The Tom Thibodeau Complex
It’s late in the NBA Offseason, meaning that not much is going on. One thing that is going on is the TWolves coach Tom Thibodeau doing what he always does, acquire his former players. It makes sense for coaches to be comfortable with players who used to play for them and want to be able to coach them once again. Other coaches have done it before. For example, Doc Rivers coached Paul Pierce and Glen Davis years after they won the championship in Boston under Doc. Also, Brad Stevens for the Celtics signed his star player he coached in college at Butler, Gordon Hayward. However, nobody has done it to the capacity that Coach Thibodeau does in Minnesota.
Who is Tom Thibodeau?
To the general NBA fan, they may not be extremely familiar with the Minnesota Timberwolves head coach. Thibodeau started to get recognition as a defensive assistant coach for the 2008 NBA Finals winning Boston Celtics. Way before then, he ironically began his career as an assistant for the Timberwolves in 1989. From there, he worked as an assistant coach to many teams including Spurs, 76ers, Knicks, Rockets, and the Celtics in that order. Thibodeau’s success with Boston blessed him with a starting coaching job with the Chicago Bulls. As a head coach for Chicago, Thibodeau became the fastest head coach to get 100 wins. Much of this was with the help of Derrick Rose, who was thought to be Chicago’s newest prodigy. Injuries affected Rose and inevitably ended his reign as a superstar in the NBA. The Bulls were no longer seen as title contenders and after the 2015-2016 season, Thibs became the coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here in Minnesota is where the Thibodeau complex begins.
Thibodeau’s First Moves
The offseason after Thibs was hired in Minnesota, he hired 3 former assistants that worked with him in Chicago. Rick Brunson, Andy Greer, and Ed Pinckney are the 3 names that joined Thibodeau. After that, the first season coaching Minnesota went without acquiring any names from previous Thibodeau teams. The Wolves missed the playoffs and that is when coach Thibodeau decided he needed some familiar faces around him.
Draft Night Moves
Coach Thibodeau loved Jimmy Butler back in Chicago when he grew to become the leader after Rose fell off. Rumors had Jimmy Butler being traded to almost every team out there. Draft night in 2017 came around and his name was once again being thrown around to go to a bunch of different teams. Coach Thibs was the man to make the move. The Wolves traded the 7th pick (Lauri Markkanen), Kris Dunn, and Zach Lavine to Chicago for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler and Karl Anthony Towns would instantly become one of the best 1-2 punches in the league.
Smaller Moves
Jimmy Butler was without a doubt the biggest move here in the Thibodeau Complex. That same offseason after acquiring Butler through a trade, Thibs and the Wolves signed former Bulls Taj Gibson. Gibson is a versatile forward who proved to be a great pickup in Minnesota. Later on, the TWolves signed another former Bulls player in Aaron Brooks to become their backup point guard. Way into the season, Minnesota signed Derrick Rose who was cut from Utah after being traded there from Cleveland. Even though better players may be available, Coach Tom Thibodeau always seems to fallback on signing his former players as a sense of comfort.
Future Moves
If you thought that Tom Thibodeau was done signing his former players, you would be extremely wrong. In recent days, it has been rumored that he looks to sign former Bulls Joakim Noah and Luol Deng. The two of them played a combined 8 games last season. On top of that, they both are stuck in awful contracts that literally zero teams would be interested in paying. Noah finished 4th in MVP voting in the 2013-14 season and Deng is a 2 time All-Star. Maybe Coach Thibs thinks he can get those guys back to being somewhat of a productive form of themselves. At this point, we might as well call them the Minnesota Bulls.
-Brandon Black (Follow @bhblack02)