NBA
Tom Thibodeau: The Dilemma Surrounding The Timberwolves Franchise
The Minnesota Timberwolves, who had recently found their groove with their new roster, is now struggling. They now look like the awkward middle school boy trying Fortnite dances by himself at the side of the gymnasium while listening to early 2000’s music. They occasionally get a move right, but the rest of them look unorthodox and not on point. That’s exactly how the Timberwolves have been playing. The person responsible to the bad dancing and music decisions for the team is head coach and President of Basketball Operations Tom Thibodeau
The Timberwolves had a recent home stretch where they went 9-3 and won six out of seven games. Afterwards, the team went on a four-game west coast road trip where they went 0-4. The last loss was at the hands of the Phoenix Suns, who are the worst team in the league. They redeemed themselves with a home win again versus the Sacramento Kings, who they lost to on the road trip.
Last night, the Timberwolves had a crushing overtime home loss to the Detroit Pistons. It occurred after leading by 12 by the end of the 3rd quarter. They also allowed the Pistons, who are one of the worst three point shooting teams, to hit a season high of three pointers.
Evaluating Tom Thibodeau From The Coaching Side Of Things
Coach Thibodeau has made it clear how his coaching style is going to be since day one as a head coach. It’s resulted into constantly barking orders, giving starters heavy minutes, weird/unfitting rotations, heavy criticism filled, and a tense environment. He doesn’t have any other levels. He screams out (literally) every play when the offense sets up. Even during a made bucket you can still see an angered and upset emotion draping his face.
Luckily for the Timberwolves players, they have veterans like former MVP and sixth man of the year candidate Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, and Luol Deng. Those three players were all on his Chicago Bulls team in the early 2010’s that we’re a force in the East. They can teach the young core that the Timberwolves have in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins how to deal with the intensity of Thibodeau. They also are all capable and confident enough to call Thibodeau out on some of his antics.
Tom Thibodeau Hasn’t Been The Defensive Ace The Timberwolves Thought He Was
Thibodeau was supposed to come in as this defensive guru. However, that’s flown out the window. During his first two years with the team, they were one of the worst ranked defenses in the entire league. This year, the team started out awful on the defensive end of the floor, but they’ve improved.
That primarily, though, is due to the Timberwolves defensive ace Robert Covington and energizer bunny rookie Josh Okogie being able to cover up the Timberwolves weaknesses. Towns has come around a bit more on the defensive end. He’s finally utilizing his athleticism on that end of the floor.
Yes, effort from the players does come into play here a lot. If you don’t apply effort on both sides of the ball, you won’t win many games. But when you have a man that looks like the Penguin villain from Batman yelling in your ear for every mistake you make, it makes things difficult. Teams will put forth extra effort when they feel united and led by a confident person. The way he calls plays and lack of trust can diminish confidence.
The Offensive Side Has Been The Problem For Tom Thibodeau
Thibodeau’s offensive scheme are predictable and borderline archaic at times. You can tell he still itches to go back his inefficient isolation play. Thibodeau screeches out plays that tend to slow the offense and those plays have heavy dribbling and little passing. It’s most clear at times with starting point guard Jeff Teague. Teague is standing outside the three point line and is looking like he’s just watching paint dry while pounding the ball into the hardwood.
Thibodeau has been also somewhat reluctant at times to adopt the 3-point game that the league has now chose as a primary weapon. However, over the past few months, he’s made up for it by getting 3-point shooters. When your offensive scheme isn’t built for 3-point shooting, it is somewhat pointless.
Covington, Rose, Towns, Wiggins, and new player Dario Saric all are solid three point options. They should utilize them more from the 3-point line. He even has another three point sniper in Anthony Tolliver collecting dust at the end of the bench for some reason.
Operations Side
This side of him is where he can get some praise depending who you talk to. He orchestrated the Jimmy Butler trade for Zach Lavine, Kris Dunn, and Lauri Markannen that royally blew up in his face after only one year. Thibodeau skipped the future plan to a win now idea that didn’t work.
This move tore the fan base apart. It separated the fans that wanted the young core of Towns, Wiggins, and Lavine to grow together and become an organic big three. The other side that finally cheered for the Timberwolves having a legitimate chance at destroying that dreadful 14 year playoff drought.
A way Thibodeau has covered his butt was by finding one of this past year’s draft steal in Okogie. He also finally traded the “toxic” All-star in Butler for Covington and Saric. All three of those players have received the love and appreciation from the fans.
Where Does Tom Thibodeau Go With The Team Now?
Thibodeau’s power and presence with the team has hurt the franchise not just from the player’s side, but with the fan’s side. Majority of Timberwolves’ fans are tired of Thibodeau and the baggage that comes with him. That has led to awful attendances to the games. With low attendances, that leads to low revenue obviously that trickles down to everything that is the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise.
Owner Glen Taylor has to swallow his pride and wallet and end Thibodeau’s tenure with Timberwolves. Or at least have him relieve him of one of his duties. Very few President of Operations and coaching job combinations have worked. Thibodeau is proving that the combo is hard to be successful with.
Until the Timberwolves are either too far out or are completely out of playoff contention, Thibodeau’s job is most likely safe, but he is walking on very thin ice. A couple more strings of bad losses could be the end of his time with the franchise.
Photo Credit
Nerdsfun via Flickr
