Thibodeau Speaks After Shoot Around, Offers Nothing Helpful

Tom Thibodeau spoke after shoot around in Milwaukee earlier today, but as usual did not clarify anything about the situation with Jimmy Butler or his teammates. We know that Butler is not with the team in Milwaukee, but instead back in Minneapolis, working on his “conditioning.”

Here’s the clip:

So incredibly frustrating. How many times does Thibs say “We always put the team first”?

And yet, is that what Butler has been doing over the last month, and particularly this week? Thibs does not address that. He refuses to criticize anything about Butler’s behavior, and in the meantime fails to stick up for Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Insert Everything-is-fine-dog-in-fire-meme here.

While I don’t expect him to acknowledge everything and admit to the dumpster fire he’s been complicit in creating, his confusing and contradictory comments are incredibly frustrating. Talking about “avoiding distractions” and “putting the team first” while also saying he has “no problem with guys doing interviews” is an amazing level of cognitive dissonance.

Allowing Butler to run roughshod over the organization without offering anything in response but obviously false platitudes is not surprising given his nature, but is a complete absence of leadership.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear if there are any active trade talks happening at the moment.

And Glen Taylor remains silent.