What's T-Wolves' Ceiling with Thibs?

Tom Thibodeau is coaching again. He stayed in the Midwest and moved north to
Minneapolis where he takes over the most talent-laden young roster. The combination of Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Gorgui Dieng is a strong future and now with a real coach, the Timberwolves are a contender to return to the playoffs next season barring any dramatics. But how far can this team go with Thibodeau as their coach?

There's a few things we need to forecast in order to predict the long-term success of Minnesota. One, they need to stay healthy. Towns will be an every-year MVP candidate starting next season, but if he starts getting hurt, that's a major issue. Thibodeau is probably still Chicago's coach if Derrick Rose didn't have the worst knees in America.  Second, Golden State is going to be there for awhile, but after that, it's a great deal of unpredictability. San Antonio is old and Gregg Popovich will retire soon plus Oklahoma City could come apart at any moment, same for the Clippers. Unless something changes with the Thunder, there isn't a young team who can challenge Golden State year in and year out.

The most important step is for Minnesota to win 40-45 games and make the playoffs even it's an eight seed. They need to start there and build on it in the years to come. What's great for Thibodeau is he's coming into a weak Western Conference compared to years past meaning he can start wrecking shop early and often next season.

Charlie.