The Minnesota Timberwolves are looking for a new head coach. They fired Sam Mitchell following the season for failing to make the playoffs. Minnesota finished 29-53, 12 games from the 8th and final playoff spot. This was Mitchell’s one and only season with Minnesota after serving as assistant coach the year before. Minnesota is looking for a coach who has NBA coaching experience. Minnesota’s top two choices are Jeff Van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau. Both of them have served as NBA head coaches. The Timberwolves will be interviewing them this week.
Jeff Van Gundy has 11 years of previous coaching experience. Van Gundy coached the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets. His career record in the NBA is 430-318. His teams made the playoffs nine times. Van Gundy’s only trip to the NBA Finals was in the 1998-1999 lockout shortened season. The New York Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.
The problem with Van Gundy is he hasn’t coached in the NBA since the 2006-2007 season, nine years ago, when he was fired from the Rockets. Since 2007 he has been a broadcaster with ESPN. Van Gundy still has an understanding about how the game is played.
If the Minnesota Timberwolves want a more skilled head coach, Tom Thibodeau is the answer. Thibodeau coached the Chicago Bulls from 2010 to 2015. His record was 255-139. The Bulls appeared in the playoffs every season. The furthest the Bulls went was the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011 where they lost to the Miami heat in five games.
Thibodeau makes more sense. The Timberwolves are familiar with him because he was an assistant coach with them from 1989 to 1991. Thibodeau would be taking over a young team and he did that when he was in Chicago. He could rebuild this team to be successful in two to three years.
Whoever takes the job requires a few years to get them in the playoffs. Upper management needs to be patient. They can’t fire the head coach after one or two seasons.
Who would be a better fit to coach the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jeff Van Gundy or Tom Thibodeau?
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