Tom Thibodeau gets a bad rap for working his players to the bone, but it certainly doesn’t seem to offend any of the players he’s worked with in the past.
Jimmy Butler clearly loves Thibs and so does Taj Gibson, who signed with the Timberwolves and will likely start at power forward.
“He knows my body, he knows my game, he knows what it takes to win,” Gibson said of Thibs in an interview with ESPN 1000 in Chicago. “He knows I’m a hard worker, he knows I’m going to do whatever it takes to help the team. It wasn’t a hard thought process, it was just about getting back with him.”
Gibson, who posted top 10 defensive ratings twice while playing under Thibs in Chicago, was recruited hard by his former coach and Butler.
“Thibs would call me, Jimmy would call me, Thibs would call me, and I got tired of answering my phone,” Gibson said. “I gotta be honest with you, I was like, ‘come on y’all.’ But Jimmy was there all along the way.”
Ultimately, Gibson picked the Timberwolves over Oklahoma City.
“I was talking to a number of teams but I just wanted to get back with my coach that knows how I like to play,” he said. “It was really tough leaving Oklahoma City. At the end of the day those were the two teams that I narrowed it down to. Two awesome teams. It was really tough.
“I’m just looking forward to him (Thibs) getting me back in the right state of mind and helping sharpen my game up to where it could be better.”
