The late Flip Saunders was doing a great job with this Minnesota Timberwolves team before he unfortunately passed away. Since his passing, Milt Newton has taken over as the general manager, and Sam Mitchell has been the interim head coach. After this season is over, the Timberwolves will have decisions to make on both of them, but it doesn't look like Mitchell is the man for the job, according to Jim Souhan of The Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The Timberwolves came into this season as a team that many people found very intriguing due to all of their talent. Many expected the Timberwolves to compete for a playoff spot and show massive improvement, but while they are only 5.5 games back of the eighth spot, their 12-28 record is the second worst in the Western Conference.
Owner Glen Taylor promised to give both Newton and Mitchell the full year to show what they can do with this team after Saunders passed away. It is tough to judge Newton now because he hasn't had any moves to make, and he really needs an offseason to show what he can do. Souhan, though, thinks he has seen enough evidence to support the fact that Mitchell is not the right fit for this team moving forward.
With the talent on this roster, including the last two first overall picks, Mitchell seemingly hasn't shown enough growth with this team, according to Souhan, and he believes that if there is any reason to believe he isn't the right guy they should move on. Mitchell is a tough coach, and because of that, he can sometimes rub players the wrong way, and that is exactly what happened with Zach LaVine. LaVine said earlier this year that Mitchell's approach towards him has been unfair, and that is not something Mitchell wants out there if he is going to retain his job past this season.
There have been no indications as to which way the Timberwolves are leaning when it comes to Mitchell's future so far, but a change does seem likely. The Timberwolves only won 16 games last season and are on pace for 24 wins this season so they have improved so far this year, but the expectations coming into this season were certainly higher than just showing some improvement. That could ultimately be the undoing of Mitchell as the Timberwolves head coach.
