Thursday, April 21, 2016

Tom Thibodeau To Be Next Head Coach of The (Soon To Be NBA Champion) Minnesota Timberwolves. And Wizards Hire Scott Brooks

Two big hires in the Association the last two days.  First off the Timberwolves take another step forward by hiring Tom Thibodeau as their next head coach, as well as president of basketball operations.  The other hire was the Wizards hiring former Thunder head man Scott Brooks.  Let's start with Thibs.

Timberwolves Hire Thibodeau


Love this move by Minnesota.  They have a great, and I mean GREAT, young core and they hired a man who took the Bulls to 60 wins in 2011 and just won a lot in Chicago.  Known as one of the best defensive coaches in the business he gets to coach two young guys with superstar potential in Andrew Wiggins and Karl Towns, who by the way are already pretty damn good defenders.  They'll likely have another top 5 pick in the draft, so a chance to add another potential star or trade for some solid veteran role guys.  Add in free agency with the cap bump and they have a good chance to lure some vets to bolster that roster and mentor the young studs that way.  The biggest problem Thibs has is overplaying guys.  In Chicago he played his starters BIG minutes and frequently played veterans over young guys looking to prove the can play.  If he can distribute minutes and trust young guys, knowing they'll make mistakes, that'll go a long way for him and the Wolves.  Things are looking way up for the Timberwolves and it won't be long before they're annually challenging for titles.

Wizards Hire Scott Brooks


The Wizards hired Scott Brooks today and as expected people were assuming it was just to try and entice Kevin Durant to come home this summer.  It may be, but lets not forget Brooks is a hell of a coach, so that could be why they hired him.  Put the end of game iso-ball he ran with the Thunder that never worked.  He was the coach of a young Thunder team that guided them into being a monster nobody wanted to play.  They were always a threat to win 60 when healthy.  The last time they were fully healthy in the playoffs under Brooks they made the Finals, before losing to the Heat.  KD didn't want Brooks to be fired last summer, he and Brooks were close.  I don't think just Brooks would be enough to get KD in a Wizards uni though.  One big thing Brooks did was help Russell Westbrook develop.  He let him play his game, his aggressive, unrelenting, 10000 mph game.  The Wizards have a young super-athletic point guard in John Wall who is a lot like Westbrook in his skill set.  I think Brooks can help Wall take his game to the next level.  So even if they don't get Durant, I think this move is good for the future of Washington.  They still need a lot of improvement in the front-court and for Bradley Beal to find a way to stay healthy, but hiring Brooks is a good start.


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