Wolves' Sam Mitchell sure his way is right way for young team

Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell was talking with former NBA coach and current TV commentator Doug Collins before Friday's nationally-televised game with Oklahoma City.

The two agreed there are two kinds of teams a coach wants. Either one filled with good vets ready to contend, or a team filled with young players full of potential.

Anything in-between? No thanks.

And so, despite a nine-game losing streak, Mitchell loves the team he has. And, after practice Saturday, Mitchell defended his work developing that Wolves young roster.

"Our three leading scorers are our young guys," Mitchell said of Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine. That will be a blessing a year or two from now. It's tough when they're developing. But everything they're going through is going to make them better."

It's clear Mitchell would like to still be the coach when the benefits of that development are reaped. He also knows that, as the Wolves losing streak has gotten longer — it reached nine Friday — the criticism has grown louder. But Mitchell — who went through a similar situation in Toronto — is confident he is the right man for the job of developing this young team.

"Explain to me how we're blocking the young guys?" Mitchell said. "When Andrew Wiggins is a 20-point scorer, and there are only 20 of those in the league? Karl-Anthony Towns is doing something that no rookie has done in 20 years. Zach LaVine is in the process of learning a new position and is our third-leading scorer. And Shabazz Muhammad has made tremendous strides. Gorgui Dieng has made strides …

"Now tell me, how are we hurting them?"

Mitchell is a self-described old school coach. Again Friday he left many of his young players in the game in the fourth-quarter of a one-sided loss, hoping they'd learn from the experience. He has admitted being hard on LaVine, even allowing as his style hasn't always been fair.

"Yes, I tell him that all the time," Mitchell said. "I tell him, 'It's hard, Zach, and sometimes it's unfair.' But that's the way young players learn."

As an example Mitchell offered Muhammad. The coaches were trying to get him to look for his teammates more, make the extra pass, play better defense. When he didn't do that, his minutes took a tumble late in December. But, once Mitchell saw Muhammad making the effort, the minutes increased.

"I didn't give him those minutes," Mitchell said. "He earned them."

But, as the losses mount, so does the pressure. Mitchell admitted Saturday that his team very much needed to experience a win, and soon, just to see some return on his players' investment.

But he's not going to change his approach. He said his experience in Toronto — where he won 33 and 27 games in his first two seasons before jumping to 47 wins and a division title in his third — gives him the confidence he's doing the right thing.

"Two years from now, if we don't do what we're doing now, we're never going to win, or compete, for playoff spots, or for the Western Conference or an NBA championship," he said. "So my job is this. Even though it's painful to do the right thing. And the right thing is to teach the young players — with the help of the veterans — how to play. And if I had not been through it before, maybe I'd panic. Maybe I'd be worried."

But now he's determined to stay on his course.

"There are no shortcuts," Mitchell said.