Thibodeau Hiring Sets Up T-Wolves and Their New Coach to Create Lasting Legacy

The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to be a winning team, effective immediately.

They could even be the NBA’s next great power after the Golden State Warriors’ current era.

That’s how perfect a fit Tom Thibodeau is for the Timberwolves and Glen Taylor, whose ineptitude as team owner over the past 22 years seemed inexorable.

Taylor, though, is a new man today. He turned 75 Wednesday and on the very same day agreed to terms with Thibodeau as his next head coach and team president.

Thibodeau, even though his stature has been amplified by the Chicago Bulls’ utter failure during his one-year sabbatical, is still woefully underrated as a brilliant coach and rare leader.

And he’s about to prove that in Minnesota.

For Taylor, this is his time to go legit—after all the previous thoughts of surrender to sell the franchise and so recently being forced to face mortality with the passing of good friend Flip Saunders.

And frankly, it’s refreshing to see someone who has been so bad at something realizing there is a unique opportunity at hand and trying hard to be good—for himself and all those he serves.

Taylor is hopeful he can do things differently and do right by his new franchise player, Karl-Anthony Towns, after being unable all those years to put Kevin Garnett in realistic position to succeed.

It’s almost forgotten how the Warriors, given their current riches, wore rags not so long ago before new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber changed the mindset.

Long-suffering Timberwolves fans have reason to be skittish, but the legitimacy of Taylor’s makeover as owner lies in Thibodeau’s willingness to move north.

With all his options—and even before seeing anything from the Lakers’ young talent on the court, Thibodeau was thinking early this season of coaching in Los Angeles—he would not have come if he thought …

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