The bizarre Dave Joerger situation has come to an end. The hands-on Memphis owner (who wanted to take on one of his players in a one-on-one game for charity) and wanted to fire a coach he hadn’t ever really spoken to since he was hired more than a year before, a coach who was told to go ahead and talk to Minnesota, that owner now thinks said coach is great and everything is just swell. Nothing to see here, move alon. The coach is staying in the land of great barbecue. (Well, there’s that pesky little detail of needing to find a GM to be the boss of said coach, but sure everything is swell.)
So, where does that leave Minnesota?
With Joerger out it looks like Sam Mitchell is the guy at the front of the line, speculates Sid Hartman at the Star Tribune.
With the news coming Sunday that Dave Joerger and the Grizzlies had patched up their relationship and he would remain the Memphis head coach, the new favorite for the Wolves coaching position has to be Sam Mitchell….
It’s surprising that a Memphis team that had gutted its front office would bring Joerger back, but reports are that the Grizzlies wanted to swap first-round picks in this year’s draft and get a second-round pick in order to let Joerger leave, which was far too steep a price for the Wolves.
So look now for Saunders to target his former player and a well-respected voice in the NBA in Mitchell.
Put me in the camp that think the issue of compensation — Minnesota didn’t want to give up anything for a coach Memphis wanted to fire — stalled back-channel conversations, which led Griz owner Robert Pera to call Joerger and that changed his mind on the coach. So stability is the word of the day in Memphis.
Mitchell would be a good hire for Minnesota. Not a “Kevin Love is changing his mind and wants to stay now” kind of hire, but then again that kind of hire never existed. This would a good hire. Mitchell is a quality coach who can guide this roster though some choppy waters ahead. There is a lot of change coming to Minnesota’s roster in the next year, the only question is now well they maneuver through the transition.