Timberwolves Notes: More thoughts on Thibodeau…

With the hiring of Tom Thibodeau still fresh (and the first round of the NBA playoffs a collective dud), the internet has a lot to say about the fit between the Timberwolves and their brand new coach and front office boss.

The press conference to introduce Thibodeau and new general manager Scott Layden will not take place until Tuesday at 4 p.m. Central Time, so we have plenty of time to read what everyone else is saying about the newest members of the Wolves organization.

In the meantime, Thibs jumped on a 30-minute call with Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune and offered a few thoughts about some of the key players on his current roster. There were some interesting bits, and some pretty standard, general talk with some buzzwords sprinkled in.

Below are some of the notable excerpts, but I would encourage you to check out the article in it’s entirety.

"He cited that partnership [with new GM Layden], the team’s young roster — “and where it can go” — and owner Glen Taylor’s “commitment to winning” as the reasons he agreed to a reported five-year, $40 million contract only a week after the Wolves announced they’d search to fill two jobs and ended up filling three.“When you look at the young guys, when you look at the [salary] cap space, when you look at the draft pick that’s coming, there’s great flexibility there,” Thibodeau said. “There are a lot of assets there. If you formulate a really good plan that studies and organizes everything, I think this situation is positioned great to go forward.”"

A couple thoughts. First, Thibodeau clearly thinks highly of Layden, has a personal relationship with him, and this wasn’t a hiring made solely to check Thibs’ new power. Laden is a personnel man with whom Thibodeau wants to work with moving forward.

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Secondly, Thibodeau lists his young players, cap space, and upcoming draft picks as both “flexibility” and “assets”. While this is true, one could read between the lines and see that the Wolves’ new boss is looking around the league at current disgruntled stars (Jimmy Butler, anyone?) that he could swap some of his aforementioned assets for and reshape the roster to his liking.

A dramatic overreaction? Perhaps. But it isn’t far from the realm of possibilities. I, for one, would like to focus on the “flexibility” portion of the quote — that’s exactly what the Timberwolves have. They can keep most or all of their young core (depending on how you define the core, of course) and still trade assets like their lottery pick or rotation players that may not be considered ‘core’, such as Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng, or Nemanja Bjelica.

On his oft-talked about stance on playing key players heavy minutes:

"He calls himself well-suited to coach such a young team, noting Derrick Rose was 22 and Joakim Noah 25 when he accepted his first NBA head coaching job in 2010. Often criticized for playing his starters too much, he answered Taylor’s inquiry on that matter by telling him to speak with former players. On Thursday, he said his Bulls players’ minutes compared to others at their position in the league.“Some of it is more myth than fact,” Thibodeau said. “If you dig deeper, you will see that. A lot of other guys play a lot of minutes.”"

Interesting. Possibly a bit tone-deaf, but interesting nonetheless.

Thibodeau concludes with glowing remarks on Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, and positive (but less-glowing) comments about Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine, so be sure to check those comments out at the link above.

Elswhere, ESPN posted an Insider piece in their 5-on-5 format entitled “What changes will Thibodeau make with Wolves?”. The piece discusses the pros and cons of the hire, what the Wolves should do with their cap space, what the Wolves’ next playoff startling lineup will look like, what intrigues everyone most about the team, and lastly, how many games the Timberwolves will win next season.

The experts range from former NBA front office folks (Amin Elhassan and Kevin Pelton) to a coach (David Thorpe) to advanced stats gurus employed by ESPN. We can’t post any exact content here since it’s an Insider article, but the predicted win totals range from 40 to 55 — a pretty crazy span. Additionally, the five experts were almost unanimous in their praise for the hiring but their apprehension of Thibodeau as president of basketball operations.

Next: Notes On Thibodeau To The Timberwolves

We’ll have more Thibodeau coverage over the weekend, and we’ll also be continuing our player review pieces. Have a great Friday, everyone.