Wolves coach/executive Tom Thibodeau didn’t want to make too many personnel moves during his first offseason with the team, instead, he wanted a chance to evaluate Minnesota’s talent during the preseason to determine which pieces of the core were going to be in his plans moving forward, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com relays. “I liked the core of the team. I want to get to know them better,” Thibs said. “I’m going to focus on the players we have. That gives me a better idea of what our needs are. It’s like building a house. We’re still working on the foundation.”
Here’s more from Minnesota:
- Thibodeau named Peter Patton the team’s shooting coach in part because he was highly recommended by Chip Engelland, the legendary shooting coach of the Spurs, Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune passes along. “He’s had an opportunity to work with a number of our players already. I like his background. I like that he’s worked with Chip before and that’s important to us,” Thibodeau.
- Shabazz Muhammad spent his summer working defense and he believes the arrival of Thibodeau will help me become a more complete player, Youngblood writes in a seperate piece. “It’s crazy,” Muhammad said. “I already feel like I’ve gotten way smarter on defense with just the things Coach has been explaining to us. Just attention to detail, his defensive scheme. This is my fourth year and I’m getting the terms down.” The UCLA product is currently eligible for an extension.
- There have been Ricky Rubio trade rumors all offseason and Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com believes it’s the right time for the Wolves to sell the 25-year-old. Doolittle argues that the team should trade Rubio for some shooting on the wing if rookie Kris Dunn is ready to start at the point.
Eddie Scarito contributed to this post