Only seven days after they announced they would search to fill their two most important jobs, the Timberwolves on Wednesday moved swiftly and decisively, giving three titles to Tom Thibodeau and Scott Layden.
It was a sweeping decision that transitions the franchise from October's tumultuous death of Flip Saunders, its coach and president of basketball operations, to a new day that won't include prominently or at all the two men — interim coach Sam Mitchell and General Manager Milt Newton — who guided the team through such a trying time these past six months.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor — who also owns the Star Tribune — discussed where his team has been and where it is headed, now that it has hired former Chicago Bulls coach Thibodeau as coach and president of basketball operations and San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Layden as general manager.
Q Happy belated 75th birthday. Was the timing a coincidence or a present to yourself?
A Thank you. I'm really happy with this. This was my birthday present, one of them, a big one. I had talked to quite a few people, had all my work done. Then I called these two guys [Wednesday] morning and said, 'OK, this is the day, let's finish it today or not, one way or the other.' So they knew it. We worked on it all day, got it done kind of late but we got it done.
Q Why is [Thibodeau] the right guy?
A There's never one reason. I liked his answer to one of the first questions I asked: What are the things most important to you? The first thing he said was, 'I want to be the coach of an NBA championship team. That's my goal in life.' Then we talked about his life and how it's so much about basketball, how hard he works at it. He has friends and all that, but he just said this is very important to him. So I say, 'OK, we start with that. This guy is probably going to outwork anybody else I know.'
Q When Flip took over both coaching and management jobs, you were reluctant. Has your opinion on that changed or did doing that again get the deal done?
A It's the way to get the deal done, but the arrangement isn't so much that Thibs is going to run everything. I hired him as coach, but I said we're going to hire a really strong GM. They understand it's a partnership; it's written into their contracts. It isn't the same as Detroit's [with coach/GM Stan Van Gundy] or anybody else. The two of them signed on the same day, for the same length and they are hired as a team.
Q So who determines what?
A On some decisions, Thibs will have the final say and on some decisions, Scott will have the final say and we have it all written down. The ultimate goal is, it doesn't pay to do something if the other guy is going to block it. I've seen this work and used in business if you can get the right guys. They're friends, they respect each other. They both have said it's highly unlikely that one will have to make a decision over the other.
Occasionally, somebody's got to make a decision, right? We've set up a way to do that and who will call it and it isn't the same person in all cases. Thibs has the [president's] title. I understand that. It was important to him, it wasn't important to Scott. You'll find out Scott is a strong personality himself, and he wouldn't come here if he thought he was too much of a second fiddle. As Scott explains it to me, this is how it works in San Antonio. Pop [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] doesn't stand up and say, 'This is what we're going to do.' Scott said they're very much a consensus group.
Q How much of your search was influenced by discussions you had with Flip when you both were looking for a coach two years ago?
A I would say a good part. We talked about Thibs and [ESPN analyst Jeff] Van Gundy and others and he shared with me what he liked about guys and what he didn't like. An impression had been left in my mind and I can recall all of it, what he thought of people. What I've done this year, we probably were going to do it anyway. Flip loved coaching, but he didn't necessarily have to coach. He knew long-term I didn't want him to coach. I wanted him to run the team for me.
Q Tom was fired in Chicago after five successful seasons there. What did he say when you asked him why?
A I'm not going to go into detail, but I talked to him about that because I didn't exactly know what happened. When he explained it to me, I understood and I thought there were reasons for that not to happen here and I felt comfortable that he wanted to build a good, long-term relationship with ownership, with other managers. So I felt good about that. I told him most of my career I've had really good relationships with the people I have worked with. When I write it down, this is really important to me, that I like the person and that we can communicate.
Q How much did his defensive-minded nature appeal to you?
A He indicated it's not only about defense. Yes, he knows defense, but he talked about all parts of basketball and what you have to do to get a championship team. He talked about cutting back on shots that aren't high percentage, about the importance of threes now, how the game is changing. He talked about small-ball. He just talked about a lot of things. I could see he has a lot of flexibility within him, and I liked that because it is changing.
Q Will his coaching staff include an offensive specialist?
A We talked about that. He wouldn't call a guy an offensive coordinator. Obviously, there will be somebody who's very good with offense, but he believes a good coach needs to know both sides.
Q Tom coached Kevin Garnett three seasons in Boston [as an assistant]. Will this decision affect whether KG plays another season or not?
A I can't answer that. They have respect for each other, so that's good. Thibs questioned whether he'll play and I said you better ask him. I don't know. So I think we're right back to how are KG's knees and legs? And I told Thibs I don't have the answer.
Q What did Tom tell you about his year away from the game?
A He called it his sabbatical. I think it was 13 teams he went and spent time with, watching their practices, how they do things. He didn't come back and say, 'I saw this great big thing somebody is doing that's tremendous.' But he told me he saw lots of little things that he can incorporate into his system or his practices. I liked that. I like a guy who is out there and aggressive and went to other teams and watched them.
Q He was known in Chicago for playing his players a lot of minutes, too many minutes. Does that concern you?
A I talked him about that and he said, 'Talk to my players and ask them.' I did not do that directly. I did that through some other people.
Q Did you find Tom as focused on basketball as he's sometimes portrayed?
A I know a number of business people like that, in other careers. I didn't find that unusual. There are just people in society that are just intense on whatever they're working on. I'm fine with that. I like it mostly if they work for me because they're tough people to compete against.
Q The speed with which you moved probably surprised people. Had you decided early who you wanted or did you do that to beat the competition in the search for coaches?
A It was both. In fact, I said I wouldn't make an announcement until the season was over, but I had made up my mind before the season was over that I had to do this. I was going to do this. I was prepared to move, but I also knew I needed to interview a lot of people and I knew the people I wanted to interview were going to be sought by other teams. Therefore, I didn't want to get left behind. I jumped on a number of guys and talked early, so I was confident nobody was going to take another job without finding out first where they stood where with us. Everyone I talked to thought that this would be a great opportunity for them.
