The Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday had just posted their fourth-largest margin of victory of the season, and Tom Thibodeau looked and sounded satisfied as the demanding and intense coach used his post-game news conference to praise the attitude and energy with which his team had just played.
Minutes later, Thibodeau was fired.
Halfway into his third season with Minnesota that began in turmoil surrounding the eventual trade of All-Star Jimmy Butler, Thibodeau’s final game was a 108-86 victory over the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers.
Photo: AP
Assistant coach Ryan Saunders, who is 32, was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Scott Layden stays as the general manager, assuming oversight of the roster.
Thibodeau was also the president of basketball operations, with full authority over personnel decisions.
“We would like to thank Tom for his efforts and wish him all the best,” Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said in a statement. “These decisions are never easy to make, but we felt them necessary to move our organization forward.”
Though the timing of the move after a big win was unusual, 60-year-old Thibodeau’s status was tenuous after the rocky start created largely by the way Butler forced his way out after such a strong debut season helped the Timberwolves return to the playoffs after a 13-year absence.
Taylor told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that he did not blame Thibodeau for Butler’s discontent, but the owner said he believed the team was underachieving.
“Let’s see if this change will make a difference,” Taylor said in his interview.
Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders, who is by far the most successful coach in the club’s history.
Beginning with the firing of Flip Saunders in 2005, the dismissal of Thibodeau was the 10th time the Wolves have changed head coaches in 14 years.
Thibodeau finished 97-107 with the Wolves, who barely reached the post-season last spring, needing to beat Denver in overtime at home in the 82nd and final game.
They were beaten by Houston in five games in the first round.
Butler pushed the organization into a corner when his stance that he would not sign a new contract with the team became public two weeks before training began.
The insistence of Thibodeau and Layden to hang on to Butler as long as possible, shrugging off the distraction as simply part of life in the league, backfired as Butler protected his health by playing in only select games.
The Wolves started 4-9 and after a winless five-game road trip, the awkwardness was too much for even Thibodeau and Layden to ignore.
Butler was sent to Philadelphia in a package that brought in Robert Covington and Dario Saric, two promising players who have fit relatively well in the rotation.
The Wolves are only 15-12 since the Butler deal, though, in a Western Conference that is as stacked as ever.
With Taylor’s commitment to maximum-salary contracts for both Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, there is no more room for patience with a franchise that has had to start over so many times since Kevin Garnett led the Wolves to the Western Conference Finals in 2003-2004.
The most recent setback was the death of the beloved Flip Saunders, who served as coach and president of basketball operations in the 2014-2015 season before his death from cancer.
Also on Sunday, it was:
‧ Raptors 121, Pacers 105
‧ Wizards 116, Thunder 98
‧ Nets 117, Bulls 100
‧ Clippers 106, Magic 96
‧ Hawks 106, Heat 82
‧ Hornets 119, Suns 113
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