Timberwolves hire Thibodeau as coach, president

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have hired former Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau to be the team’s new coach and president of basketball operations, the team announced Wednesday night.

Thibodeau was the most coveted coach on the market, and he’s bringing his unparalleled intensity and hard-driving approach to a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 2004. He won nearly 65 percent of his games in five seasons with the Bulls, but was fired after last season amid speculation of a rift with general manager Gar Forman.

Landing such a big-name coach was a startling development for a Wolves franchise that has the longest-running playoff drought in the NBA and has routinely had to settle for second, third or fourth choices when jobs opened up. But team owner Glen Taylor, armed with one of the most promising young rosters in the league, turned 75 on Wednesday and doesn’t want to wait around any longer for the team to become a winner.

San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Scott Layden will accompany Thibodeau to Minnesota and serve as the Wolves’ general manager and Thibodeau’s right-hand man in the front office.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Thibodeau, who got his start in the NBA as an assistant for the expansion Timberwolves under Bill Musselman in 1989. He spent two years coaching the Timberwolves and often recalled those days fondly on return trips with the Bulls over the years.

The man they call Thibs is not the reflective kind. He’s the …

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