After the Los Angeles Clippers game yesterday, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau praised just about every player other than Ricky Rubio.
“I liked the way our whole team played,” he said, interrupting the reporter who asked about Rubio. “It’s not an individual sport; it’s a team sport.”
Today at practice he expanded his thoughts on his polarizing point guard.
“Ricky’s gotten better and better month by month. I think the thing that was tough in the first month: new system, and being injured,” he said. “Once he got healthy, he just took off. I think he’s real comfortable now, he’s playing at a very, very high level and it’s not only what he’s doing individually, it’s what he’s doing for the team, and that’s the most important thing, and it’s translating into wins.
“When you win, people get recognized.”
That seems to be his consistent position on Rubio, a player that was rumored to be traded for Derrick Rose — Thibodeau’s point guard when he coached the Chicago Bulls. It also isn’t entirely incongruent with his comment from last night. After all, Rubio is a player that makes everyone around him better when he’s at his best.
“The great thing about Bazz is he’s one of the few guys that can [start and come off the bench]”
This doesn’t mean he’s soured on Kris Dunn, however. The rugged backup point guard continues to play aggressive, sound defense when he’s on the court.
“After looking at the film, I thought there were a couple plays that were very tough calls. I thought it was great defense, but they make the call, they make the call — we gotta be aggressive,” said Thibodeau.
“As long as we’re doing things the right way with technique, which we work on a lot, it’ll be good.”
Not only did Rubio and Dunn play well at the point against the Clippers, but Shabazz Muhammad started in Brandon Rush’s place while he was out with illness and had 17 points on 7-13 shooting.
“The great thing about Bazz is he’s one of the few guys that can do either,” said Thibodeau. “He brought great energy to the game to start, and that’s what he does off the bench. He’s not one of those guys that needs five minutes to warm up to get going. As soon as he’s in, it’s on, and that’s what I like about him. He’s got a great motor, I thought he was aggressive.”
“Karl’s doing a lot more than offensive rebounding”
Karl-Anthony Towns led the team with 29 points and 14 rebounds, including a handful of put-back slams that got the crowd going. Thibodeau loves his ability to read the ball and create some energy on the boards, but doesn’t want to lose sight of the other things Towns does well.
“We’ve been talking to reaction to the ball, and it is a great instinct, anticipation. But Karl’s doing a lot more than offensive rebounding,” he said with a signature chuckle. “I don’t want to de-emphasize the importance of the offensive rebounding, it’s been one of his strengths.
“But Karl’s scoring inside-outside, making plays. His defense is improving. His rebounding has been great all year, and he’s taking the challenge of it — he and Wig. They set the tone for the team, and the better they play defensively, the better our team will play defensively.
“When we do that, we’re gonna give ourselves a great chance to win.”
Notes
- The Wolves will play their makeup game against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 3 at 6:00 pm. “Whenever they tell you to play, you play,” said Thibodeau. “And you take them one at a time, that’s all we do. We knew we were gonna have to make it up. Whatever day they tell us, we’re good.”
- On playing Golden State without Kevin Durant: “Well, I think the core of the team, they’ve been together and obviously have done great things before Kevin got there. And, of course, you add Kevin to the mix, it goes to a completely different level.”
- And Rush should be good to go against the Warriors. “Yeah, yeah,” he said when asked if he’s feeling better. “He’s back in practice today.”
I missed the first part of this interview, as the media access got started a bit early, but Dieng talks about the team’s improvement on defense, especially after the Houston Rockets game.
Thibodeau seemed happy with Lance Stephenson’s performance yesterday. “Very good in the first half,” he said. “I thought in the second half fatigue was a little bit of a factor, which is to be expected. But overall he did good things.”
Stephenson, of course, seemed to concur with his coach.
Dunn spoke about the influence Rubio has on him, as well as the trials and tribulations of learning point guard in the NBA.
And Towns spoke about his put-back dunks and why the team has improved so much defensively.
