Following Team USA’s gold-medal victory during the Olympics Sunday the love has been flowing for new Timberwolves coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau.
Thibodeau was on the staff and worked alongside legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, who had nothing but high praise for Thibs during an interview with the Chicago Tribune.
“Tom is one of the great coaches on this planet. To be honest, he talked to the team more than I did.
“To have Thibs right next to me yelling, I learned a lot. I think the people of Minnesota are very lucky. His players will be taught the game well.”
That’s pretty high praise coming from a pretty high place in the basketball coaching profession, and it’s great news for a young group of Timberwolves players that include Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn.
LaVine had a chance to work out with Thibs in the lead up to the Olympic Games.
LaVine got a pretty good idea of what Minnesota can expect to see from their new head man and he told Sports Illustrated recently that he knows Thibodeau will push them.
“Yeah I worked out with coach a couple of times now. He is really strict and he’s ready to go, so I like that. He’s going to push you and he’s very aggressive and tells you how it is. It’s been a long summer, so we’re ready to get into the season.”
Pro Basketball Talk notes that with Thibodeau’s influence, the Wolves might just be the biggest threats to unseat the Warriors in the Western Conference in a couple of seasons.
