Sam Mitchell coaching thread

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Khans, you say that Sam hasn't overachieved with this roster. And yet you predicted 26 wins, and even after last night's disappointing loss, they are on pace for 7 more wins than your (and Vegas') prediction...that's overachieving! You say that KAT has been better than anyone expected, but I would also argue that KMart and Shabazz have been worse than anyone would have expected based on their play last year, so there are offsetting factors. And so what if KAT is much better than anyone expected...doesn't the coaching staff get some credit for that? If you are coaching well, you are putting your players in the best possible position for them to overachieve, and it seems to me that that is exactly what Sam has done with KAT. Starting KAT and Wig with three defensive minded guys who weren't expected to score practically demanded that KAT be given every opportunity to start his career out with a bang, and it has worked brilliantly. KAT slumped a little the first few games after Martin replaced Tay in the starting lineup, and I see that as more evidence that Sam's original starting lineup built around our prized youngsters was a stroke of genius.

The fact of the matter is that teams built around 20 and 40 year olds aren't expected to win. Vegas knows this and that's why they posted a win total that the Wolves are well positioned to blow away. Why is so it so difficult to give the coaching staff some credit for that?

[Carlos Danger]

He hasn't overachieved with this roster. Sure, the on paper pre-season version of this team makes this look like he's overachieving. The reality is Towns is way better out of the gate than anyone could have predicted and Wiggins is scoring over 20 PPG's which not many if any thought he'd be doing. Sam has two borderline, but deserving all-stars on this team and yet he continues to not feature Towns as much as he should and he continues to rely very heavily on the likes of Martin and Prince to win him games when they combined have win us what? 2 games? I think this team has underachieved based on how good Towns and Wiggins already are combined with Lavine's improvement and Ricky only missing 6 games. If this team has any semblance of an offensive system those comebacks don't happen, but the offense gets stagnant and second unit defense can't stop anything and the leads disappear fast and in a hurry and he doesn't use timeouts or sub to do anything to stop the other teams momentum and by the time he does it's too late. His coaching tactics have this team underperforming based on the talent. Simple as that.

You say this team doesn't have any semblance of an offensive system....but they are 9th in the NBA in points per game with 102.4. You think this team should be better than that? They were 23rd last year with 97.8 points/game. Personally, I think that's good progress.

As far as not featuring Towns....Towns is getting almost 30 minutes a game and averaging 15 pts/9 rebounds. It's hard to be critical of how he's being used with that production. Towns didn't play a ton of minutes last season....so, is it possible that it might be a good thing to not make him play 40 minutes/game as he adjusts to the NBA?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

He hasn't overachieved with this roster. Sure, the on paper pre-season version of this team makes this look like he's overachieving. The reality is Towns is way better out of the gate than anyone could have predicted and Wiggins is scoring over 20 PPG's which not many if any thought he'd be doing. Sam has two borderline, but deserving all-stars on this team and yet he continues to not feature Towns as much as he should and he continues to rely very heavily on the likes of Martin and Prince to win him games when they combined have win us what? 2 games? I think this team has underachieved based on how good Towns and Wiggins already are combined with Lavine's improvement and Ricky only missing 6 games. If this team has any semblance of an offensive system those comebacks don't happen, but the offense gets stagnant and second unit defense can't stop anything and the leads disappear fast and in a hurry and he doesn't use timeouts or sub to do anything to stop the other teams momentum and by the time he does it's too late. His coaching tactics have this team underperforming based on the talent. Simple as that.

You say this team doesn't have any semblance of an offensive system....but they are 9th in the NBA in points per game with 102.4. You think this team should be better than that? They were 23rd last year with 97.8 points/game. Personally, I think that's good progress.

As far as not featuring Towns....Towns is getting almost 30 minutes a game and averaging 15 pts/9 rebounds. It's hard to be critical of how he's being used with that production. Towns didn't play a ton of minutes last season....so, is it possible that it might be a good thing to not make him play 40 minutes/game as he adjusts to the NBA?

If you watch this team play and think we have a good offensive system in place then I don't know what to say. We're 15th in offensive efficiency so yes there is room for improvement. Frankly the only thing keeping us in the top half of the league offensively is our great FT shooting and ability to draw fouls. That's individual play. Systems don't operate with the goal to draw fouls. They operate to score baskets. So our players are taking Sam's simple/basic system and are using their high end athletic talents to get to the line. That's not Sam.

As far as Towns goes there are long stretches in games where he simply isn't being used as the scoring threat he is capable of being. His combination of success from close, mid and long range and his ability to make foul shots should have him scoring more than 15 PPG.

