New Timberwolves coach and president of basketball operations Tom Thibodeau began filling out his coaching staff on draft day Thursday by calling upon an old friend.
Thibodeau's longtime assistant, Andy Greer, has agreed to join him as his top assistant, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. It's Thibodeau's first coaching move. He also is expected to bring back assistant Ryan Saunders from the 2015-16 Wolves staff.
Greer and Thibodeau were assistants together for Jeff Van Gundy in Houston a decade ago, and Thibodeau hired Greer as an assistant during his five seasons as Chicago's head coach from 2010 to 2015.
A former Memphis assistant and Portland scout, Greer, 53, was an assistant with Toronto this past season when Thibodeau took a one-year sabbatical from coaching after he was fired by the Bulls in May 2015.
Two other trusted Thibodeau assistants in Chicago will not join him in Minnesota. Oklahoma City recently hired Adrian Griffin, an assistant in Orlando last season, and Ed Pinckney is contractually obligated to remain as Mike Malone's top assistant in Denver.
Connecticut guys
The newest Timberwolf, Thursday night draft pick Kris Dunn from Providence, shares something in common with one of the guys that picked him: He and Thibodeau both are Connecticut guys, Dunn from New London and Thibodeau from New Britain, about an hour and a world apart.
"Connecticut people are easy-going guys who like to laugh and have a good time but also know when to turn it on," Dunn said from Brooklyn, N.Y., in a teleconference with Minnesota media.
He was told that doesn't sound like Thibodeau.
"I may be wrong," Dunn said. "You never know. Everyone's different."
What might have been
Tough and physical, particularly for a point guard, Dunn once excelled at football and Thibodeau suggested Dunn was good enough as a safety and receiver to play college football.
"I was pretty good," Dunn said. "I was fast. I knew how to cover the field and I was definitely a hitter. That was the reason I loved football.
"I could have been in college, be in the NFL one day. I think I had the talent to get there, but I didn't like the cold that was coming down in Connecticut."
