Minnesota Timberwolves: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 20 Games Into Season
By Aaron Mah
Through 20 games, the Minnesota Timberwolves have surprised many; showing plenty of good, some bad, and occasionally the ugly.
As we officially encroach past the quarter mark if the 2015-16 NBA campaign, the Minnesota Timberwolves have remained one of the pleasant surprises — and, perhaps, the most genuine feel good story — of the young season.
In a year where storylines are aplenty — from the invincible Golden State Warriors tearing through the league at a record-setting pace, to Kobe Bryant‘s impromptu retirement tour — the Wolves, a team that many prognosticators had believed to be a sub-20 win squad prior to the start of the season, have worn and played with the death of their beloved former head coach, Flip Saunders, on their sleeves, and are somehow in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
However, despite their stark improvement, there’s a vociferous contingent of Timberwolves nation calling for Sam Mitchell‘s head.
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For one, his questionable rotations and puzzling late-game schemes have drawn much of the contentious ire. Moreover, his allegiance towards the Zach LaVine point guard experiment has caused many Wolves fans to bang their heads — and hint: they’re not doing it to emulate Kevin Garnett.
On the other hand, the defense has drastically improved under the guidance of Mitchell, and his decision to tether his savvy veterans, like Garnett and Tayshaun Prince, along with his impressionable core of young pups, like LaVine, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, has proven to be a prosperous experiment.
So while no one, with the exception of the people within the organization and their immediate families, expected Minnesota to be 8-12 at this point into the young season, many feel — with the way Wiggins and Towns are developing — the Wolves should be performing much better if a coaching change were to be made.
Although firing Mitchell this year wouldn’t make much sense — financially, schematically, or sentimentally — I do believe the partnership will not last past this season.
For now, we will just have to accept the pros and the cons of Smitch, and enjoy the development and glimpses that players like LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, and Shabazz Muhammad are providing on a game-to-game basis.
Next: The Good: Wiggs & KAT