Category: Minnesota T-Wolves Blog

The Minnesota Timberwolves have added to the team’s coaching staff for the 2017-18 season, naming Larry Greer as Advance Scout, John Lucas III as Player Development Coach, Steve Molina as Video Assistant and promoting Sam Newman-Beck to Coaching Associate/Video Scouting Director.

Greer joins Minnesota’s staff as Advance Scout after spending two seasons as the Advance Scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He began his NBA career in Houston, serving as an Advance Scout for two seasons under Jeff Van Gundy (2005-07). Greer worked for Portland from 2007-12, serving as an advance scout for five seasons before working as an assistant coach on Nate McMillan’s staff during the 2011-12 season. His coaching background also involves 17 seasons as an Assistant Coach in the college ranks with stops at Arizona State University (2012-15), Boston University (1994-2003), Brandeis University (1989-92) and Wright State University (2003-05).

Lucas III begins his first season as Player Development Coach after an NBA career that featured stops in Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Toronto and Utah. He appeared in 242 games over his nine-year career and averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 assists in 12.1 minutes per game. Lucas played under Coach Thibodeau for two seasons in both Chicago (2010-12) and Houston (2005-07).

Molina joins the Timberwolves after spending two seasons as a Video/Basketball Operations Intern with the Detroit Pistons. Prior to joining the Pistons, Molina interned with the Philadelphia 76ers. A graduate from Marquette University, Molina was a student manager during his four years in Milwaukee.

Newman-Beck is entering his eighth season with the Timberwolves, ninth in the NBA and his first as Coaching Associate/Video Scouting Director. Most recently, Newman-Beck served as Head Video Coordinator for the past two seasons. Before joining the Timberwolves in 2010-11, Newman-Beck worked alongside Coach Thibodeau with the Boston Celtics, serving as a video intern during the team’s 2009-10 run to the NBA Finals.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed forward Amile Jefferson and guard Melo Trimble.

The deals are probably non-guaranteed, and just for training camp.

Jefferson, 24, played with the Timberwolves in the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 2.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 11.0 minutes in five games. He was a fifth-year senior at Duke University in 2016-17 and averaged 10.9 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 61.3% from the field. Jefferson was a member of Duke’s 2015 NCAA Championship team and was a teammate of the Timberwolves’ Tyus Jones. For his career, Jefferson played in a school-record 150 games (103 starts), averaging 7.2 points on 62.0% shooting and 6.3 rebounds. He finished his career at Duke ranked first in games played, second in field goal percentage, third in offensive rebounds (361), seventh in blocks (138) and 11th in total rebounds (944). Jefferson was named to the ACC All-Academic Team four times.

Trimble, 22, played three seasons at the University of Maryland, averaging 15.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals in 104 games. In his junior season in 2016-17, Trimble averaged 16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 33 games and was named First Team Big Ten by the coaches and media. He also was an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. In 2015-16, Trimble averaged 14.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists and was a Second Team All-Big Ten selection as he led Maryland to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2003. As a freshman in 2014-15, Trimble averaged 16.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists and was named First Team All-Big Ten by the media and Second Team All-Big Ten by the coaches. Trimble played for Philadelphia in the 2017 Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 10.3 points and 1.3 steals in three games.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed forward Shabazz Muhammad.

Muhammad, 24, averaged 9.9 points on 48.2% shooting in 19.4 minutes per game over 78 contests (one start) with the Timberwolves last season, including averaging 11.6 points on 50.3% shooting (36.0% from three-point range) over his final 52 appearances. He scored a season-high 24 points and grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds on Apr. 4 at Golden State, his second career double-double and one of eight 20+ point efforts last season.

Over his four-year career in Minnesota, Muhammad has averaged 9.7 points on 47.6% shooting and 3.0 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game over 235 games. Muhammad recorded his 23rd career game of 20+ points off the bench April 12, 2017 at Houston, surpassing Sam Mitchell (22) for the most such games in franchise history.

The Minnesota Timberwolves today signed guard Marcus Georges-Hunt.

Georges-Hunt, 23, spent most of this past season with the Maine Red Claws in the NBA G League, averaging 15.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 36.4 minutes over 45 games. He shot 46.2 percent from the field, including 39.2 percent from three-point range, and was named to the All-NBA G League Third Team. The 6-6 guard signed a 10-day contract with the Miami Heat on Feb. 8, 2017 but did not appear in a game. Georges-Hunt signed with the Orlando Magic on April 3, 2017 and averaged 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 9.6 minutes over five games.

Georges-Hunt played four seasons at Georgia Tech, averaging 13.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 130 games (129 starts). As a senior in 2015-16, he averaged 16.7 points and 3.3 assists in 36 games and was named All-ACC second team by the ACC coaches.

A post shared by InsideHoops.com NBA Basketball (@insidehoops) on Aug 10, 2017 at 8:27am PDT

The Minnesota Timberwolves today introduced some of their new uniform designs, which will be worn by the team beginning with the 2017-18 season.

The two designs unveiled today are the “Association” and “Icon” jerseys. As previously announced by Nike, the NBA is eliminating its Home and Road uniform designations, and instead, home teams will pick which of their uniforms will be worn at all home games, with visiting teams choosing a contrasting uniform from their own assortment.

Two additional core uniform designs will be revealed in the coming months.

The uniform looks were created through a collaborative effort between the Timberwolves and Mississippi-based design expert Rodney Richardson of RARE Design.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed forward Anthony Brown to a two-way contract.

Brown, 24, spent most of this past season with the Erie BayHawks in the NBA G League, averaging 20.3 points and 5.4 rebounds in 37.7 minutes over 24 games. He signed with the New Orleans Pelicans on November 21, appearing in nine games and averaging 3.9 points and 2.5 rebounds before being waived on December 9. He was signed to a 10-day contract by Orlando on January 22, averaging 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in two games.

Originally selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round (34th pick) of the 2015 NBA Draft, Brown appeared in 29 games as a rookie, averaging 4.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per game. A Stanford graduate, Brown was named the Pac-12 Most Improved Player in 2013-14, helping lead Stanford to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2008.

Two-way contracts were added to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and will go into effect prior to the 2017-18 season, allowing teams to sign two players to two-way contracts in addition to the 15-man regular-season roster. Players signed to a two-way contact can accrue no more than 45 days of service with their respective NBA club during the regular season and will spend the remainder of their time with the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Brown is the first Timberwolves player to sign a two-way contract.