Dane Moore: “Morale is up… You see Thibs letting me play music in here right now. We’re getting away from them militant ways,” Rose joking about the environment here at practice today (on Towns’ birthday).
Minnesota Timberwolves Rumors
Like many people in and outside of the Timberwolves’ organization, team owner Glen Taylor is glad the Jimmy Butler trade ordeal is over. “It consumed too much of my time on things that were negative,” Taylor said.
Taylor said general manager Scott Layden handled much of Minnesota’s trade communications, but confirmed reports that he talked with 76ers owner Josh Harris near the end of negotiations. “When you have a trade this important is, I check to make sure the other owner is in sync with the exact same trade that we’re talking about so there’s no misunderstanding,” he said. “That’s just kind of a check that most teams want to do to make sure there’s no misunderstandings with something like this.”
Taylor said he still has faith in Thibodeau to lead the Timberwolves organization, because he “can’t believe he ever thought any of these things would happen.” “Because he’s a guy that spoke for Jimmy and did all that type of stuff, I know that he is really hurt that this thing happened,” Taylor said. He said Thibodeau still has years of experience as a coach, and that the Wolves have “got to get through this thing.”
In a moment of quiet in the locker room before Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Towns removed his black and red headphones to explain that he welcomed having the weight of a team on his broad shoulders. His charge, he said, is to help the team get back to having fun. “All those teams I was on that were successful were the ones that everyone had love for each other and had fun,” Towns told ESPN. “Things that seem minuscule — joking around, laughing, conversing, all those things that seem childish — that is what builds camaraderie.”
The locker room aura has become lighter since Butler’s locker was cleaned out and replaced with Luol Deng’s nameplate. Towns, who is described by teammates as goofy, has gotten back to cracking jokes postgame.
