Wolves' Mitchell: 'You have to earn the right to shoot threes'

While Minnesota Timberwolves president and head coach Flip Saunders undergoes treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, Sam Mitchell has taken the reins as interim head coach of the team.

In doing so, he has already embodied his boss' mentality when it comes to 3-point shooting.

Mitchell's sentiment here supports a common basketball mantra - a player must first prove that he is capable of cashing in from downtown consistently enough to warrant a green light from his coach.

Should any of Mitchell's players wonder how they can go about achieving such free rein from beyond the arc, they should pay heed to his clear directive.

If this cause-and-effect relationship between practicing threes, making threes, and being given in-game opportunities to take threes seems painfully obvious, it's because it is.

Saunders - who has coached only two teams since 2000 that have ranked in the top 20 in 3-point attempts - has never been known to rely on the long ball.

The 2014-15 iteration of the Wolves - again, led by Saunders - finished last in the league in long-range attempts with just 14.9 per game.

Entering the 2015-16 campaign, Mitchell will have a roster equipped with less than a handful of players who have career averages from deep that will keep defenses honest; Kevin Martin (38.5 percent), Tayshaun Prince (37 percent), Shabazz Muhammad (37.1 percent despite a small sample size), and Tyus Jones (37.9 percent after one year at Duke).

Suffice it to say, whomever hoists shots from 3-point land this upcoming season, Wolves fans can be rest assured that they have earned the right to do so.