The first real signal of potentially destructive behavior from Tom Thibodeau came 10 months ago.
Long before any public disgruntlement of Jimmy Butler was a Dec. 12 game coached by Thibodeau, of course, against the Philadelphia 76ers. A game that is emblazoned on the fanbase’s memory not due to its result — a 118-112 defeat in overtime — but due to a public Instagram filleting of Karl-Anthony Towns at the hands of one Joel Embiid.
Another thing that likely has slipped from the memory in that game is that Towns checked in at the 3:41 mark of the third quarter and never again subbed out of the game. Meaning: That Instagram picture is likely somewhere amidst 21-straight minutes played by Towns to close out that game.
Towns not only played nearly two straight quarters without rest but his buddy — at the time — Butler played 45 minutes that night.
This all summoned the first real ‘whoa, what are you doing with the rotation, Thibs?’ moment.
Yes, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah’s post-Thibs health had served as a fair warning sign that this may come, but this was the first real over-exertion red flag in connection to Thibs in Minnesota.
That defeat was the 28th game of the season and through this portion of the season, the Wolves starting lineup had accumulated 167 more minutes — nearly three-and-a-half more games — than any other five-man group in the NBA, as pointed out by Deadspin in an article titled “Tom Thibodeau is Destruction.”
The hyperbolic-titled article went on to point out many things but, on the simplest of levels, it was the first publication I remember starkly erecting the minutes red flag.
Deadspin now looks correct in the logic presented that Thibodeau is a coach — and tangentially front office executive — that places more impetus on the immediate than any other coach or executive in the league. If Sam Hinkie has — or, rather, had — the longest view in the room, Thibodeau is near-sided in his ethos of “the winning will take care of everything.”
The view was not only near-sided but short-sighted in the notion that 16 additional wins and a playoff berth, straight-up, didn’t solve everything. Minnesota is obviously a mess right now.
How much of Butler’s antics Thibodeau himself could have quelled is impossible to know precisely. But pushing off Butler’s disgruntled feelings, and waiting until mid-September to address them, is Thibodeau enacting the same mentality he brings to playing his players heavy minutes: We’ll deal with that later.
As is often the case with procrastination, the procrastinator eventually gets hit with a right hook.
“You look at the talent and you look at the strides we took last year just to get to the playoffs and so many up and downs and you get hit with a right hook right before training camp,” said Taj Gibson on Monday afternoon. “It’s weird but when I talk to Thibs he always tells me this is nothing. We’ve been through worse situations than this in Chicago and I kind of glance and smile but it’s weird.”
Unfortunately, this type of behavior — that leads players like Gibson (and the fanbase) to question the franchise’s authority figures — is not unique the Thibodeau regime. For over a decade, the Wolves have created a habit of waiting until the milk expires to throw it out. The Way of the Wolves has been one of procrastination.
From David Kahn to Sam Mitchell, there is an extensive list of examples of not only shooting yourself in the foot but a doubling-down by staple-gunning that same foot to the floor.
That said, amidst a cocktail of reports turned Molotov, not only a glimmer of hope lingers but a beam of light.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ Five-Year Extension
The Timberwolves 2018 media day was saved from destruction by Towns and the extension he signed 48 hours before the festivities began.
With Towns’ inking, there are now two total players in the NBA under contract with their team through 2023-24: Devin Booker and Towns. That is a massive coup — for both teams — but particularly the Wolves, given this current disarray. Towns’ signing locks in a single asset that should keep the team relevant for the better part of the decade.
“It’s huge. Karl is a franchise player,” said Tyus Jones after the Timberwolves first practice of the season on Tuesday afternoon. “To get him locked up is big time, for this team and for this franchise. He’s a talent that doesn’t come around all that often so to lock him up for the next six years is a really good thing.”
Jones’ sentiment was echoed by the entire team.
“I came here initially just to be around and get a new start with young talent,” said Gibson right before his ‘right hook’ comment. “Jimmy was another reason why, but really just being around the young talent.”
While in ways this sounds like Gibson being a good soldier, that wasn’t my vibe. He seemed authentic; as did Derrick Rose who expressed that he felt the negative energy — a keyword over the past week — was overblown.
“I mean you’re going to have bumps and bruises,” said Rose. “I know my impression of everyone was great [last season]. I didn’t feel any negative energy or anything like that.”
Around the Wolves (current) locker room, the sentiment is that of this stuff happens. In 2018, players have never been more aware of the business of basketball — on both the team and the player side.
There is a cohesion of the pieces left on the roster in the rubble of the Butler destruction. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are 23 years old — like Andrew Wiggins, who just shrugged off the whole Butler fiasco a media day — or 33 years old like Anthony Tolliver.
“I’m a person that believes in controlling what you can control,” said Tolliver whose first media availability was dominated with Butler questions. “I can’t control any of that stuff. What I can control is how hard I work tomorrow, how hard our team works tomorrow.”
Again, more soldier talk but not inauthentic. There is an authenticity because literally, it isn’t those players’ business. It is Thibodeau’s business; literally, this is what Thibodeau signed up for when he took the dual coaching and business role. With the badge of full-autonomy comes the burden of business.
Yes, business has been bad by both Thibodeau and Glen Taylor but this is business as usual in Minnesota. And yet, somehow, not all is doomed; again, because of Towns and the six years of invaluable opportunity that come with him. A Butler trade looms — that likely spells the eventual snipping of the guillotine on Thibodeau’s front office duties — and, sure, Taylor is still here, meaning more destruction could loom but a real opportunity is still undoubtedly present.
If coaches and executives were squinting through the dysfunction, drooling at the opportunity to be hired by Minnesota two years ago a similar appetite has to linger. Towns has not only improved over the past two years but committed to six more seasons here. For a future coach or executive, that means six more shots to mess it up; or, who knows, maybe this time — if there is a new coach and front office — maybe they can avoid procrastination, dodge destruction and build around one of the most valuable assets in the entire NBA.
It doesn’t matter if Butler abandoned ship or if Thibodeau is, in fact, destruction. The Timberwolves, for the next six seasons, are the opposite of destruction: opportunity.
Become a Zone Coverage Member Today!
