Jim Souhan ignited a conversation about Timberwolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell with a column that appeared in Friday’s Star Tribune, writing of Mitchell that he is “the coaching version of curdled milk. He has complained about his plight and his team and even his training staff instead of realizing how lucky he is to get a chance to coach these players.”

Souhan recommends this to the Wolves: “Last summer, I suggested that Mitchell was worthy of a look as the Wolves’ head coach. I still believe that — he was worth a look. … There are two reasons for the Wolves to end Mitchell’s tenure. First, his is not the right personality to guide enthusiastic young stars. Second, if the Wolves hired an informed consultant to rank the best coaching options available, Mitchell might not make the top 15.”

Based on all the chatter the column generated, it seemed like a good idea to round up a handful of other opinions from those who follow the NBA and/or specifically the Timberwolves closely to see what they think the Wolves should do about Mitchell and the head coach position. Here are five such opinions: two culled from things national writers had already said or written, two graciously provided by local Timberwolves writers specifically for the Star Tribune and one from me:

Adrian Wojnarowski

On a recent video for Yahoo’s The Vertical, Woj — the lock-down national source for NBA news — had this to say about the Wolves and Mitchell: “The longer the Steve Kaplan-Jason Levien group goes without completing its deal to purchase 30 percent of the team from owner Glen Taylor, the better chance Mitchell has to survive another year. … For now, Kevin Garnett’s endorsement of Sam Mitchell goes a long way with Glen Taylor. Several elite coaches see the Wolves as maybe the most intriguing-coaching job that could become available this offseason. And that’s because of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the great young talent with the Wolves, but right now, the minority ownership snag is keeping everything in limbo.”

After Woj said that, further comments from Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor (who also owns the Star Tribune), indicated the sale to Kaplan’s group is “probably not going to happen.” As such, while Woj is not outright endorsing Mitchell he is showing off the case for why Mitchell either could or should be back in 2016-17.

Matt Moore



In a recent piece, CBS’s Moore noted that the decision of whether to keep Mitchell is complicated by a number of circumstances — one being as simple as on-court performance. Writes Moore:

“It’s tough to say that the team has benefited from Mitchell being in charge. His fourth-quarter rotations have yielded consternation, and an argument can be formed that as promising as the Wolves seem, they should have taken even more steps forward this year. On the other hand, this is a brutally young and talent-short roster. Trying to determine what degree Mitchell has hindered the roster, or that the roster has hindered Mitchell, is a hornet’s nest.”

Steve McPherson

McPherson, a talented local basketball writer whose work has appeared many places, including Rolling Stone, offered this when asked about the situation:

“With ownership questions still up in the air and the team’s decent record over the last 25 games, it’s not a terrible idea to keep Mitchell on next year. He might never be ideally suited for the role of head coach of a young team as far as temperament goes, but continuity has its own value as well. If the team is presented with a golden opportunity as far as the right coach becoming available and being interested, they need to make a run at it, but Mitchell’s performance in and of itself has not been so bad as to warrant firing him with no crystal clear plan to replace him. There’s probably a ceiling on how good they can be with him at the helm, but they’re not close to hitting it yet.”

John Meyer

Meyer, who covers the Timberwolves for the SBNation blog Canis Hoopus, acknowledges that Mitchell has exceeded some expectations but still advocates for change. Meyer wrote this when I reached out to him about the coaching situation:

“Sam Mitchell has done better than most fans will probably give him credit for as the interim head coach, but he was never supposed to have this job in the first place and when the season concludes the organization should conduct a thorough search for his replacement. There are too many great candidates available on the market today to simply sit back and stick with Mitchell. Tom Thibodeau would be an amazing hire that could instill the defensive culture the core desperately needs (we know they can get buckets). Kevin Ollie, Ettore Messina, Luke Walton, David Blatt, Scott Brooks, Jeff Hornacek, and Ime Udoka are all interesting candidates to look at as well.

The Wolves need to learn that hiring the best people requires a focused and rigorous search without nepotism. If you conduct a real search for a coach, and the team has a bad year, it makes sense to stick with your guy if you have faith and trust in your process. That isn’t Mitchell. He was named head coach due to tragedy and while spectators should acknowledge that he stepped into a tough spot and has done some positive things with the team, that’s not enough to keep him around. Get the best coach you can. Period. There needs to be a real consideration of every available candidate.

Better options than Mitchell exist, and finding the best one is up to Taylor (and Milt Newton to some degree). The team needs to close a deal this summer that will inject new blood on the sidelines and a fresh voice in the locker room. Kicking the can down the road for another year isn’t the right play during this pivotal offseason.

Michael Rand

Hey, that’s me. Here’s what I wrote after considering both my own thoughts and the opinions of the rest:

Like everyone else whose opinions are expressed on this post, I can see both sides of this. I also sense that some of the younger players don’t like Mitchell’s old-school style, but I also don’t mind that conflict. As long as Mitchell’s tough love doesn’t cross into a territory of washing away a player’s confidence, it can be downright healthy to demand improvement of players who have spent most of their lives being told how great they already are.

And there’s this: they might not all like him, but they’re showing improvement under him. The timeline of the season, particularly the growth of the past couple of months, gives rise to the notion that Mitchell has done a credible job during his audition. Stepping into a head coaching job under tragic circumstances and with a roster filled with very young talent is not an easy undertaking. You might even look at the improvement of key players (Zach LaVine, Ricky Rubio, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng) and say Mitchell has done a good job.

Even if you believe that, though, you also have to reconcile this: Is this a case where good is the enemy of great? That is to say, if this is a job that would attract top coaching candidates — as many people believe it is — don’t the Timberwolves owe it to themselves to explore every opportunity for an upgrade even if they are satisfied with what Mitchell has done?

This was the same philosophy that led the Gophers to fire Glen Mason and Tubby Smith and replace them with Tim Brewster (a failure) and Richard Pitino (a coach with a lot to prove next season). So there is an element of danger. But if you think you are building a championship-caliber roster and don’t have a championship-caliber coach, there might not be much point in sticking with the status quo even if you aren’t built to win right now.

What all of these opinions illustrate, though, is that this is a complicated decision. Two months ago, it seemed easier — and it’s to Mitchell’s credit that he has positioned this team in a way that keeping him for at least another season is a viable option.