In his new role as General Manager, Layden will assist President of Basketball Operations/Head Coach Tom Thibodeau in the evaluation and acquisition of players and in the overall management of all basketball operations for the Wolves. Layden was hired away from the San Antonio Spurs, where the latter served as an assistant general manager for four seasons.
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The deal has been reported at five years and somewhere around $8M a year for Thibs, while Layden will earn around $2M a year.
I am glad to see Glen Taylor finally spend his money. A year out of the league as a head coach, and spending time shadowing other organizations, might give Thibodeau some perspective on what went wrong at the end of his tenure with the Bulls.
Thibodeau was sacked by the Bulls after the 2014-15 season following a spat with the front office. Tom’s resume speaks for itself.
The coach and team are reportedly in the “final stages of negotation” to make the Thibodeau both the head coach and head of basketball operations in Minnesota.
With that said, it’s clear that the Wolves have the potential to be a contender once cornerstones like Towns (20 years old and a virtual lock to win this season’s Rookie of the Year award) and Wiggins (21 years old and the victor of last season’s ROY award) take the next step in their development. Especially considering another lottery pick will come Minnesota’s way in June by way of their 29-53 finish under Sam Mitchell last season (he took over after the tragic passing of coach and president Flip Saunders in late October, who died of cancer). Taylor said he and search firm Korn Ferry would exclusively seek candidates outside the organization. I think with this hire and a few key off-season moves, the Wolves will be a playoff team this upcoming year.
The Wolves chose Thibodeau, 58, over fellow finalist and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy, who remains a co-favorite alongside former Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scotty Brooks for the Houston Rockets’ coaching vacancy. They also agreed to terms with Scott Layden to be the new general manager. They also have promising young players in Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng and Shabazz Muhammad. Their NBA-long playoff drought extended to 12 seasons.
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Thibodeau’s last coaching job was with the Chicago Bulls where he was highly successful. The Bulls, regardless of who was on the floor, were stingy and competitive every night under Thibodeau. He was an assistant under then coach Bill Musselman.
