Minnesota Sports Forum

Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: As president/coach Flip Saunders battles cancer, assistant Sam Mitchell will soon be elevated to Minnesota's interim head coach. 

- via Twitter WojYahooNBA

Great, are we going to attempt any 3's this year?

Sam Mitchell only made 65 3pts his entire career:
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/565/sam-mitchell

I hope Flip is doing alright.

I don't mind Mitchell but he doesn't thrill me either. I think the real fear is that he is the guy that Flip turns the team over to him going forward. I wouldn't be in favor of that either. I don't think that happens but it is a legit worry. The Gates hire is interesting.

This team is stocked with talent. Any coach would look good with this team.

About as bad of news and you can get at this time of year. Worry about Flip, can't stand MItchell as a coach. Just a terrible nugget all the way around.

bleedspeed177 wrote:This team is stocked with talent. Any coach would look good with this team.

That's over the top optimistic Bleed.

Kevin Glasshands wrote:Great, are we going to attempt any 3's this year?

Sam Mitchell only made 65 3pts his entire career:
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/565/sam-mitchell

His Toronto teams took 3 pointers though. They were always in the top half and a couple years they were around the top 5 or so in attempts.

All the best to Flip in his battle. Not surprised that he won't be coaching for a while given what he's going through.

I don't want to kick a guy when he's down so I'm reluctant to criticize Flip. But I can't help being disappointed. As much as many of us have criticized Flip's coaching regarding threes and defense, there is no disputing that he has a long track record of success as an NBA head coach. His record speaks for itself. After his string of successful seasons in the old CBA, he coached he Wolves through a long string of playoff appearances culminating an appearance in the 2004 Western Conference finals. He then coached the Pistons to 2 successive 60-win seasons. Flip has his flaws but his track record and obvious basketball smarts meant the team was in pretty good hands for now

A top flight replacement for Flip would leave me satisfied and possibly relieved. But the Sam Mitchell elevation strikes me as another country club move and that's disappointing. Sam had one good season as a head coach. The next season his players pretty much mutinied and he was canned. Note that no other NBA team showed much if any interest in hiring him as their head coach. Word gets around the League in who can coach and who can't. The word must be out on Sam given the lack of interest in him for multiple head coaching positions since he was released by The Raptors.

I'm guessing that Flip chose Sam as a convenient placeholder for his eventual return following treatment and recovery. I get that, but I don't like it. The core of young players is in place with some vets who might help the young guys make a playoff run as early as this season. Given Flip's situation and the inherent difficulty in performing at a high level as both the head basketball executive and head coach, this is the time for Flip to step down from the head coaching position permanently and hire an elite level or potentially elite head coach for the long haul -- Jeff VanGundy or someone else. Sam Mitchell just doesn't strike me as as that caliber head coach.

Im with those who are disappointed with the mitchell promotion even in an interim basis. Never was fun of him as coach. KG respects the hell out of him though so he has 1 key ally on the team to let them buy into him. We'll see how it goes.

As for flip, his priority right now should be his health, and i wish him a speedy recovery and good health going forward.

I'd be happy with one of Scott Brooks, Jeff Van Gundy or Thibs. Calipari would be a 4th choice. We have close to a perfect situation for a coach to take over. An existing playoff drought with young talented players that should be eventually melded into a perennial playoff team. You'd think we could snag at least one of the aforementioned guys, even on fairly short notice.