Minnesota Sports Forum

I won't bother with a game report. The Wolves were competitive except for that stretch in the second half when Jones was at PG and Zach on the bench. Jones is bad enough without having another ballhandler who can score on the floor with him. Interesting that Dieng sat so long in favor of Payne. But I'm done trying to figure out what Sam is thinking. And tonight may have been one of his better games as a head coach.

Here's the reality. We have tremendously talented young 20-21 year old players in Towns, Wiggins, and Zach. We have a couple of slightly older talented yang players in Dieng and Ricky. We will likely have the 5th pick in the upcoming draft and could get lucky and end up with a top three pick. Pretty exciting, right? But now the cold water. Sam will be back as the Wolves head coach next season. I watch Glen and Sam hug and smile before every home game. Well, the hug, smiles and affection between the two before today's game was over the top. Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

lipoli390 wrote: Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

Great read on the situation. That is why being at the game matters. You miss so much on camera.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote: Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

Great read on the situation. That is why being at the game matters. You miss so much on camera.

Yeah, details like that ARE the game report for me. I watch the games on TV, so I don't need a recap of the action, I need a recap of what isn't caught by the frame of the camera--the chemistry during timeouts, interactions between the coaches and players, how the bench players act, how the fans are into it, the details of what players say or how they look when you're close up, that stuff is crucial. Keep it coming, Lip.

Really gonna suck if we have to watch sammich ruin our young talent next year too.

This is probably only the 3rd game I've missed all season, whether watching live or on delay....Glad I missed it. It seems like this team is starting to lose steam after three straight disappointing losses.

BizarroJerry wrote:Really gonna suck if we have to watch sammich ruin our young talent next year too.

The bigger problem is if we don't have a POBO in place for next year. No matter who is the coach, next year is a development year... we could be a marginal playoff team, but even then a likely first round out, no matter who is the coach. I've always felt that 10 more wins is about the ceiling for normal roster development unless you bring in major free agents, as Boston did with Garnett and Allen. So, maybe 40 wins next year, but unlikely to be more than that.

But we simply cannot have Glen deciding on either a GM or coach moving forward. I want to see a POBO in place before next season, then decisions on GM and coach the following year. (I agree with Lip, the love-fest twixt Sam and Glan yesterday convinced me that Sammy is in for next year.)

lipoli390 wrote:I won't bother with a game report. The Wolves were competitive except for that stretch in the second half when Jones was at PG and Zach on the bench. Jones is bad enough without having another ballhandler who can score on the floor with him. Interesting that Dieng sat so long in favor of Payne. But I'm done trying to figure out what Sam is thinking. And tonight may have been one of his better games as a head coach.

Here's the reality. We have tremendously talented young 20-21 year old players in Towns, Wiggins, and Zach. We have a couple of slightly older talented yang players in Dieng and Ricky. We will likely have the 5th pick in the upcoming draft and could get lucky and end up with a top three pick. Pretty exciting, right? But now the cold water. Sam will be back as the Wolves head coach next season. I watch Glen and Sam hug and smile before every home game. Well, the hug, smiles and affection between the two before today's game was over the top. Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

Scary to hear this, but logically I just don't see how we don't go with someone else. Reasons:

1) Wouldn't Sam have been named the coach already if it was going to happen? Why wait?

2) The players haven't responded. It's obvious in their body language, much less win loss record.

3) Lineups. This might be the most glaring failure at all. There has been so many games this year that we have gotten killed by putting a gruesome group of 5 guys together. Earlier in the year it was Zach at the point, along with Bazz, K-Mart, and two other non-starters. Brutal, and yet Sam did it over and over again.

4) The attractiveness of the job. Is there any NBA job that is more attractive right now? 11 years out of the playoffs, a stellar group of young but emerging talent, a top draft pick, coachable players, etc. This job should not be a hard sell!

Keeping Mitchell makes no sense no matter how you look at it. I'd say his one chance would be if the team played much better ball (say .550) over the last 1/3rd of the season. They haven't even come close. If they keep him, it's just another sad organizational failure.

Mstermisty wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I won't bother with a game report. The Wolves were competitive except for that stretch in the second half when Jones was at PG and Zach on the bench. Jones is bad enough without having another ballhandler who can score on the floor with him. Interesting that Dieng sat so long in favor of Payne. But I'm done trying to figure out what Sam is thinking. And tonight may have been one of his better games as a head coach.

