Around this time last year, Zach LaVine mused about Tom Thibodeau, his former coach in Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Look, I understand the business of basketball,’’ LaVine told Chicago Sun-Times in February last year. “Yeah, he traded me, but for that one season he did coach me, he gave me an opportunity. He put the ball in the hands of 20, 21-year-old kid and said, ‘Go hoop.’ That’s bigger than the business of basketball.”
On Monday night, in Thibodeau’s return to the city that gave him first break as head coach, LaVine showed the confidence his former coach has instilled in him.