As the Timberwolves prepare to make Tom Thibodeau their new head coach and president of basketball operations, here are five questions (and answers) about him:
Q Does he deserve his reputation for overworking players?
A This is a big one since it was an oft-repeated critique toward the end of his successful five-year stint in Chicago.
While the numbers can't tell us how Thibodeau ran practices or how hard he was on players, they can tell us how many minutes his best players logged. And, well, it appears as if this is a little overblown. While it's true the Bulls always had a player ranked in the top five in minutes played every year under Thibodeau (either Luol Deng or Jimmy Butler), they never had two players who were in the top 10.
There might be an element of truth to it; but this also might be the case of something repeated so often people assume it's true — as well as a narrative retroactively used against Thibodeau as it became clear he and Chicago were headed for a breakup.
Q Does he deserve his reputation as a defensive coach?
A This one absolutely is well-earned. Thibodeau's Bulls ranked in the top five in the NBA in terms of points allowed in four of his five seasons.
And before that, he was considered the defensive mastermind of the Celtics, where he was the team's associate head coach. He took over that role in 2007 — the same year Kevin Garnett was traded from Minnesota to Boston — and the Celtics won the NBA title on the strength of their defense.
