Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors: Tom Thibodeau Finalizing Deal

Minnesota Timberwolves rumors include a report the team is finalizing a 5-year contract with Tom Thibodeau, who will serve as head coach and team president.

Tom Thibodeau has looked better and better with time. As the Chicago Bulls spiraled out of the playoffs, as coaches were fired across the league, as first-year coaches struggled to gain traction, Tom Thibodeau has emerged as the coaching candidate de jour, the man desired by every team with a coaching vacancy.

And attainable no longer, as the Minnesota Timberwolves are finalizing a deal that would bring in Thibodeau as head coach and team president for the next five years. Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical was the first to report the deal:

For Thibodeau this is a homecoming of sorts, as he broke into the league as an assistant coach for the Timberwolves in 1989. After making a name for himself as a tough-nosed defensive assistant in New York, Houston, and Boston, Thibodeau was head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 2010-15, making the playoffs all five years and never finishing with fewer than 45 wins.

Conflict with the team’s front office is rumored to have led to Thibodeau’s dismissal last offseason.

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Thibodeau will fill a role similar to the one the late Flip Saunders held with Minnesota until last October, serving as head coach and team president. To serve as general manager and run the day-to-day operations, Thibodeau is bringing with him Scott Layden. Wojnarowski also was the first to report:

Layden, currently serving as an assistant GM with the San Antonio Spurs, formerly served as general manger of the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks. With his arrival it is expected current GM Milt Newton will be relieved of duties.

With Thibodeau formerly off the market, it is possible competition for Scott Brooks and Jeff Van Gundy heats up, with New York, Houston, Washington, Sacramento, and potentially Los Angeles searching for head coaches.

Good Fit for Minnesota

Tom Thibodeau was clearly the best candidate overall on the market; his coaching record in Chicago was great, he never missed the playoffs, and indeed his teams always seemed to outplay their talent levels. He oversaw an MVP season from Derrick Rose, guiding the Bulls to 60 wins and the top seed in the East in 2010-11.

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Thibodeau also has a record of playoff success, winning 23 playoff games over his five seasons in Chicago, although he never made it past the conference finals. He was also a key assistant in Boston during the prime of their championship runs in the late 2000s, overseeing a defense that was top in the league and shut down opponents in the playoffs.

Thibodeau’s calling card is defense and he follows through by assembling innovate, smart, gritty defenses that flood the strong side and deny opposing offenses their favorite shots. His defenses ranked in the top five in defensive rating each of his first four seasons in Chicago, slipping to 11th during his last season in 2014-15.

With above-average defensive talents in Ricky Rubio, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, the potential is in place for Thibs to mold this group into an elite defensive unit.

Kevin Garnett was the linchpin of those great Boston defenses, and his presence in Minnesota can only ease the transition. Known as a coach in the locker room, Garnett’s familiarity with the defense and vocal support of Thibodeau – who Garnett has often praised publicly – could help to bring the rest of the roster more smoothly into the Tom Thibodeau era in Minnesota.

Minnesota also should benefit on the offensive side of the ball as well. As Kevin Pelton of ESPN pointed out, Thibodeau’s offenses tended to choose high-value shots over lower-value shots, and that allowed Chicago’s offensive talents to shine, especially Derrick Rose, Kyle Korver, and Jimmy Butler.

A major issue in Minnesota for most of last season was shot distribution, and how few three-pointers were taken before the last few months of the season. Opening up the court and encouraging Wiggins and Zach LaVine to shoot from outside could help this offense grow along the right lines and approach the gargantuan ceiling that awaits this collection of talents.

Not All Positive

Thibs being one of the best options doesn’t mean things will be perfect, however. Thibodeau, for all of his innovation and willingness to adapt his schemes to fit the strengths and trends of the league, is committed to his plan for coaching and winning games.

He has shown an unwillingness to take in outside feedback in the past, and shows a rigid devotion to maximizing winning in the short-term without much of a long-term view.

This manifested itself in a number of ways. One public way is the number of minutes his top wing players played. Luol Deng and Jimmy Buter were always at the top of the league in minutes played, often breaking the 40-minute mark and always averaging in the high 30s.

Players often took the court while injured, a trait admirable from the player’s side but troublesome from the coach’s. Is Thibodeau looking out for his players? It’s hard to say.

With the dual role of team president, there has to be concern Thibodeau will focus on short-term gains in making personnel decisions. This has been an issue with other coach-president combinations, most famously the bench signings of Doc Rivers in Los Angeles that has led to his moniker “Roc Divers” by Nate Duncan on his podcast.

The hope is that new GM Scott Layden will bring a mediating voice to the discussion table. Working in San Antonio, it is likely Layden has a good understanding of player health, managing playing time, and playing out a season with postseason success in mind.

There is potential for the pairing to work out tremendously; there is also the risk of trying to shortcut the growing process for this young team.

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The youth of this team brings the other primary concern to the forefront. Thibodeau’s rigidity in his coaching style provides structure, which is a good thing in and of itself. But his hard-nosed philosophy isn’t perfect for every player, and it’s clear there are a variety of learners on this Timberwolves team.

As Rob Mahoney of Sports Illustrated wrote, Wiggins has flourished under a more soft-spoken, conversational method of coaching than others on the team. That doesn’t seem to match with Thibodeau’s brash, hoarse barking from the sidelines.

The team also needs to be empowered; young stars need to take ownership in leading the team, under the guidance of the coach. As Steve McPherson wrote, the culture under Thibodeau in Chicago was more dictated by the coach, more directives than empowerment.

For this Minnesota team to truly flourish, Towns, Wiggins and LaVine need to be cultivated into leaders, not simply followers of the coach.

Just because Thibs has coached in a certain way in the past doesn’t mean he’s pigeon-holed into coaching that way in the future. He spent his year off traveling from team to team, seeing how successful coaches such as Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich managed their teams.

If Thibodeau can loosen his grip slightly and allow the young players under him to grow, it could be a perfect match for coach and club.

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The Timberwolves probably won’t make the playoffs next season, and that’s OK. They have a long path ahead of them that should end in serious title contention, if not championships. Tom Thibodeau is not a perfect coach, and may not have even been the perfect choice.

But he’s a really good coach, and with talents like Towns, Wiggins, and LaVine, that may be all that Minnesota needs.