Former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was introduced as the president and head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves today at Target Center.
Thibodeau got his start coaching the inaugural Wolves team in 1989-90, back when they played in the Metrodome. He mentioned the times he spent with the late Flip Saunders, as well as his many influences during his basketball career.
Below is a collection of Tweets from people who cover the Wolves, including Zach (@ZacharyBD) and I, who used quotes while live-tweeting the press conference.
(That’s president of course. I guess I can’t spell.)
https://twitter.com/ZacharyBD/status/725077303865135104
After the press conference, Karl-Anthony Towns addressed the media, emphasizing that no matter how hard he pushes his players, Thibodeau gets his teams to win.
Thibodeau also spoke with the media after the press conference, emphasizing three things he liked about the Wolves: the roster, who he was working for and with, and then there was a commitment to winning in the organization. He said he felt he was a fit.
Finally, Layden talked for over 15 minutes about his role as general manager, his upbringing as the son of a coach and his influences throughout his career — especially in San Antonio.
He said he’s mostly going to be working behind the scenes, so this is one of the few times any of us will see him in a public setting.
The video maxed out YouTube’s 15-minute length, so I transcribed his additional comments below.
On attracting free agents:
“That’s what you ultimately want. You want to build the foundation where other players want to play here, so that’s our goal. We’re gonna work at that every day,” he said.
“Clearly, I didn’t obviously have anything to do with it, but clearly … you guys have all been in there, the practice facility, right? It’s a world-class facility, and I think that and we have a good, young roster, and exciting players to play with, that’s attractive.
But time will tell. We’ll see what happens this summer.”
On former GM Milt Newton’s future:
“We had a meeting with the entire basketball staff today, and that’s where it is,” he said.
Asked if any decisions had been made, he said: “No. We literally just met as a group today. So today we just had a short meeting. We’re gonna get to work and go from there.”
In the video, Layden speaks a lot about his time in San Antonio. Asked about what he learned as part of the New York Knicks organization, he had this to say:
“I was … when you look back, I was a media darling in New York,” he said sarcastically. “When we got there, they looked at what a stiff I was, and they said, ‘This guy needs some serious media training.’
“We spent so much money on media training for me, that we could’ve added another player. But I learned a lot.”
“I mean, who knows how many jobs or gigs I’ve had. But every time I’ve gone places, I’ve learned. When I first got to New York, I worked a guys who was a brilliant visionary, Dave Checketts. He ran the whole Garden, he ran everything,” he added.
“They had the Yankees on the MSG Network, they had Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes. They had these theaters and the Garden and the Rangers. It is the busiest arena in the world, and he was … what a guy to work with.
“We had had a relationship in Utah and got along great. And then he left, and it’s … working with guys like that, you just pull from it.
“I just have always been fortunate to be around great leaders. I don’t know, sometimes you’re just fortunate in life. I can’t be any luckier than that.”
Be sure to follow Zach (@ZacharyBD) and I (@tschreier3) as well as Cold Omaha (@ColdOmahaMN) for Wolves coverage this offseason and during the 2016-17 season.
