There is this long-held portrait of Tom Thibodeau as a draconian and gruff coach who runs his players to the ground.
It’s hard to fault anybody who pictured Thibodeau that way after his messy exits in Chicago and Minnesota.
A Karl Anthony-Towns’ no holds barred interview after Ryan Saunders replaced Thibodeau as the Timberwolves coach in 2019 only exacerbated it.
“We think we have the best coaching staff possibly in the game right now from talent, experience, and just culture standpoint,” Towns told WCCO’s Cory Hepola at that time.
Towns added that he was very happy to introduce their then rookies to a family culture, taking a shot at Thibodeau’s all-basketball-and-nothing-else approach to team building.