Minnesota Timberwolves: The NBA’s Dark Horse This Year
By Dan Schultz
With the hiring of Tom Thibodeau and the budding young core of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ are the NBA’s darkhorse this year.
After finishing 29-53 this past season, the Minnesota Timberwolves knew they needed to shake things up. They did not bring back head coach Sam Mitchell, deciding instead to bite the bullet and give Tom Thibodeau both head coaching and president of basketball operations duties, as well as a hefty five-year, $40 million deal.
While there are some skeptics out there when it comes to giving coaches too much control of their organizations, the Timberwolves absolutely did the right thing by giving these responsibilities to Thibs, a guy who eats, drinks, and breathes basketball.
He has a coaching record of 255-139, and a remarkable 64.7 winning percentage for his career. In other words, he’s a great coach, something the Wolves haven’t had in, well, ever really. Plus, we already know he has players’ backs, even when they’re flopping right into him:
Pairing his tough-nosed coaching style with the exciting potential of stars in the making like Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and possibly Kris Dunn is a brilliant move. The biggest hurdle to climb will be the initial adjustment period, as these young guys have never had a coach like Thibodeau before.
He worked wonders with the Chicago Bulls, where many forget that before Derrick Rose’s injury in the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the Bulls were the No. 1 seed and thought to be a huge threat to knocking off the Miami Heat.
The challenge for Thibs will be not to burn his young guys out and numb them to his coaching style, after he ran into problems in Chicago by playing his guys too much and wearing them down.
Given the length and versatility the Wolves possess, expect Thibs to turn them into a defensive juggernaut. With Towns patrolling the paint, and Wiggins, LaVine and Dunn roaming around the perimeter, this team is going to constantly be looking to rack up steals and get out quickly in transition.
In fact, after the sudden departure of Kevin Durant, don’t be shocked if the Timberwolves take the Oklahoma City Thunder’s place as the best team in the Northwest Division. They are clearly the biggest dark horse in not just the Western Conference, but the entire NBA this season.
They now have a top-five coach in the NBA working the sidelines, and some really incredible pieces that he can develop over time. They have already proven they can compete with the league’s best after taking down the Golden State Warriors last season:
Perhaps most importantly, outside of the Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs, the rest of the NBA really isn’t all that competitive. It will take a lot for the Wolves to thrust themselves into the same discussion as those three teams, but they absolutely have the talent to be very competitive.
Towns, Wiggins, and LaVine will all have to put together career years for this to happen, something that is definitely in play.
Although it’s unfair to expect the Timberwolves to become a titan in the Western Conference right away, they are a team that fans should watch on NBA League Pass as much as possible.
More hoops habit: The Biggest Winners And Losers Of Free Agency
They are oozing with potential and the changes the organization has made this summer promise to be positive for a long-suffering fan base that just wants their team to be relevant once again. They have a lot to look forward to this coming season.