In his first comments since the Jimmy Butler trade became official, Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau addressed the organization’s decision to deal its superstar.
Speaking to reporters, including ESPN’s Malika Andrews, Thibodeau said that Minnesota pondered several offers for Butler. The Timberwolves felt the return from Philadelphia was the best of the bunch and that’s when the decision was made.
“We knew we had to be patient,” Thibodeau said. “We felt we had a few offers that were good. So once we got offers to the point where we felt good about what the offers were, we thought this was the best one for us. So we executed.”
After nearly two months of trade rumors and drama, the Timberwolves dealt Butler and center Justin Patton to Philadelphia for a package of Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless and a 2022 second-round pick.
As we relayed earlier today, Minnesota considered trade packages from the Rockets and Pelicans before accepting the Sixers’ offer. The Nets were also reportedly involved in discussions but were not a serious suitor for the four-time All-Star.
There’s a fine line between being patient and waiting for the deal of the century. It seems that Thibs sought the latter. The result is a month of sulking, dysfunction and significant underperformance. And this time, the Butler did it.
Bravo
RoCo will be consistently average…. and Someone else will offer Dario a sizeable contract… like the Nets.
As soon as Josh Richardson was on the table he should have jumped. Oh well wouldn’t be the Timberwolves if something didn’t go wrong.
I wonder if Thibs even went to the effort of counteroffering?
Did he try to make a deal instead of just waiting for someone to please him?
All options mentioned were some other GM’s idea.
Maybe Laydon made offers that were kept more private.
MIN should have gotten more. Butler is going to want to sign for the most– which is whoever trades for him.
For the sake of Thibs’ reputation, I hope this is a bald faced lie. Because, if not, the man is a colossal moron.
There were only two possibilities after Butler requested a trade. A) Butler is patient, plays hard, and gets moved in Feb to a team that thinks he’s the missing piece for all the chili or B) Butler is pissed, acts out, and finds a way to simultaneously lower his value while torturing staff and coaches.
Thibs really ought to be fired for this. This episode should prevent him from having control over personnel ever again.
Knowing Glenn Taylor, he’s going to get a contract extension…
Probably calling Kahn for some advice as we speak.
There’s no other way to put it – Thibs got greedy, and blew it. None of those guys are going to be long or even medium term contributors to the Twolves.
Philly expects to soon agree to a contract with Bobby Bevis so he can be paired with the newly acquired Butt-head.
Um, ok I guess. Next time don’t try so hard.
The only bigger moron is Glen Taylor who believed this nonsense explanation.
There you go.