The Minnesota Timberwolves are adding another old, new face to their staff.
Sidney Lowe will work with the team as an assistant coach for the third time, the Wolves announced Friday, noting that per team policy terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are excited to add Sid Lowe to our coaching staff,” head coach Flip Saunders said in a statement. “He has a great basketball mind and an extensive coaching background as a head and assistant coach in both the NBA and collegiate levels, which will be extremely valuable on our staff. Sid relates well with players and will play an important role in the development of talent on our roster.”
#Twolves officially announce Sid Lowe as an assistant coach on Flip Saunders staff. This is Lowe's 4th time coaching with Saunders.
— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) June 13, 2014
The release says the rest of Saunders’ staff will be announced “at a later date.”
On Thursday, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported former Timberwolves player Sam Mitchell will be joining Saunders on the bench, but the team has not confirmed the move.
Mitchell has scored the second-most points (7,161) in Wolves franchise history, behind only Kevin Garnett (19,041).
Then there is the hot name, David Blatt, who on Thursday announced he has stepped down as the coach for the Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel for a job in the NBA.
During a news conference Thursday Blatt would not say what job he had accepted. According to the Pioneer Press, Minnesota and Golden State have been rumored as possible destinations as an assistant, with a chance Cleveland names him head coach.
Sidney Lowe’s Long Wolves History
The name Sidney Lowe may very well be familiar to you, if you’re a Timberwolves fan.
Lowe played for an expansion Minnesota squad in 1989-90, and then immediately stuck around. He served as a TV analyst for one year before becoming an assistant coach with the Timberwolves on head coach Jimmy Rodgers’ staff. Rodgers was let go midway through the 1992-93 season, and Lowe took the head coaching gig through the 1993-94 campaign.
(He was replaced by Bill Blair, who one year later was usurped by the once-again head coach Saunders.)
Lowe went to the Cavaliers for a few years, then joined Saunders’ staff as an assistant in 1999. One season later he was named head coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies. He resigned from that job in 2002-03, then in 2003 joined Saunders and the Wolves once again as an assistant. In 2005, he followed Saunders to the Detroit Pistons, but left after for one year.
He was head coach at North Carolina State from 2006-2011, then served as an assistant with the Utah Jazz until this summer.
