Minnesota Sports Forum

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is because of Sam Mitchell, the Wolves are going to miss the playoffs again. The good news is because of Sam Mitchell, we have a chance at the top prize, Ben Simmons in next year's draft. Yes, I'm going to rip on Sam tonight. His ego dwarfs his resume. I've never seen a coach grandstand as much as he does, and yet accomplish basically nothing. I wish he would prepare his team in practice and meetings instead of trying to catch up during the games. So here's the "this isn't all about you Sam" 2 + 1:

1) If you're going to insist on making Zach Lavine a point guard, why don't you play to his strengths? If anybody was born to be a penetrate and kick type PG it's Zach. Instead Sam has him dribble across the timeline and then basically come to a complete stop at one of three points above the arc. From there he is forced to try and make an awkward bounce pass to any one of a number of targets. By this time the shot clock is around 10 seconds and we end up taking a contested jumper or other difficult shot. Zach should be penetrating on more than half of the sets. His first option should be his own offense. His 2nd should be to kick the ball to the open man. He should play the same way Westbrook does for OKC. Of course he's not at that level yet but that should be the prototype for him.

2) One thing that Flip had a lot of success with is getting Wiggins the ball down on the block with his back to the basket. Andrew routinely punished teams down there. He basically made anybody trying to check him his bitch. What happened to that strategy? What we see today is Sam having him play from the outside in. He typically catches the ball just inside the arc, or just above the arc at the top of the key. From there he is facing the basket and relies on his handle and athleticism to try and get to the tin. Flip was smart, the idea was to get him the ball down there so he could immediately go to work. You would think someone like Jim Pete would recognize this and mention it. But he's too busy riding Sam's nuts to be objective. Again, Sam needs to play to a players strengths instead of making it more difficult for him.

Plus 1 - There really isn't much to be positive about right now. But one thing has been a pleasant surprise. Did anyone think we would be this healthy after 23 games (28% of the season)? Ricky missed some time, but Martin, KG, and Shabazz have all been there just about every night. And the bonus is you can expect to see Pek before too long. If he can give us 20 minutes per night it will make a big difference. I'm anxious to see what a KAT / Pek combination looks like.

So we've been very healthy overall, and that is a welcome change from recent history. And that's Cool's 2 things I didn't like tonight Plus 1.

Couldn't have put it any better myself, Sam does everything to exaggerate the bad and limits what they do well. Sam's backers will see the light, he's into micro-managing and complaining rather than trusting his pre-game preparation. You mention my man with the grim reaper that bangs in the post like a boss, if he can ever find good health for a long period of time I will be really excited cause he's a load to handle.

Nice points, pretty quiet here today, apathy setting in after a good start and a long losing steak to mostly bad teams. Hmmm....I know I've been preaching patience, but all this with a mostly healthy team. I feel bad for KAT, our only good player this year.

It's fine to rip Mitchell.

But I wouldn't want to let the players completely off the hook. The Wolves played bad basketball today. So many unforced TOs. It's a young team. And not a particularly good one.

The coach may not be helping. But I don't think he's the only reason.

The young talent will develop just with an additional year under their belts so Sam will get credit for the players just like the players will take some of the blame, that's only natural. The important part is that if Sam can adapt and grow along with them then he's fine. However we haven't seen much of that, it's been as bad as it gets in the past 7 games,

Tactical unit wrote:The young talent will develop just with an additional year under their belts so Sam will get credit for the players just like the players will take some of the blame, that's only natural. The important part is that if Sam can adapt and grow along with them then he's fine. However we haven't seen much of that, it's been as bad as it gets in the past 7 games,

True.

Again, I think it's a combination. Some very key players are struggling right now. For example, Rubio remains arguably the team's most important player. And he's not playing at a high level in the past 6 games. We know the team does better when he's on the court over his career. But what about when he's playing below his usual standards?

He hasn't made a shot in 3 of the past 6 games. And only 1 basket in another game. In all, he's made 9 baskets in 6 games. But it's more than shooting. I don't think he's had a signature Rubio-esque game in the bunch where he's dictating flow and controlling it on both ends of the court. As a veteran leader... as arguably THE veteran leader on the squad, it's time he does more than be a caretaker to help the team out of the current skid.

A veteran in the first year of a $14M per year contract should have that in him. And I hope we see it soon.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Tactical unit wrote:The young talent will develop just with an additional year under their belts so Sam will get credit for the players just like the players will take some of the blame, that's only natural. The important part is that if Sam can adapt and grow along with them then he's fine. However we haven't seen much of that, it's been as bad as it gets in the past 7 games,

True.

Again, I think it's a combination. Some very key players are struggling right now. For example, Rubio remains arguably the team's most important player. And he's not playing at a high level in the past 6 games. We know the team does better when he's on the court over his career. But what about when he's playing below his usual standards?

He hasn't made a shot in 3 of the past 6 games. And only 1 basket in another game. In all, he's made 9 baskets in 6 games. But it's more than shooting. I don't think he's had a signature Rubio-esque game in the bunch where he's dictating flow and controlling it on both ends of the court. As a veteran leader... as arguably THE veteran leader on the squad, it's time he does more than be a caretaker to help the team out of the current skid.

A veteran in the first year of a $14M per year contract should have that in him. And I hope we see it soon.

He's not only struggling scoring, but the offense isn't running smoothly, hes gambling and chasing far too much on defense and to top it off he's not making players around him better .
9 baskets in 6 games, say that a couple times and let that sink in. That is true futility. Maybe Ricky isn't just who he is, maybe he's less of a player than what he used to be. It's a fair and honest question worth pondering.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:It's fine to rip Mitchell.

But I wouldn't want to let the players completely off the hook. The Wolves played bad basketball today. So many unforced TOs. It's a young team. And not a particularly good one.

The coach may not be helping. But I don't think he's the only reason.

Agree 100%. The players looked like shit last game. All of them. Where was the pride?