Timberwolves Notes: More on Thibodeau, Arne Duncan

New Timberwolves head coach and team president Tom Thibodeau is still the talk of the non-playoff NBA teams, and we have a few more links for you to check out.

From feature articles to podcasts to weird connections to other basketball (and political) celebrities, Tom Thibodeau and the Wolves have been everywhere.

First, we’ll look at ESPN Chicago Bulls reporter Nick Friedell’s lengthy feature that explores Thibodeau’s time in Chicago, including a bunch of quotes from Bulls players from early on in his tenure. It’s certainly a different view than a lot of the Bulls-centered retrospectives that have been floating around the internet.

Friedell discusses the already much-discussed, messy breakup between Thibodeau and the Bulls’ front office and ownership. He intersperses quotes from the likes of Kyle Korver, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah that supported just how maniacally great Thibs was as a coach.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the piece was the following:

"Lost in the discussion of wearing out his starters and a broken relationship with the front office was this: Throughout the first couple of years of Thibodeau’s reign, the players would have run through a wall for him. They believed in his system. They knew no matter who was on the floor on any given night, they had a chance to win. And they believed that because Thibodeau instilled that confidence in them.…Thibodeau’s finest moment with the Bulls didn’t come when his team qualified for the Eastern Conference finals in his first season. It came when an undermanned group, led by Noah, beat the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. That team didn’t have enough talent to advance, especially without Rose, but it had an abundance of heart and mental toughness. The Bulls listened to Thibodeau and believed in what he taught them."

Friedell goes on to say that Thibodeau will surely win in Minneapolis; it’s just a matter of if he makes adjustments based on what did not work in Chicago. Add in the fact that he’s also the president of basketball operations, and there’s a lot that Thibs will oversee.

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Elsewhere, the Star Tribune’s Jerry Zgoda spoke with former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who played for Tom Thibodeau as co-captain for the Harvard basketball team almost 30 years ago.

It’s an interesting story, and Duncan has some good quotes regarding the influence that Thibs had on not only his basketball career but his life and career in general.

Lastly, Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 and KSTP in the Twin Cities recorded a short podcast with Thibodeau in advance of Thibs getting in to town on Monday and the press conference that took place late Tuesday afternoon.

Wolfson briefly discusses the Wolves roster with Thibodeau before moving on to talk about Arne Duncan, as well as the working relationship that he plans to have with his new, hand-picked general manager Scott Layden.

It’s definitely worth a listen, although some of the content overlaps with the high points from the introductory press conference that took place on Tuesday.

Next: Zach LaVine Player Review

We’ll have notes and thoughts on the press conference later in the day on Wednesday, so stay tuned to Dunking With Wolves for that. Plus, we’ll be finishing out the player review series in the next couple of days as well.