Tom Thibodeau is reportedly “aggressive” in his pursuit of the vacant Minnesota Timberwolves job because they can offer him full control of the franchise.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Mannix of The Vertical, Thibodeau is seeking full control over player personnel, philosophy, and hirings, and is pursuing the Minnesota vacancy because it is the only currently available job that can offer a team president role to go along with the head coaching position. The fact that the team already has Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in place only makes it a more attractive opportunity.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is reportedly well aware of Thibodeau’s hunger for full control. In addition, the search firm aiding the team with their coaching search, Korn Ferry, was instrumental in arranging the hiring of Stan Van Gundy as Pistons President and GM, a hire that has brought dividends to Detroit. Korn Ferry has worked to sell that same model to Taylor in Minnesota, and they’re not entirely unfamiliar with it, either, as the late Flip Saunders held both roles.
Thibodeau, meanwhile, has spent his year out of coaching traversing the league and studying franchise models, including those of San Antonio and Detroit.
Thibodeau would consider other coaching vacancies without organizational control if the Timberwolves opportunity falls through, but he prefers to have it if possible. Houston and Washington would be interested in hiring Thibodeau strictly as head coach, while Thibs is said to have no interest in the Sacramento job. The Knicks are reportedly not interested either, though given the way Phil Jackson is running that organization, it seems unlikely that Thibodeau would want to work in that structure anyway.
Minnesota’s other primary candidate, Jeff Van Gundy, is not as married to the idea of full control and would reportedly be the frontrunner for the Houston job when it becomes available after the Rockets exit the playoffs.
It’s hard to blame Thibodeau for pursuing full control given that his conflicts with management were a huge factor in his departure from Chicago. Management won’t be a problem if they’re all hand-picked by him and he only has to answer to the owner.
