here is what I think.

1. They wait till after the season to see what they are going to do unless things really careen off in a bad way from here on out. That makes a lot of sense

2. Flip may have not had Sam on his short list but it was reported back when Flip was looking that Glen was very interested in Sam as a coach. Maybe Flip convinced Glen Sam wasn't capable but if those earlier reports are true and Sam does a good job it seems unlikely Sam doesn't stick especially if Milt ends up being the guy. I can see it's possible him and Sam working well together long term.

If Sam has reasonable success this year you may as well kiss any hope of JVG taking over goodbye. He isn't going to basically come in and take Sam's job. He might even tell Glen to keep Sam.

To me based on what has happened so far it's Sam's job to lose. Has he been cranky to the media? Yeah but he may soften up on that and who knows Glen may have already talked to him about it. He doesn't have to be an ambassador but he needs to at least be respectful and I think Sam can do that.

Right now the questions about Sam long term is about offense and tactical stuff that will matter in the post season. The reality is we can't fully judge those aspects this early in the season because of all the circumstances. I am not a full Sam Mitchell supporter but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt right now to a certain point. Will he be the long term answer as a championship coach of this franchise? Idk but I tend to be ok with him being the guy for the next couple years at this point. I don't see a nobrainer other guy out there right now. That could change.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I have been thoroughly impressed with how Mitchell has coached this team (aside from media comments he is learning to keep to himself). But it makes no sense to extend him now. Does anyone even know when his current contract as an assistant is up?

But having said that, does anyone believe this team would be sitting at 8-8 if Flip were still the coach? I do not. Which also means I don't put a ton of value in Flip's short list of coaches.

Thus far, Sam has earned the right to have his name considered. And what happens the remainder of the season will determine how seriously he should be considered.

Interesting hypothetical about how the Wolves would be doing if Flip were still coaching. I guess we don't know, but I tend to think our record would be somewhere south of .500. That opinion probably reflects my prejudice that defense wins games, and that we haven't had enough defensive focus for several years. I was already a Mitchell fan, but that first televised practice completely won me over with the hard-nosed emphasis on defense.

BTW, I'm not buying into the prevailing narrative here that Sam is not a good offensive coach. Even though defense is clearly his primary concern, I have been impressed the past several games about the Wolves' success offensively coming out of time outs...I haven't been charting this, but my eye test tells me that the Wolves are having more success coming out of timeouts than their opponents. Jim Peterson has pointed out excellent play calls out of timeouts (generally featuring Wig) in each of the past two games.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

The NBA is a players' game. I think everyone needs to remember that.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

The NBA is a players' game. I think everyone needs to remember that.

Best example of that...the Warriors are undefeated with Luke Walton as the head coach, and a bunch of no names backing him up. Just doesn't seem to matter.

[mjs34]

The NBA is a players' game. I think everyone needs to remember that.

Best example of that...the Warriors are undefeated with Luke Walton as the head coach, and a bunch of no names backing him up. Just doesn't seem to matter.

I think the Warriors are a little overrated. They have played one of the weakest schedules in the NBA. Of the top 15 teams in Stein's PR's, the warriors have played only a couple games against them.

[Lipoli390]

The NBA is a players' game. I think everyone needs to remember that.

Yes! That's a big reason why I think we'd have about the same record with Flip as head coach. Think back to how well we were playing early last season before Ricky went down. And that was without Towns and before the development of Wiggins and LaVine who were fresh out of college.

What we're seeing so far this season, especially defensively, is the Rubio effect and the inside presence of Towns - a combination Flip never had last season.

I'm not suggesting Mitchell deserves no credit. I posted a couple weeks ago my view that the team seems to be assuming Mitchell's toughness, although that toughness might be more a function of Ricky and Towns along with the influence of KG.

I simply think Mitchell's impact is being exaggerated by some in speculating that our record would have been worse under Flip. Just look at Flip's career coaching record compared to Sam's. Look especially at what Flip did with Wolves teams consisting of KG and not much else.

As Cam said, it's a players league. Add defenders like Ricky, Towns and Prince to the rotation and I would expect substantial improvement defensively.