Report: Timberwolves, Tom Thibodeau in contact over possible coaching job
Former Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau may be willing to crawl his way to Madison Square Garden to fill the vacancy in New York, but if he's looking for the best available job, it may be over in the Western Conference with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
During an appearance on "Mike & Mike" Thursday morning, ESPN's Brian Windhorst revealed that there's been "cursory contact" between the Timberwolves and Thibodeau over possibly bringing him aboard.
"Whether or not that happens, I'm just telling you, the Timberwolves job is a great job," Windhorst said, as transcribed by 1500 ESPN's Derek James. "There will be lower expectations. They have two guys that look like bona fide annual All-Stars in (Andrew) Wiggins and (Karl-Anthony) Towns. They had a really nice win last night (117-112 over the Toronto Raptors) and both played great.
"They're gonna have another high draft pick, they're gonna have cap space. I think that's the best job that's gonna be available this summer."
Interim head coach Sam Mitchell took over the position following Flip Saunders' death in October. The Timberwolves (17-37) have already earned one more victory than they did over the entire 2014-15 campaign.
Thibodeau spent five seasons (2010-15) coaching the Bulls, compiling a 255-139 record, with five straight postseason appearances and a Coach of the Year win in 2011. He was relieved of his duties shortly after the Bulls were bounced in the East semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.
Management reportedly took issue with the way Thibodeau distributed his minutes, taxing his star players with heavy workloads.