Nathan Bubes

Timberwolves Announce Updates To Coaching, Medical Staffs

In a pair of press releases, the Timberwolves announced a series of updates to their coaching and medical staffs, with most employees receiving promotions.

Max Lefevre, Jeff Newton, Chris Hines, Nathan Bubes, Moses Ehambe, and James White are the coaches who received internal promotions. White, known for his elite dunking ability, was the 31st pick of the 2006 draft. He played parts of three NBA seasons and had a lengthy pro career in Europe.

Minnesota also added former NBA big man Joey Dorsey to its staff as a player development assistant. Like White, Dorsey had a long, productive career in Europe. Lastly on the coaching side, Cole Fisher has been promoted to manager of basketball analytics.

Gregg Farnam, who has been with the Wolves for 27 years, including the past 24 as head athletic trainer, has been promoted to vice president of medical services. In his place, the team promoted former assistant athletic trainer Erin Sierer, who has been with Minnesota for five years and is now the first female head athletic trainer in Wolves history. Lisa Pataky (sports physical therapist) is a new addition on the medical side of the organization.

Northwest Notes: Holmgren, Thunder, Scott, Dunn

Thunder big man Chet Holmgren admits that spending an entire season rehabbing a foot injury was tough, as he told Sam Yip of Hoops Hype.

“Anything like that is gonna be challenging for anybody, but I feel like I’ve stayed the course really well, and I didn’t let my focus, attention to detail or confidence waver,” he said. “It was a challenging year, but I feel like I made the most out of it.”

Holmgren could battle Victor Wembanyama and the rest of the 2023 rookie class for the Rookie of the Year award, since he sat out last season. However, he’s only interested in team goals.

“My focus is on helping this team win games,” he said. Things like Rookie of the Year, and everything else are not important, so I’m just focused on helping the team. Everything else follows the team’s success.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

  • Despite all the assets that Thunder executive Sam Presti has hoarded in recent years, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman doubts he’ll cash a bunch of them in to land a star. Mussatto believes OKC will most likely focus on retaining Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams and Holmgren on rookie scale extensions when they’re eligible, as the team did with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
  • The Timberwolves have named Ernest Scott as head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the team’s G League affiliate, according to a team press release. Nathan Bubes has been named an assistant coach for Iowa, while Michael DiBenedetto will have to dual title of assistant coach and director of operations for the G League team. Scott replaces Jeff Newton, who was previously promoted to assistant coach/quality control coach for the NBA team.
  • Kris Dunn could begin the season in the Jazz‘s starting lineup, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News opines. Todd views Dunn as Utah’s best point guard. However, with Talen Horton-Tucker, Collin Sexton and rookie Keyonte George also in the mix, head coach Will Hardy could go a number of different ways with that key position. Dunn signed a multi-year contract with the Jazz in March.