After the Minnesota Timberwolves finished their regular season blowing out the New Orleans Pelicans at Target Center, they made an official announcement. Sam Mitchell was relieved of his duties as head coach.

The Wolves finished the year winning four of their last five games, including a victory at Golden State, and appeared to be understanding what Mitchell and his assistants have been trying to emphasize this season.

They finished the year with 29 wins, about twice as many as last season.

Mitchell stepped into a tough situation.

Flip Saunders announced in August he would be taking a leave to get healthy after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, which doctors said was treatable. Mitchell was named the interim head coach.

Complications occurred and Saunders died on October 25.

Mitchell continued through the season with the interim label and team owner Glen Taylor said he would make a decision at the end of the season.

Taylor has hired professional search firm Korn Ferry to assist in the search and clearly wanted to make the announcement sooner rather than later so top candidates wouldn't jump at other jobs.

The position in Minnesota is considered to be a great job because the Wolves have some terrific young players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, not to mention Zach LaVine and Ricky Rubio.

Former Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and Oklahoma City head coach and former Timberwolves player Scott Brooks are the top names mentioned, along with current Memphis head coach and Minnesota native Dave Joerger.

The Minnesota team announcement states that Mitchell will not be included in the work provided by the search firm and that he could be "considered later." That probably means if the other candidates turn down Minnesota, opting instead to coach the Houston Rockets or New York Knicks.

I believe Mitchell has earned the right to be part of the process. He has proven he can coach, winning the NBA Coach of the Year award during the 2006-07 year while in Toronto. That team improved by 20 games and Mitchell led the Raptors to two playoff appearances in the four seasons he coached there.

The future stars of the Timberwolves, Towns and Wiggins, both said this week they hoped Mitchell would be brought back.

If the Wolves make a change Rubio, Gorgui Dieng and company will have their fourth coach in as many seasons. They will have to learn the new coach's systems and it could set them back another season.

Continuity is crucial to success at any level of sports. Changing coaches just to change coaches never works.

The improvement seen in the Minnesota team during the course of the season is very evident.

Even though I believe they need to become a much better defensive team, I like the idea of keeping Mitchell in the conversation.

General manager Milt Newton is also being evaluated, but was not relieved of his duties after the final regular season game at Target Center on Wednesday night.

I'm not opposed to the team conducting a search. I just feel Mitchell has been very classy during this situation and has shown a team will improve under his leadership.

After the game he told reporters he was proud of all his players and chuckled about the Minnesota job being touted as a great one. When the season began he noted "nobody was saying this was a great job and now it's a great job. I'm happy about that."

Happy because Mitchell knows it proves others in the NBA see the improvement he and his assistants were able to develop in the team.

I hope Glen Taylor and anybody else involved in the decision will remember that fact when making their choice or choices.

Target Center Minneapolis
Target Center Minneapolis
loading...

 

 

More From KQCL Power 96