The Wolves arguably had one of the best offseasons in the league, adding Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, and Taj Gibson to a core of Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns. Executive/coach Tom Thibodeau recently sat down with Nick Friedell of ESPN.com to discuss the team as well as several topics from around the league. Here are the highlights:
On Coaching Butler And Gibson Again:
I think they fit our team very well. I think what Jimmy can add to our team, some of the things he’s just gone through, both Karl and Andrew are going through themselves. So I think Jimmy can share that with them. I think having a defensive wing like Jimmy will be great to have next to Andrew.
And I think when you look at Taj, he’s probably the best switching big man in the league. He’s got great feet, can guard multiple positions, adds a lot of toughness to our team. Put him next to Karl, that adds a lot.
On What He’s Expecting From Butler:
Just do the right things each and every day. Put everything you have into each day. Be a good leader, be a good teammate, and play. We didn’t bring Jimmy here just for leadership. We brought him for his ability, his talent and all the things that he adds to a team. Same for Taj, Jeff and hopefully Jamal as we get that wrapped up. But I think that experience will be invaluable to us.
On His Expectations For This Season And Beyond:
There’s really good teams that we’re chasing. So we know that there’s going to be a lot of work that has to go into it. And you do it day by day, you do the necessary things, you win and build and improve.
But we’re excited about our opportunity and that’s the way we’re approaching it. As we always say, you don’t want to look ahead, you don’t want to look back, you want to focus in on exactly what’s in front of you, and we think the future is real bright, but we got to do the work day to day. And that’s what we’re locked into.
On The Stacked Western Conference:
You’d like to see more balance, but there’s always going to be certain teams that have the opportunity to attract elite players, and when that happens it could create an imbalance. I think players look around and they look at the teams that they’d like to join and it’s usually teams that already have good players on those teams.
This year will be a huge year for Wiggins. We already know he’s a 20+ ppg player but this year we will tell if he can also develop a more all around game and become a better playmaker or lockdown defender
Terrible exec Minny should hire Billy king
Lol
Thibs is right..it would be nice to see more balance between the East and the West. I’m surprised players don’t want to join the east because it would be easier to at least make the playoffs. You go there with some of your super star buddies on the same team and you have a chance but the West is so stacked it’s hard to do anything right now. Hopefully it changes in the future. But I don’t see it happening. If Lebron does come to LA that means the East is up for grabs if you can get past the Celtics so I wouldn’t be surprised if players started trying to join up out that way. I don’t see Larbron leaving though. I think he will retire with the Cavs unless him and the owner just completely but heads and it forces him to leave and even then he might not come out West. Curious to see how the playoffs shape up this year.