Minnesota Timberwolves renewing their focus on G League program

With a new face leading their G League affiliate, the Minnesota Timberwolves are hoping Iowa can become a strong piece of their organization.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have gone through a complete organizational overhaul over the past two years.

With the Tom Thibodeau era behind them, the franchise is moving forward led by new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders.

That organizational overhaul goes all the way down to the G League level as the Wolves have hired Sam Newman-Beck to take over the operation in Iowa.

Newman-Beck will be replacing Scott Roh, who was a Tom Thibodeau hire.

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Newman-Beck’s most recent job was as an assistant coach with the Erie BayHawks, an affiliate of Atlanta’s organization.

However, Newman-Beck is extremely familiar with Minnesota after spending eight years with the Wolves as a coaching associate/video scouting director from 2010-18.

Newman-Beck has a strong relationship with Ryan Saunders from their time together in Minnesota, but he said Ryan didn’t take it easy on him during the interview process when speaking to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic:

"“The one thing I appreciated with Ryan was Ryan really interviewed me hard throughout this process,” said Newman-Beck. “He didn’t just say I know you from before. He sat me down and asked me tough questions. We have a relationship and I think Ryan’s a great human being. You can already see the culture he’s instilling here. I think I have a good grasp of what’s important to him as a head coach. Being able to mirror that in Iowa will be easier because we have that relationship.”"

The organization is putting a renewed focus on their program in Iowa after it was largely ignored during the Tom Thibodeau era that featured a veteran-laden roster.

"“We take Iowa very seriously,” said assistant general manager Gianluca Pascucci. “It’s extremely easy if it’s coming from the top to us, ownership, business, Gersson, Ryan. We want to have Iowa more like an extension of the Timberwolves. We want to make sure it will be a good place for our players to develop.”"

The front office and coaching staff wants to stress that sending a player to Iowa will not be a demotion, and they want synergy between the team in Des Moines and the squad in Minneapolis.

"“We want the players when they’re coming to Iowa or going to Minnesota to feel like it’s the same playbook, that there’s no change,” said Newman-Beck. “That provides the best learning platform for them. With that being said, Ryan and Gersson have both said they want us to try different things, be yourself and experiment with different things. So that’s going to happen as well.”"

Jordan McLaughlin, Kelan Martin, Jaylen Nowell, and Naz Reid are some of the notable players who could benefit from a strengthened G League program in Iowa. With the Wolves’ renewed youth movement, it will be essential that their young players can get quality reps in the G League to develop into NBA rotation players.

Most of the league’s best organizations have a strong G League program, and the Timberwolves are hoping their new coach can improve on what’s been lacking in Iowa as the franchise turns a new page.