It’s been a rollercoaster ride of a season for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had been hoping that the franchise turned a corner after a 47-35 season last year. On Sunday, they fired President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach Tom Thibodeau, which is just the latest piece of drama from the team. On the latest episode of Chris Sheridan’s Sports Betting Tips podcast, the veteran NBA journalist is joined by Chris Hine of the Minneapolis Star Tribune to break down the latest wave of changes.
“The losses that they suffered in December — falling down the standings — was kind of the tipping point,” says Hine.
The Timberwolves were 9-3 after trading away Jimmy Butler and things were looking up. However, the team has been treading water mostly since the start of December, going just 8-10 in its last 18 games. Worse yet was the fact that they had some really disheartening losses, including at home to the Atlanta Hawks, who are one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, and a New Year’s Eve loss at the Phoenix Suns, who are the only team in the NBA that has yet to reach 10 wins.
While Thibodeau is out, there could be more changes coming as General Manager Scott Layden appears to be on the chopping block as well.
“That seems to be the consensus around here,” said Hine. “I asked Glen Taylor about that when I had a chance to talk to him and his response was that he’s under contract, which isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement from the owner.”
As for now, Ryan Saunders — the son of the late Flip Saunders — will take over as the interim head coach. His father, Flip, had a good run with the Timberwolves and is the only coach in franchise history to lead the team to a division title. However, Ryan has no head coaching experience and could be in a tough spot when the Timberwolves visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
In terms of player changes, it will be interesting to see if the Timberwolves go down the road of trades. They do have some enticing young players, but the team might view guys like Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Dario Saric as building blocks of a foundation under the right coach.
After the guys finish analyzing the Timberwolves, the conversation shifts to NBA futures and the odds to win the 2018-19 NBA Championship.
“The Warriors have been a heavy favorite since the summer,” says Sheridan, “but if you look around the West, the Rockets are 10/1, the Lakers are 18/1 and the Thunder are 22/1. And the one that gets me — because nobody seems to take them seriously — is the Denver Nuggets sitting in the first place in the Western Conference are at 33/1.”
There’s no question that the Nuggets have been impressive but there will be questions about their youth and playoff experience. Most of the key players on their roster have little to no playoff experience, which could be a big factor. Nikola Jokic is just 23 years old, Gary Harris is 24 and Jamal Murray is 21. However, if they can hold onto home court advantage (they are 16-3 at home this season), that would give them a huge boost in the postseason.