Overall, I think a better coach gets more out of this team. For every good win we have against an Atlanta or Miami, we have a bad loss to Portland and Denver. Giving up big leads is not only on the players. It's also on the coach for handing the other team long stretches of momentum without making adjustments or calling timeouts.

I'm tired of the narrative that being better than last year's atrocity by as much as we are right now is a sign that Sam can do no wrong. We had 8 healthy bodies for a large chunk of games last year. We added another #1 overall pick, got our starting PG back, added 2 defensive specialists, a Euro-league MVP in his prime abd added another year to the experience of our other young guys. Doubling our win total could have been done by just about any coach in the league with this big of a roster upgrade.

Just look at what Skiles has done with less talent in the better conference right now (better from a parity perspective). We've had a pretty favorable schedule so far and we're sub .500 by several games. We've played 4 games against WC playoff teams and lost every game, so we still have a lot more good teams to play and we're already below .500 by a good margin. If we win less than 30 games do you guys still think Sam will have overachieved? I don't even if he does end up beating the Vegas over/under.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Sam's done fairly well with what he's got so far in my opinion, although he certainly shouldn't be immune to criticism. One of the problems he inherited from Flip is a bunch of one-way players - some on defense and some on offense - and he's trying to figure out the right combination of guys that can get stops while also scoring the basketball. It's not easy.

[Monster]

Yeah Sam has more talent to work with than the 16 winning team last year no doubt. Also the fact that they are I. The playoff picture is sorta weak too the only team that flat out sucks in the WC is the Lakers and NO has a bad record too but who knows at this point.

The bottom line for me is the shine has come off this team the last few games. They don't play like a playoff team anymore. They play more like a 30ish win team which to be honest is still a good thing considering I wasn't feeling that good about the team going into the season. Let's see what the next 10 or so games brings.

Plenty of individual guys have played well particularly Towns. I am not giving Sam and his coaching staff (or KG) credit for Towns brilliance (Sam isn't taking credit for that either) but l'll give him credit for guys playing well.

Offensively it's ugly alot of time. It's a huge number of factors there no doubt about all that.

LST Sam wasn't happy post game but to me it was because of frustration with the loss and directed towards players it wasn't directed to the media at least what I listened to.

I agree with the idea so want a young guy and Brad Stevens seems like a terrific coach but will the next guy be THE guy? Hell we don't even know if Stevens is THE guy at this point although he has looked pretty good so far no doubt. So who is the no doubt young guy? Idk I'm not saying keep Sam because the guy they bring in could fail but I don't have a guy I am bought into like say Hoiberg.

[Tactical unit]

For me I see a team that should be playing better.

For me its all about development of the young players.

For me its about seeing development in Sam's coaching (Preach aggression on both ends and enforce the importance of getting into the offense faster) So many times I see us starting a play later than I like into the shot clock and thus the shot clock becomes our enemy.

For me the best thing about Sam still having a job is that it shows we don't just can a guy and we give a guy full opportunity to prove himself. Sometimes going through failure and finally climbing that mountain as a team, head coach and all brings with it added toughness, added lessons learned and committed strength.

For me Sam's not that coach ( I hope to be wrong). I just want to know what is Sam's plan for this year, the future and how does he plan on executing that plan? Having that addressed would tell me quite a bit about Sam.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Trouble in paradise?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-butler-criticizes-coach-bulls-lose-report-spt-1220-20151219-story.html

I was a big advocate for the Wolves hiring Hoiberg, but it wasn't meant to be. I have to admit that his laid back demeanor has always been a drawback to me...I like fiery coaches. And now Butler is calling out Freddy for not coaching hard enough and staying on his players. I'm pretty sure we will never hear a similar complaint about Mitchell. The Mayor may be more polished in post-game interviews than Sam, but I'm wondering now if we got the better deal. By all reports, Sam owns his locker room and has no problems there.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I always associate the task-master persona with more defensive-oriented coaches. The whole reason Hoiberg felt right for the Bulls is that they needed a fresh and cerebral approach to offense. Thibs did a great job instituting a defensive culture that would last beyond his tenure there. And sure enough, the Bulls are 2nd in defensive rating this season. The irony is that they are near the bottom of the league in offensive rating and really struggle to score efficiently. I'm not sure that has anything to do with Hoiberg's personality, but instead his offensive strategy and tactics.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Sam is a mixed bag for me, but I do like his emphasis on defense. If he ends up being a caretaker and we can sign a better long term coach, I think I'll be thrilled the team went thru boot camp with Sam.