NBA Rumors: Timberwolves Could Replace Tom Thibodeau With Fred Hoiberg As Head Coach, Per ‘ESPN’s Wojnarowski
In the 2018 NBA offseason, the Minnesota Timberwolves became the center of controversy after Jimmy Butler expressed his frustration with his young teammates, specifically Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. The drama continued until the start of the 2018-19 NBA season. When the Timberwolves succeeded in trading Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers for Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Jerryd Bayless, and a draft pick, most people expected things to be better in Minnesota.
Unfortunately, despite getting rid of the major distraction, the Timberwolves remain in the bottom half of the deep Western Conference. As of now, they are sitting in the No. 11 spot with a 19-21 record. With their failure to consistently win games, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor recently made a big decision and fired Tom Thibodeau as president of basketball operations and head coach, according to a Twitter post by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Since the 2018 NBA offseason, there have been rumors that Tom Thibodeau’s days in Minnesota were already numbered, and as of now, it seems like Glen Taylor’s patience with him has run out. Aside from Thibodeau, Timberwolves General Manager Scott Layden could also be on the verge of losing his job. As of now, the Timberwolves are yet to announce their new head coach and president of basketball operations, but in another Twitter post, Wojnarowski revealed that Taylor is giving former Chicago Bulls Head Coach Fred Hoiberg “serious consideration” to be their new general manager or head coach.
“Fred Hoiberg is a serious consideration of Minnesota owner Glen Taylor to become either the GM or head coach in the future, league sources tell ESPN. Hoiberg was an assistant GM in Minnesota prior to Iowa State. Scott Layden remains GM now.”
Breaking: The Timberwolves have fired president and coach Tom Thibodeau, league source tells @wojespn. pic.twitter.com/tyt7ZNJZL1
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 7, 2019
Fred Hoiberg lost his job as the Bulls head coach after the team started the 2018-19 NBA season with a 5-19 record. As of now, it remains unknown if he will be an ideal replacement for Tom Thibodeau as the Timberwolves head coach. In his four-year stint with the Bulls, Hoiberg posted a 115-155 record and his only greatest achievement was leading the team to the Eastern Conference Playoffs in 2017 where they were easily eliminated in the first round.
When the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler for young contributors like Robert Covington and Dario Saric, the Timberwolves hoped that they would become a more competitive team in the deep Western Conference. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor admitted that their recent struggle was one of the major reasons behind their decision to fire Tom Thibodeau as president of basketball operations and head coach.
“I said let’s let it go and see how things worked and I think now, we’ve gone up through halfway through the season and I don’t think we’re where we thought we would be or where we think we should be,” Taylor said, via a Twitter post of Chris Hine of Minneapolis Star Tribune.
