How has his tenure with the Wolves changed how we think about Tom Thibodeau?

Even before they finally made the playoffs for the first time in fourteen seasons this past year, the Timberwolves had supposedly been a team on the rise for nearly a decade. Originally, there was hope that Al Jefferson, with his consistent 20-10 games, could lead the team into the future following the Kevin Garnett trade. Then it was supposed to be Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love leading the team to the playoffs in the lockout shortened 2011-12 season. The Kevin Love era ended in the summer of 2014 without any playoff appearances when he was traded for Andrew Wiggins, putting the team in rebuilding mode yet again. The team’s fortunes changed the following summer, though, when they were rewarded the first overall pick and were able to draft Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns, presumably giving the team a great young core that would finally enable them to break their long playoff drought.

When the Timberwolves hired Tom Thibodeau in the summer of 2016, it seemed that finally they had found the coach to usher them into that promising new era, an era of repeated playoff appearances and, eventually, championship contention. After all, that’s exactly what he had done with the Bulls before injuries and age took its toll.

His credentials were impeccable. He was a basketball lifer, and the architect of the ferocious defense that helped lead the Celtics to the 2008 championship. In his first two seasons as head coach, with the Chicago Bulls, he led them to the best record in the NBA, but Playoff success eluded them due to the buzzsaw that was the LeBron James-led Heat and the tearing of Derrick Rose’s ACL in the first game of the 2012 Playoffs. The Bulls remained playoff mainstays throughout his remaining three years as Bulls coach, but things had grown stale and the team fired him following the 2015 season.

Read More: 

What will the Atlanta Hawks do with Dennis Schroder?

There were reasons to be wary of Thibodeau becoming coach of the Wolves, but they were largely ignored in light of his previous success. Plus, it was assumed that his firing may have chastened him a tad, forced him to reconsider some of his more unwise decisions and his authoritarian manner. That was not the case. The same problems remained, on top of a few new ones caused by his new role as President of Basketball Operations. Thibodeau still played his starters far too long, had an uncreative offensive scheme, and coached in a way that seemed often tyrannical compared to younger, more collaborative coaches. Also, as an executive he seemed oddly and foolishly insistent on signing, and then giving minutes to, past their prime former Bulls.

Finally, the exact thing that had been his trademark his whole career — creative and potent defensive schemes — were nowhere to be found in his first two years helming the Timberwolves as Minnesota has finished 27th in defensive rating in both of his years as coach. Part of this is the fact that the Wolves are a young team featuring players like Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins who are still learning effective defensive skills in the NBA. But the other, more worrisome aspect, is that Thibodeau learned how to coach in a previous era, and schemes that looked brilliant a decade ago, or even five years ago, now seem dated. Offenses learned how to adapt to, and overcome, them. Also, the league has changed, relying more on 3-pointers than ever before, stretching the floor more and more each passing year. It appears that neither Thibodeau’s offensive nor his defensive schemes have adapted to this reality.

It’s all indicative of the fact that Thibodeau is unabashedly old school in his philosophy, approach, and demeanor. It’s why he’ll play his starters over 40 minutes on any given night. It’s why he yells at his players so much that it hardly engenders a response from them anymore. It’s why the Timberwolves were last in 3-pointers made each of the last two seasons. Well, admittedly the last one has a lot to do with a lack of viable shooters as well, but that still kind of falls back onto Thibodeau as the man in charge of the roster.

Thibodeau’s tenure with the Timberwolves has not been disastrous. They still look like a team on the rise, featuring one of the best young players in recent history in addition to a perennial All Star. And they finally made the Playoffs! Even though they lost in the first round, it’s still a big step for the franchise. However, it seems less and less likely that Thibodeau will the be the man to take them to the next level.

Understandably, many have seen Thibodeau’s time with the Wolves as a bit of a failure — it really just feels like they should be further along than they are. And while the Thibodeau hire was originally hailed as a brilliant choice by most NBA fans, many have now come to question his competency, whether the accolades bestowed upon him were really deserved. It’s not that his success with the Bulls was fraudulent, but that it was contextual and now the context has quickly and irrevocably changed.

Next: Who will ruin basketball the most in the 2018-19 season?

With each passing season Thibodeau appears to become more of a relic of a bygone era, a coach not well suited for the needs and particularities of this young team in the modern NBA — a coach who was once undeniably great, but is now merely good, and even then, good with more than a few caveats.