Tom Thibodeau Is Great Coaching Hire For Minnesota Timberwolves, But It's Fair To Doubt His Personnel Acumen

By Brad Berreman

The NBA coaching carousel has already started to spin, and the Minnesota Timberwolves have made the biggest splash thus far with the hiring of Tom Thibodeau as their new head coach and team president. Scott Layden will also be brought in as Minnesota’s new general manager.

Thibodeau had a very successful run as head coach of the Chicago Bulls for five seasons, with a 255-139 regular season record (.647 winning percentage) and at least one playoff series win three times. But clashes with management turned things sideways in Chicago, so the prospect of greater control in Minnesota surely appealed to Thibodeau. But until proven otherwise someone else should be the lead personnel man, which makes the hiring of Layden a good move in tandem with bringing in Thibodeau.

Layden comes to the Timberwolves from his post as assistant general manager with the San Antonio Spurs for the past four seasons. But he has been a full-blown general manager before, with the Utah Jazz and New York Knicks, along with a background as a scout and assistant coach prior to that.

The Timberwolves are a team on the rise, there’s no doubt about that. A year out of the league as a head coach, and spending time shadowing other organizations, might give Thibodeau some perspective on what went wrong at the end of his tenure with the Bulls. That will only help him get the most out of Minnesota’s young players, particularly as he imparts his trademark defensive wisdom on them.

Thibodeau and Layden will have plenty of time to put their heads together heading toward the summer, and the Timberwolves will add another talented young player with a lottery pick in June’s draft. Thibodeau’s input will be and should be valued, but I hope Layden’s voice is the strongest in the room as the Timberwolves form a plan of attack for the offseason.

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