Here's the reality. We have tremendously talented young 20-21 year old players in Towns, Wiggins, and Zach. We have a couple of slightly older talented yang players in Dieng and Ricky. We will likely have the 5th pick in the upcoming draft and could get lucky and end up with a top three pick. Pretty exciting, right? But now the cold water. Sam will be back as the Wolves head coach next season. I watch Glen and Sam hug and smile before every home game. Well, the hug, smiles and affection between the two before today's game was over the top. Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

Scary to hear this, but logically I just don't see how we don't go with someone else. Reasons:

1) Wouldn't Sam have been named the coach already if it was going to happen? Why wait?

2) The players haven't responded. It's obvious in their body language, much less win loss record.

3) Lineups. This might be the most glaring failure at all. There has been so many games this year that we have gotten killed by putting a gruesome group of 5 guys together. Earlier in the year it was Zach at the point, along with Bazz, K-Mart, and two other non-starters. Brutal, and yet Sam did it over and over again.

4) The attractiveness of the job. Is there any NBA job that is more attractive right now? 11 years out of the playoffs, a stellar group of young but emerging talent, a top draft pick, coachable players, etc. This job should not be a hard sell!

Keeping Mitchell makes no sense no matter how you look at it. I'd say his one chance would be if the team played much better ball (say .550) over the last 1/3rd of the season. They haven't even come close. If they keep him, it's just another sad organizational failure.

5) Never underestimate the decision-making from the same group that has the longest stretch of playoff-less basketball in the NBA. I can see why Mitchell isn't the guy. You can see it. Others can see it. But some of us would have steered away from the likes of David Kahn, Kurt Rambis, Sidney Lowe, et al.

Our opinion is worthless. The country club is strong with Glen Taylor. My hope is that he realizes that this franchise really has a chance finally... and that takes a new kind of thinking. At 75+ years old or whatever he is... I'm not sure he's up for it though.

Mstermisty wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I won't bother with a game report. The Wolves were competitive except for that stretch in the second half when Jones was at PG and Zach on the bench. Jones is bad enough without having another ballhandler who can score on the floor with him. Interesting that Dieng sat so long in favor of Payne. But I'm done trying to figure out what Sam is thinking. And tonight may have been one of his better games as a head coach.

Here's the reality. We have tremendously talented young 20-21 year old players in Towns, Wiggins, and Zach. We have a couple of slightly older talented yang players in Dieng and Ricky. We will likely have the 5th pick in the upcoming draft and could get lucky and end up with a top three pick. Pretty exciting, right? But now the cold water. Sam will be back as the Wolves head coach next season. I watch Glen and Sam hug and smile before every home game. Well, the hug, smiles and affection between the two before today's game was over the top. Sam in particular seemed incredibly elated with a large smile and lots of banter as he repeatedly patted Glen on the back after a long embrace. I could easily be reading too much into what I saw, but it looked to me like Glen had recently told Sam that he'll be our head coach next season and perhaps beyond.

Scary to hear this, but logically I just don't see how we don't go with someone else. Reasons:

1) Wouldn't Sam have been named the coach already if it was going to happen? Why wait?

2) The players haven't responded. It's obvious in their body language, much less win loss record.

3) Lineups. This might be the most glaring failure at all. There has been so many games this year that we have gotten killed by putting a gruesome group of 5 guys together. Earlier in the year it was Zach at the point, along with Bazz, K-Mart, and two other non-starters. Brutal, and yet Sam did it over and over again.

4) The attractiveness of the job. Is there any NBA job that is more attractive right now? 11 years out of the playoffs, a stellar group of young but emerging talent, a top draft pick, coachable players, etc. This job should not be a hard sell!

Keeping Mitchell makes no sense no matter how you look at it. I'd say his one chance would be if the team played much better ball (say .550) over the last 1/3rd of the season. They haven't even come close. If they keep him, it's just another sad organizational failure.

You bring up some fair points. But I agree that it's looking very likely that Mitchell will be back and have been saying that for a while now. It doesn't make sense for Taylor to announce it any sooner than he as to though. Mitchell will likely add 10+ wins to last year's team...so he can hang his hat on that as "progress". The reality of course is that Flip has rigged this for himself :-). Last year's tank job basically ensured whomever coached would get credit for improvement. Mitchell fell ass backwards right into a situation where all he had to do is not F it up.

In defense of Mitchell, they have been playing better since the All Star break. And Mitchell hasn't had an opportunity to bring in any of "his" people to help run the team. So (like it or not), it wouldn't be unreasonable to think Mitchell will be back with maybe some different assistants.

Danger makes a solid point about "his" (Mitchell's) people. The assistants may be a bigger problem than the head coach. I wish them the best, but they're pretty green... and then you have the retread of all retreads.

Bring in specialists. Guys who know how to make a significant difference on defense would be a great start.