Wolves Press Clippings

Wolves Press Clippings

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Wednesday night that Tom Thibodeau is their new coach and president of basketball operations.

Sources told ESPN.com that the sides spent much of Wednesday finalizing a deal that, with Wolves owner Glen Taylor committing an estimated $10 million annually to reshape the organization, sets up Thibodeau with a five-year contract worth about $40 million while also paying new Wolves general manager Scott Layden in the range of $2 million per season.

"I started my NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves and it is an incredible opportunity to rejoin the organization at a time when they have what I believe to be the best young roster in the NBA," Thibodeau said in a statement. "Together with a great owner in Glen Taylor and a terrific basketball partner in Scott Layden, I look forward to building a winning culture that Minnesota sports fans can be proud of."

The Wolves chose Thibodeau, 58, over fellow finalist and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who remains a co-favorite alongside former Oklahoma City Thundercoach Scott Brooks for the Houston Rockets' coaching vacancy. ESPN.com reported Wednesday afternoon that the Wizards were pressing to try to seal a deal with Brooks before the Rockets are out of the playoffs and formally begin their search. The Wizards' offer to Brooks is believed to be in the five-year, $35 million range.

Often criticized as indecisive, Taylor moved swiftly to win the race for Thibodeau, who will have full control of basketball operations while relying on Layden to handle day-to-day duties in the front office. Layden was hired away from San Antonio, where he served the past four seasons as an assistant toSpurs president R.C. Buford. He also served previously as GM of the Utah Jazzand New York Knicks.

Sources say Taylor had been eyeing Thibodeau for months as the ideal coach to take over a roster filled with top young talent, including Karl-Anthony Towns,Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine. After missing the playoffs for 12 straight seasons, the longest active playoff drought in the league, Minnesota will have a lottery pick in June's draft.

Thibodeau's first NBA coaching job was in Minnesota, where he was an assistant to Bill Musselman in the Wolves' expansion season of 1989-90.

"We are extremely excited to welcome Tom Thibodeau back to the Timberwolves," Taylor said in a statement. "Through this process we quickly identified Tom as the best leader to shape our talented team and help them realize their full potential.

"Tom's résumé speaks for itself. He is a proven winner, leader and one of the most well-respected NBA head coaches over the last decade. His teams have annually been among the league leaders in defense, and we are excited about the approach and mentality he will bring to that side of the ball. The future of the Minnesota Timberwolves has never been brighter, and we are very pleased to have Tom as our basketball operations leader moving forward."

The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis reported on its website Wednesday that current Wolves general manager Milt Newton might be granted an opportunity to stay with the organization working under Thibodeau and Layden.

Despite winning almost 65 percent of his games over five seasons with the Bulls, Thibodeau was fired last season after clashing with management on his hard-driving style. But the Bulls' struggles without Thibodeau only increased Minnesota's determination to get him, before the slow-moving Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers changed their minds and made a run at him.

Thibodeau spent this season visiting different franchises, including spending some time in San Antonio, where Layden has worked closely with Gregg Popovich and Buford. Layden and Thibodeau have known each other for years, dating to Thibodeau's days as a Knicks assistant coach when Layden was running the front office.

Wolves Press Clippings

The Minnesota Timberwolves didn't need to hire Tom Thibodeau to have a bright outlook for the 2016-17 season and beyond. Behind No. 1 overall picks Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the leaders of a core of young talent as promising as any NBA team can boast, the Timberwolves boosted hopes for the future by finishing this season strong. Now, with the addition of the top coach on the market, Minnesota looks poised to return to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.

However, giving Thibodeau personnel power in his combined role of head coach and president of basketball operations raises long-term questions that won't be answered for years.

Thibodeau's turnaround track record

That improvement can't be attributed entirely to Thibodeau, naturally. The Bulls also upgraded their roster by adding Omer Asik,Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver to a core of young talent headlined by another former No. 1 pick, Derrick Rose, whose maturation into league MVP helped propel Chicago into contention.

Despite the upgrade in talent, the importance of Thibodeau's defensive scheme was clear. The Bulls improved from 10th in defensive rating under predecessor Vinny Del Negro to the league's top defense under Thibodeau and went on to rank in the NBA's top five each of the next three seasons before slipping to 11th in his final year in Chicago.

For a Minnesota team that hasn't ranked better than 14th in defensive rating in a decade and was 30th (out of 30) and 27th the last two seasons, Thibodeau's pioneering defensive scheme (now widely imitated throughout the league) and attention to detail should produce immediate returns. In particular, Towns and Wiggins have the potential to be better defenders than they've been early in their careers.

It's possible, however, that Thibodeau's defensive reputation has overshadowed his coaching at the other end of the floor. The Bulls actually improved their offensive rating relative to league average slightly more than their defensive rating during his first season, and they dropped off more offensively than defensively this year under replacement Fred Hoiberg.

Crediting Thibodeau more for defense than offense does make sense because coaches tend to have more control at the defensive end of the court, and the upgrades Chicago made to the roster had more impact on offense than defense.

Nonetheless, Thibodeau did have an impact by emphasizing better shot selection. Under Del Negro, per data from NBA.com/Stats, the Bulls had the league's highest ratio of 2-point attempts outside the paint to 3-point attempts. By increasing 3s and decreasing lower-value 2-point jumpers, Chicago improved its ratio to nearly the league average the following season.

Shot selection will be equally important for the Timberwolves, who, like the pre-Thibodeau Bulls, had the league's highest ratio of 2-point attempts outside the paint to 3 attempts under Sam Mitchell last season and in 2014-15, with the late Flip Saunders on the sideline.

Minnesota did attempt more 3s and fewer long 2s after the All-Star break, when the Timberwolves ranked 11th in offensive rating with youngsters Gorgui Diengand Zach LaVine moving into the starting lineup alongside Towns, Wiggins and point guard Ricky Rubio.

Minnesota showed promise down the stretch -- including upsetting Golden State in Oakland for the Warriors' final loss of a 73-9 regular season -- but still finished 12-16 after the break because of a leaky defense. Since Thibodeau seems likely to improve the defense and shift the offense toward higher-value shots, the Timberwolves have an excellent shot at reaching .500, something they haven't done since 2004-05 -- the first year of the team's 12-year playoff drought, the longest one in the NBA.