The Minnesota Timberwolves have reportedly made another high-profile front office acquisition, hiring Sachin Gupta away from the Detroit Pistons.
Gersson Rosas is at it again.
And before you say, “Wait, aren’t the Detroit Pistons still treading water in the Eastern Conference?”, please read on.
Sachin Gupta, reportedly the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations (yes, that appears to be a new/made-up title), has an extensive background of working for two of the savviest front offices in the league in Philadelphia and Houston. Gupta has only spent one year in Detroit after being brought in to help clean up the mess that Stan Van Gundy and Co. had left behind.
Gupta is widely viewed as the key architect behind many of the moves made by the Philadelphia 76ers’ during Sam Hinkie’s tenure, which set them up nicely for the success they’re currently enjoying. Prior to that, Gupta had a couple of stints with the Houston Rockets, where he was first hired by Daryl Morey all the way back in 2006.
The resume is an impressive one, and it includes the invention of the ESPN Trade Machine — no, really — back before he joined the Rockets front office. This fantastic article from Philly Mag back in early 2017 details many of the moves that Gupta had a hand in both in Houston and Philadelphia.
Gupta is obviously an analytics-first mind, and while that approach is obviously accepted much more today than it would have been even a few years ago, it is still relatively rare for a team’s No. 2 in the front office to be so extremely “new-school”.
It's my understanding that Sachin Gupta will be the new No. 2 under Rosas in the revamped front office. There has been nothing official on Scott Layden, but most expect him to stay on board.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) May 28, 2019
Now, new President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas has added Gianluca Pascucci as assistant general manager and Gupta as EVP of basketball operations. Both previously worked for the Rockets and most recently were tasked with helping to lead front office turnarounds in organizations that had been previously run the old-fashioned way, to put it lightly.
As noted by Jon Krawczynski in the above tweet, general manager Scott Layden is expected to stay on in the near future, although it seems likely that his role will be somewhat marginalized in the new-look front office.
So far, so good for Mr. Rosas. His front office moves have been widely thought of as savvy and intelligent, and here’s hoping that they will bear fruit in short order with the NBA offseason just around the corner.