Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Thibodeau Q and A with ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JUNE 27: Justin Patton of the Minnesota Timberwolves is introduced to the media by head coach Tom Thibodeau and GM Scott Layden on June 27, 2017 at the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx Courts at Mayo Clinic Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JUNE 27: Justin Patton of the Minnesota Timberwolves is introduced to the media by head coach Tom Thibodeau and GM Scott Layden on June 27, 2017 at the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx Courts at Mayo Clinic Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

Timberwolves boss Tom Thibodeau couldn’t escape the media while in Las Vegas to attend the NBA Summer League, and granted a question and answer session to ESPN.

As much as Tom Thibodeau seems like a no-nonsense, dry-humor kind of guy, he has sure found himself in the national media spotlight an awful lot as of late. It’s no surprise, really, given the complete overhaul that he’s overseen in just the past few weeks, but notable nonetheless.

While the Timberwolves entry into the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League was absolutely not noteworthy, boasting exactly zero players signed to an NBA contract of any kind and zero players who saw the floor in an NBA regular season game a year ago, Thibodeau was still there. Courtside, of course, hanging out. Sometimes smiling and laughing, and other times looking lost in thought.

ESPN caught up with him for an interview — but it wasn’t simply ESPN. It was Nick Friedell, the Chicago Bulls beat reporter for ESPN Chicago. Old friends, indeed.

Here are a few interesting excerpts from the exchange, with commentary.

"Q: Are you in favor of playoff reseeding that would break up conferences and just go 1-16 throughout the league?A: I think it’s been so long now where there seems to be an imbalance. The West has gotten a lot more of the elite players and there’s an imbalance. So I don’t know what the answer is, but probably do think about what other options there may be to create more balance."

Count Tom Thibodeau as…open…to realignment. Or, at least, restructuring of the playoff seeding system. That makes at least two of us…

"Q: You’ve always said you learn from every experience in the league. What did you learn most in your first year as both the head coach and president of basketball operations for the Timberwolves?A: It’s challenging. It gives you a different perspective on things. … I think when you look at management, it’s not as easy as it looks. I think when you look at coaching, from the outside, it’s not as easy as it looks.I think if you have the opportunity to do both it gives you a much better understanding of what the other side is going through. I think the important thing is just to have a process in place for how you’re going to deal with everything. And to build strategies for everything that could come up. I think you’re relying on a number of people. I think everyone’s staff has grown greatly over the last 5-10 years.Analytics are playing a big part of it. I think having great scouts, having a great management staff, cap people, how you manage the cap, you’re not just looking at today. You’re looking down the road three, five, seven, 10 years. So those things all play into it, and making good decisions [is] a big part of this."

This is a telling answer. It’s the same stuff that you hear folks who cover and write about the NBA talk about all the time. Wearing the coach and POBO hats at the same time isn’t easy for obvious reasons; one guy wants to win now and the other is always thinking, as Thibs puts it, somewhere between three and 10 years down the road.

All that said, Scott Layden seems to be a perfectly competent general manager and certainly has the connections and experience to be successful in the role. Plus, there’s no doubt that Thibodeau improves as he goes along; he seems to be a pretty bright guy and he’s only been in the role for not quite 15 months.

More from Dunking with Wolves

"Q: You have a young and talented team moving forward, but specifically with Andrew Wiggins, what do you have to do this year to help him take that next step that a guy like Jimmy Butler has taken before in his career?A: It’s to continue to take and make steps moving forward. When you look at what he’s done for a guy who’s 22 years old, he went from 16 points a game to 20 points a game to 24 points a game. … The challenge is to be a complete player. And I think sometimes we tend to measure somebody against someone who is already established and we all overlook the steps that other person has taken along the way.And I’ll use Jimmy as an example — Jimmy came into the league and [he averaged] two points a game, and then it was seven, then 15, 20, now 24. But it’s also all the other things that he does. It’s his rebounding. It’s his passing. It’s his defense. It’s the way he can close a game out; [he’s] one of the great finishers, closers in our league. But he didn’t get there overnight. There were a lot steps that were taken along the way.The same could be said of a guy like Paul George and a guy like Kawhi Leonard. So the important thing for Andrew is to continue to develop, put everything he has into each and every day and keep making progress and improve."

This is an interesting answer. For as much criticism as Andrew Wiggins gets (admittedly, he gets a fair share of it from yours truly), he’s still a remarkable scorer for his age and experience level. Points per game is far from the best way to measure scoring effectiveness, of course, but Thibs’ point is well taken.

And he’s right: it’s about becoming a complete player. While he starts his comments on each player discussing their respective scoring averages, he goes on to talk about being a complete player and how that’s exactly what Butler is: rebounding, passing, and defense. Those are the three biggest issues for Wiggins right now.

Sure, he’s far from a knock-down jump-shooter, but he was a much-improved three-point shooter from last year and is now above average from beyond the arc. It’s the other areas of the game that absolutely must improve if he’s even going to scratch the surface of being a star.

Thibs goes on to talk plenty about having the opportunity to coach both Butler and Taj Gibson once again, so there are some obligatory comments about toughness and winning and playoff experience and the like.

Next: 5 Goals For Jimmy Butler in 2017-18

Be sure to head over to ESPN and read the article in it’s entirety. Thibodeau doesn’t give much, but there’s some telling quotes in there as well.