The three trials and tribulations for the Minnesota Timberwolves
By Ethan Becker
Trial No. 3: Inexperienced coaching
One of the few bright points from the Tom Thibodeau era of Timberwolves history was his replacement. Minnesota fans were gutted at the sudden death of Flip Saunders in 2015, just days before the beginning of the 2015-16 season, and promoting his son Ryan to the head coaching role curried favor from the fanbase.
Unfortunately, since taking the reigns of the team Saunders has seen some criticism for some of the decisions he has made.
The biggest step Saunders needs to make is solidifying a rotation, especially for the second- and third-tier players. However, with the recent additions that the Timberwolves front office made this offseason, that could be significantly harder.
Saunders is aided in his efforts by his assistant coaching staff, who have a combined 25 seasons of experience under their belt, but there is a small roadblock in his way with the front office, who (aside from general manager Scott Layden) are relatively inexperienced at running an NBA team.
One advantage that Saunders has, which may go a long way towards establishing a good system in Minnesota, is the trust of the players.
After Saunders’ first game, a win over the OKC Thunder, the entire Timberwolves locker room showered Saunders with water in the back, and at the time, it was clear that there was a renewed energy among the roster since leaving the previous regime. At that time, Towns praised Saunders to The Athletic‘s Jon Krawczynski:
"He [Saunders] showed his whole coaching repertoire tonight…He stayed as composed as anybody tonight. Gave us positive energy. Kept telling us to fight and kept making the right moves. He was playing chess the whole night and came out with checkmate."
It’s also worth noting that everyone in the franchise–from President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas, the CEO Ethan Casson, to Taylor–all sign Saunders’ praises. With the full support of the roster, the front office, and management behind him, it is up to Saunders to determine whether he sinks or swims with this new team.