NBA Rumors: Sam Mitchell on the way out of Minnesota?

There are rumblings that the Minnesota Timberwolves are not going to keep head coach Sam Mitchell beyond the 2015-16 NBA season. 

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, “there is a rising belief that [Minnesota Timberwolves] head coach Sam Mitchell could be ousted once the regular season ends” Wednesday night.

Mitchell became the interim head coach for the young Timberwolves team after the untimely passing of previous head coach Flip Saunders. While this was Mitchell’s second stint as an NBA head coach, it does seem that the Timberwolves organization will want to look for an upgrade this upcoming offseason.

While Minnesota will yet again miss the Western Conference Playoffs, the Timberwolves have a young and exciting core that is ready to grow exponentially under the right leader. After going No. 1 overall to the Timberwolves in the 2015 NBA Draft, power forward Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to walk away with NBA Rookie of the Year

Second-year player Andrew Wiggins should become an All-Star in year three at small forward. Zach LaVine has tremendous athletic upside and great ball-handling skills as a second-year pro. Even point guard Ricky Rubio is still in his mid-20s, while the venerable Kevin Garnett says that he’ll be back for another season in a player/coach role.

Given that the Timberwolves have arguably the most intriguing young roster in the NBA since the Oklahoma City Thunder team featuring Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, the Timberwolves could conceivably have the pick of the litter when choosing their next head coach.

For now, it doesn’t seem like Mitchell will stick with the Timberwolves beyond 2015-16. He could potentially stay on as a top assistant like he was supposed to be at the start of the year, but that all depends on who the organization hires to help this young basketball team make giant leaps in the Western Conference this offseason.

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