Since being fired by the Chicago Bulls, Tom Thibodeau has been one of the more divisive figures on NBA Twitter. Many old-school fans see him as one of the better coaches in the NBA, and Bulls fans practically worship the man for the bad-mouthed facial expression king he is, but many others have begun to critique his methods and how they apply to the modern game. Many point to the fact that his high minutes have shortened the careers of the likes of Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, and many point to the fact that his defensive scheme designed to overload the strong side doesn’t work in an era with stretch fours.
For the most part as a Timberwolves fan, I have tried to retain some kind of balance with regards to Thibodeau, but we have reached a point where despite the high placing in the Western Conference, it is clear that his methods are going to have negative effects for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jimmy Butler’s injury at first glance looked like pure bad luck, as it was non-contact, but a deeper, more medically oriented look at his injury, suggests that the injury was no accident.
Per Sham Mohile, who is a medical professional, overuse of the meniscus causes it to thin, and a tear becomes likely. Essentially, Butler’s high workload in the past couple of seasons has caused the meniscus to deteriorate, and this caused a bone to bone contact, which is what made his injury so painful.
For the purpose of balance, we must note that not all of this injury falls on Tom Thibodeau, as whilst Butler is 2nd in minutes per game this year with 37.1, he was 5th in the NBA last year in minutes per game with 37.0, and third in the previous year with 36.9, with both seasons coming under Fred Hoiberg. However, Thibodeau simply deserves a lot of blame because he is just not learning his lessons from past problems he had in Chicago.
Even while Chicago was routinely making the playoffs and being the hardest team to play against, Bulls writers and fans bemoaned the fact that Thibodeau consistently gave ridiculous minutes to his best players. Thibodeau’s practices did obviously make his players better, but they also created unbelievably short windows for his players to be excellent in, as they gave way to the ridiculous workloads that they were being put through.
Not only was Jimmy Butler playing huge minutes for Minnesota this year, but they were physically grueling and testing minutes. Butler often defends the best player of the opposition, and he is willing to get physical with players who are much bigger than him. And offensively, the majority of Jimmy Butler’s game in Tom Thibodeau’s sets is based on one on one play, which means he is taking a physical battering throughout the game. In such a scenario, Butler just simply has to be rested, as he is playing the most testing role on the Timberwolves roster. Butler actually did not play in the All-Star Game, saying he needed to rest.
The most worrying issues with Tom Thibodeau’s practices is not actually the heavy minutes and the offense that is hugely reliant on a battering and bruising style of play, but it is simply that he seems completely oblivious and ignorant to the science that is genuinely proving that his methods are detrimental to the long-term success of basketball players. The San Antonio Spurs have been monitoring minutes for decades, the players union fought for more rest, but Tom Thibodeau still believes his way is the best way, and it is for this reason that Minnesota are the only team with three players in the top 15 of minutes per game.
In recent years, Thibodeau has not been the only coach who has played his stars for big minutes, and it is here that I will make the argument that Thibodeau should look towards Dwane Casey for inspiration. Casey has often been chastised on NBA twitter, but for a guy who is seen as a strict disciplinarian, he has amazingly adapted to the modern game, as writer Austin Hutchinson outlines in his piece for Basketball Breakdown. Before this year, Casey had really ridden DeMar DeRozan, as from 2014 to 2017, he ranked 15th, 8th and 13th in minutes per game, averaging around 36 minutes per game, while also like Butler, playing a very physical brand of basketball. This year, DeRozan’s minutes have been managed better by Dwane Casey, who has once again showed he can adapt to the modern game, as DeRozan is now 27th in minutes per game, averaging just 34.
And this is really just highlighting the issue with Tom Thibodeau, everyone else, even people who have been seen as similar old-school coaches to him, are adapting to the modern game. But he is arrogantly sticking to his principles, and old habits are continuing to plague him. Against the Sacramento Kings on Monday 26th February, Thibodeau kept the starters in for the entire fourth quarter, despite the fact the game was more than over. At times when Thibodeau could give his players rest, he simply refuses, and appears unwilling to adapt to the modern NBA.
If Thibodeau has inherited a mess of a roster and had very little control, then he would be absolved of some blame, but this is a man who is almost completely in charge of operations in Minnesota, and he has created an unbalanced roster. Thibodeau may somewhat fairly argue that he cannot rest Butler because Minnesota’s next wing behind Andrew Wiggins is Marcus Georges-Hunt, who really offers nothing more than above average defense. The main issue though, is that Thibodeau has had two offseasons and a reasonable amount of cap room to add some wing help, and he simply hasn’t done it. The reason for this is largely because he believes that is acceptable to play Butler in the small forward position for 37 minutes a game, which leaves only eight minutes, which is mostly distributed to Andrew Wiggins, who is playing almost equally ridiculous minutes.
To return to the example of Dwane Casey, excellent roster construction and the addition of CJ Miles, with the development of Fred van Vleet and Delon Wright, is a factor in why the Raptors have been able to rest DeRozan, but Thibodeau simply does not believe the Timberwolves need more than two wing players.
All bias aside, Thibodeau’s insistence on not changing his practices is seriously worrying, as it is very possible that the careers of Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins will be shortened because Tom Thibodeau is incapable of adapting to modern medical practices, and creating a balanced roster that can actually ensure a proper rest schedule is able to take place.
The only ‘old-school’ coaches that have survived in the League are those that have adapted such as Dwane Casey and Rick Carlisle, but the likes of Lionel Hollins and Kevin McHale simply aren’t touched anymore. The ‘adapt or die’ mentality, however, will likely not apply to Thibodeau, as Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is perhaps the most hands-off owner in the League, and is as patient a man as you will find. It is for this reason that whilst Minnesota is a good team right now, they should be very worried about their long-term outlook. A couple of steps have to be taken for the Timberwolves to be able to rotate and still have a competent NBA lineup out there, but Tom Thibodeau isn’t even interested in pushing in the right direction.
