Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Coaching staff, Woj podcast

Let’s recap the week that was in the world of the Minnesota TImberwolves, highlighting a couple of coaching and Gersson Rosas-related items.

It’s been a week since it was made known that the “interim” tag would be removed from Ryan Saunders and he would be named the new head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

While it wasn’t exactly a week chock-full of Wolves news, there were a few things that happened that are worth highlighting.

First, there was all of the hoopla surrounding Saunders’ hiring. It was mostly positive, and Saunders’ press conference was largely a breath of fresh air.

And while some of the “Saunders really, really loves the Timberwolves and the players really, really love him!” stuff can get a bit nauseating, it wouldn’t be fair to knock Saunders down a peg as a head coach and someone who possesses an adequate resume for the job because of it.

Saunders is absolutely qualified, with over a decade as an assistant on NBA benches and a decent-enough run as an interim head coach. He has a background that is strong in analytics and strong relationships with players, both on the Timberwolves roster and around the league.

Half of his career as an assistant was with a different franchise (Washington) and Saunders has previously been considered for jobs for franchises not located in D.C. or Minneapolis.

Secondly, it was reported that the Wolves will only be bringing back Malik Allen from last year’s staff, opting to allow the contracts of all of the other assistants to expire.

Jerry Sichting had only been brought on after Saunders was named the interim head coach during the season. Sichting was a long-time confidant and assistant of Flip Saunders, so it’s a bit surprising to see him let go so quickly.

Everyone else on the staff was brought on by Thibodeau, and it will be intriguing to see whether or not the Wolves will lean more on Saunders or Rosas when it comes to building out the rest of the suits on the bench. It’s certainly possible, if not probable, that Rosas will want to bring in an experienced coach as the lead assistant to help Saunders, but expect Ryan to have ample influence over that pick as well.

Lastly, Rosas appeared on Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast and discussed a variety of topics. It’s an interesting listen, so be sure to spend 56 minutes listening to the pod at some point.

Enjoy your Memorial Day, and we’ll be back with more pre-draft coverage.