Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Coaching carousel, Naz donates meals

Could the Minnesota Timberwolves jump into this offseason’s coaching carousel? Also, Naz Reid is donated 200 meals to a hospital near his hometown.

As the NBA’s hiatus nears a full two months, coaching rumors continue to swirl around the league. But first: how a Minnesota Timberwolves big man is helping an area hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, it was announced that rookie center Naz Reid purchased 200 meals from a local soul food restaurant in New Jersey and donated them to Hackensack Meridien Hospital in Neptune, New Jersey. It is about an hour away from where Reid grew up.

Good on Reid for helping out his community and contributing to a hospital that has reportedly been hit hard during the pandemic.

Elsewhere, the Wolves were tangentailly mentioned in some new coaching rumors.

The rumor mill has been suggesting that former Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau is a top candidate for the New York Knicks job that is currently held by interim coach Mike Miller. Now, he is apparently also a candidate for the Houston Rockets, who are reportedly set to allow current coach Mike D’Antoni to walk following the expiration of his current contract after the season.

First of all, it’s clear that both the Knicks and Rockets have decided that Thibodeau’s no-nonsense, raised-voice coaching is a fit for the direction in which they’re each attempting to go. Thibs would, of course, have to alter his approach on the offensive end of the floor if he were to be coaching in Houston — his teams have never finished in the top half of the league in 3-point attempts per game — but anything could happen.

The other thing to note here is that D’Antoni would be on the market. The obvious connection to the Wolves would be Gersson Rosas’ relationship with D’Antoni from their time in Houston together, as well as the coach’s preferred style of offense fitting what what the new-look Timberwolves would like to accomplish.

On the flip side, Rosas has talked often about Ryan Saunders being the right fit for the Wolves for a variety of reasons, and his approach to coaching isn’t all that dissimilar to D’Antoni’s.

Our own Dylan Jackson broached this topic just a couple of weeks ago, surmising that D’Antoni could be a fit if the coach were to hit the open market. To be clear, there has yet to be a rumor connecting the Wolves to D’Antoni, but we can bet it would be floated if and when the long-time coach hits the market.

In Saunders’ defense, the Wolves roster has changed 13 of 15 spots over since he finished the 2018-19 season as the interim head coach. This season alone, the starting lineup has changed drastically and his two stars have only played one game together.

It is far more likely that Saunders gets at least one more season to try and succeed with the overhauled roster that Rosas and the front office has provided him.

That said, it’s absolutely something to keep an eye on as the coaching rumor mill churns…