The Minnesota Timberwolves were the hottest commodity for coaches on the open market.
And for good reason.
The team has this year’s Rookie of the Year in Karl-Anthony Towns. There’s Andrew Wiggins, last year’s Rookie of the Year. Ricky Rubio is one of the best defensive point guards in the NBA. And don’t’ forget about Zach LaVine, who is oozing with potential.
The team has drawn comparisons to the young Oklahoma City Thunder team highlighted by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
Who wouldn’t want to coach that?
The top coaching candidate on the market was Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau took a year off after a great run as head coach with the Chicago Bulls, piling up a 255-139 record over five seasons while reaching the playoffs in every season. Thibodeau was named the Coach of the Year in 2010-11 and is also an assistant coach with the USA Basketball Team.
Seldom does the best team match up with the best coach on the open market. In fact, that almost never happens.
It did, though, on Wednesday evening when the Timberwolves announced that they had hired Thibodeau as the team’s new President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach.
“(Thibodeau) is the best coach available on the market right now,” ESPN NBA writer Brian Windhorst said. “The Wolves have the best young roster that we’ve seen probably since the Thunder.”
You could look at his resume for days. Not just aimlessly looking – but reading. That’s how long it is.
This is his claim to fame.
Need proof?
Before arriving as an assistant in Boston in 2007, the Celtics ranked 24th in the league in opponent field goal percentage. Then Thibodeau arrived and turned the Celtics into a top-five defense, helping them win the championship in 2008.
In four of his five seasons with Chicago, the Bulls finished top-three in both points allowed and defensive field goal percentage.
Thibodeau pays great attention to detail, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
The Wolves finished 23rd in the NBA in opponent field goal percentage (46.4 percent) and 16th in points allowed per game (102.5) last season.
“They were in the mid-20s defensively this year,” Windhorst said. “I think with Tom Thibodeau and the personnel they have, they could be a borderline top-10 defensive team next year.”
Wiggins and Towns, especially, certainly have the tools to be great defenders. Thibodeau, as coach and President of Basketball Operations, knows it’s in his best interest on and off the court to make sure they turn into just that.
When Kevin Garnett was on the floor last season, although it was only 38 games, the Wolves were much better defensively. Some of it had to do with Garnett being in the right place at the right time. A lot of it had to do with communication.
Two of the best defensive minds in basketball history (if Garnett returns in 2016-17) will be reunited after spending 2007-2010 together in Boston.
Thibodeau’s first professional coaching gig actually started in Minnesota. After stints at Salem State University and Harvard, Thibodeau joined the Wolves as an assistant coach in 1989 under head coach Bill Musselman. He remained with the Wolves until 1991.
While he’s risen up the ranks since then, so has his hair (sorry, Coach).
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Glen Taylor and the Wolves are going for it.
Taylor recognizes that this is the most talent the Wolves have had on a team since probably the 2003-04 season with Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell.
This team is young, though, and with that comes being impressionable. That’s natural. By hiring Thibodeau, the Wolves brought in one of the most-respected coaches in the business. He will instill the right culture – a winning one – for these players.
The playoffs should be the goal for the 2016-17 season. It’s easier said than done. This is a team that only won 29 games last season, 12 games back from the eighth seed in the West. But with the core of the team improving and the addition of Thibodeau, for the first time since Kevin Love was on the team, playoffs are a very, very real option.
And then there’s the upcoming draft and free agency. By hiring Thibodeau now rather than later, the team has set itself up nicely for the offseason. Free agents won’t have to wonder who will be in charge in Minnesota when making a decision on where to sign. It will also give Thibodeau a chance to scout for the upcoming draft where the Wolves will have a pick somewhere in between five and eight.
This is the most important offseason the team has had in quite a while. This is the most talent the team has had in nearly 12 years. And the team has one of the best coaches in the league at the helm and one of the most-respected basketball minds running Basketball Operations.
That all has to sound pretty good if you’re a fan of the Wolves.
“I’m telling you,” Windhorst said. “If I lived in Minneapolis and could afford it, I would invest in season tickets.”
Watch out. The Wolves are coming.
