Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 candidates to replace Tom Thibodeau as head coach
With Tom Thibodeau’s tenure with the Minnesota Timberwolves officially over, here’s a look at some of the team’s biggest issues and five potential coaching candidates to take over.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired president and head coach Tom Thibodeau, as first reported by The Athletic‘s Shams Charania. The firing took place on Jan. 6, following the team’s 108-86 win against the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers. The Timberwolves are 19-21 this season, and had an overall record of 97-107 throughout Thibs’ tenure.
Thibs had a record of 255-139 with the Chicago Bulls from 2010-15, and helped the team rank in the top 10 for defensive rating four of the five seasons he was head coach. He entered a promising situation with the Wolves, who had the trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, all of whom were 21 years of age and could learn and improve on defense.
After being hired in 2016, the Timberwolves went an unimpressive 31-51, only a two-win improvement from the 2015-16 season, despite Towns averaging 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. Thibs only played rookie point guard Kris Dunn 17.1 minutes per game and LaVine tore his ACL after 47 games.
Thibodeau opted to speed up the rebuilding process by trading LaVine, Dunn and the No. 7 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft (Lauri Markkanen) to the Chicago Bulls for Jimmy Butler. Butler won the 2014-15 KIA Most Improved Player award under Thibodeau. Thibs also added more of his former Bulls players in Taj Gibson during the offseason, and Derrick Rose after he was waived by the Utah Jazz during the 2017-18 regular season.
The changes seemed to be working, as the Timberwolves ranked fourth in the Western Conference. They were playing well until Butler tore his meniscus, and the T-Wolves fell to the eighth seed in the playoffs.
Although they ended their 14 -ear playoff drought, they were eliminated by the Houston Rockets in five games in the first round. Jimmy Butler came into the season demanding a trade and this created a rift in the locker room. He was frustrated with the younger players’ work ethic and lack of focus, and eventually Minnesota traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Robert Covington and Dario Saric.
The Jimmy Butler saga has been a recent black mark on the team, but there are bigger, more problematic issues. For starters, the Timberwolves have struggled in the very area Thiboodeau was hired to improve: defense. Minnesota ranked 27th in defensive rating the past two seasons, and currently ranks 17th so far in the 2018-19 season.
There’s also the issue with the young players’ character. Wiggins hasn’t improved his game and is uninspired despite being being paid like an All-Star. Towns is also due max money, but has been criticized for not caring about winning and his defense enough. These two 23-year-olds take up a majority of the Timberwolves’ salary cap, and getting them to buy in and actually care is crucial.
Although they ended their postseason drought last season, the T-wolves sit in 11th in the Western Conference and are in danger of missing the playoffs once again. With these issues and more threatening Minnesota’s ability to compete for a playoff spot in both the immediate and long-term future, it will take a better coaching job to right the ship. Here are five candidates that can help.