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Minnesota Timberwolves: How an aggressive Tom Thibodeau won the NBA offseason

By Hans Themistode

DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 15: Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the Minnesota Timberwolves shouts instructions to his team as they play the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on February 15, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that , by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 15: Head coach Tom Thibodeau of the Minnesota Timberwolves shouts instructions to his team as they play the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center on February 15, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that , by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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How an aggressive Tom Thibodeau turned the Minnesota Timberwolves around and won the NBA summer

A number of teams have made quite the splash during the offseason.

The Boston Celtics, as expected, managed to sign Gordon Hayward away from the Utah Jazz while also drafting forward Jayson Tatum, who has gotten off to a great start during summer league play averaging over 17 points per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers have also made some underrated moves and signings. Getting big man Brook Lopez, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and of course drafting the seemingly new face of the franchise Lonzo Ball.

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Oklahoma City pulled off arguably the biggest offseason shocker by trading for Paul George while the Houston Rockets have been extremely active getting all-world point guard Chris Paul and are openly and unapologetically trying to trade for disgruntled all-star Carmelo Anthony.

Say what you want about Anthony, but he’s still a 10-time all-star who knows how to score the ball with the best of them.

All of these teams have had themselves a very active and productive offseason, but none of them have been as good as the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Coming into this past season, the Wolves, for the first time in a number of years, had quite lofty expectations placed upon them. It was believed that Rookie of the Year winners Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, along with high flying scorer Zach LaVine and pass first point guard Ricky Rubio, would all take their individual games to the next level which would result in a playoff berth.

And while their individual games did indeed take a jump, as Towns, Wiggins and LaVine all had career seasons while Rubio showed promise towards the latter portion of the season, the loaded West was too much for the Young Wolves to overcome.

Minnesota finished as the 13th ranked team in the Conference and was labeled as one of the most underachieving teams in the NBA.

Chalk it up to growing pains because the potential is there. It just takes time for it all to mesh together. Although, head coach and President Tom Thibodeau isn’t the one to show patience. Instead of waiting out their young stars, he decided to take a more proactive approach this summer.

Minnesota traded for Jimmy Butler on Draft night, brought in Jeff Teague to replace Ricky Rubio and signed Taj Gibson to bring in an added veteran presence.

And by the way, Thibs also added two-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jamal Crawford into the fold to bring a much-needed scoring punch off their bench.

In short time, the Minnesota Timberwolves are now in win-now mode.

Believe it or not, the Wolves have exactly what it takes to compete for a championship this season. Is it a bit optimistic? Absolutely, but let’s take a closer look at the roster.

Let’s start from the top with newly acquired point guard Jeff Teague. Let’s look past the solid numbers he’s continued to produce no matter where he goes and let’s also look past his all-star berth only a few seasons ago. More than anything, he’s a flat out winner.

In his eight NBA seasons, he has never missed the playoffs. The Wolves have been losing for years. Even in their best years with Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell, that team was good but never a major contender. Teague can help turn this team into a winner which would be a far cry from where it has been for several years.

Andrew Wiggins is a young player that can both score and defend, and seemingly fits in perfectly with talented unselfish all-star Jimmy Butler while Taj Gibson seems to be the perfect player both on and off the court to help mentor Karl Anthony Towns. Gorgui Dieng is a starting caliber player in this league so to bring him off the bench along with Jamal Crawford and Shabazz Muhammad has the makings of a very solid bench.

It’s been quite some time since the Minnesota Timberwolves have been so active in free agency, and an even longer time since free agents have tabbed them as a place where they’ve wanted to play. Both Jeff Teague and Jamal Crawford choose to sign with Minnesota, and that speaks to the culture change that is currently taking place with the Wolves.

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It’s fairly a new trend to name a head coach the man in charge of basketball operations as well. Many have done a poor job, most glaringly Doc Rivers who’s had a championship contender in LA, but due to a poor management job has placed his Clipper franchise back in to simply fighting for the playoffs with the departure of Chris Paul.

Fully understand that although the Minnesota Timberwolves look great on paper, the team must still come together to make it work on the floor. For now, though, Minnesota has won the offseason.

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