The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to terms with Tom Thibodeau to become the team’s next head coach and president of basketball operations. The deal is reportedly worth $50 million over five years. The two sides have been in constant discussion over the past few days, and they reached an official deal this evening. The franchise has also hired Scott Layden, a former member of the San Antonio Spurs front office, as general manager.
Thibodeau formerly served as the Chicago Bulls head coach from 2010-2015, where he enjoyed plenty of success. In his first season with the Bulls he was awarded as the NBA Coach of the Year after leading the team to a 62 win season and the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Thibodeau has a career mark of 255-139 as a head coach, good for a .647 winning %. Prior to coaching the Bulls, he was an assistant coach in the NBA for 21 years, most notably with the Boston Celtics from 2007-2010, which of course included Boston’s NBA championship in 2008.
Tom Thibodeau is arguably the game’s best defensive coordinator, which helped define the Bulls and Celtics teams he coached over the past decade. While highly regarded as one of the best coaches in the league, he is often criticized, and rightfully so, for overplaying his starters an excessive number of minutes each night. Also, it remains to be seen how Thibodeau fares in his new front office role, something he has never had much experience in. On the sidelines, this is undoubtedly a fantastic hire for the Wolves, but Thibodeau as a president of basketball operations could possibly be a disaster.
Minnesota has an extremely talented young core to build around, which made this job opening the most appealing one in the NBA. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins (both of whom are 21 or younger) are superstars in the making, and Gorgui Dieng, Zach LaVine, and Ricky Rubio are also talented, young pieces to work with. The Wolves also have the fifth best odds to win the lottery this upcoming draft, so a new stud is soon to be on his way. With Thibodeau now on board, the future is even brighter in Minnesota.
The Wolves coaching situation has been unstable this past season due to the unfortunate passing of the late Flip Saunders, who lost his battle to cancer last year. Saunders coached the team for a decade from 1995-2005, and then he served as the head coach and president of basketball operations of the franchise during the 2014-15 season. Sam Mitchell was the interim head coach for the entirety of the 2015-16 campaign, guiding the Wolves to a 29-53 season.
Scott Brooks’ past success with player development – Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden all began their careers under Brooks – may have made him a better fit in the eyes of some, but it was clear from the start that Thibodeau was the man the Wolves wanted for the job. He and Jeff Van Gundy were the finalists for the position.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have just added one of the best coaches in the NBA to the sidelines at Target Center. This is an excellent hire for a franchise on the rise in the Western Conference.
