Rick Brunson Resigns Amid Allegations, Headlines Multiple Staff Changes

Timberwolves Assistant Coach Rick Brunson has resigned effective immediately, according to a press release from the team.

Jon Krawzcynski from The Athletic reports:

This is hugely disappointing, and not the first time Brunson has been linked to improper behavior with women. I wrote about Brunson and other Wolves who were accused of either sexual or domestic assault on the occasion of the Derrick Rose signing.

One of the criticisms I got after writing that piece is the idea that people deserve second chances. Certainly I agree that in some circumstances people do deserve second chances. But one of the points I was trying to make in that article is that when there are little or no consequences to one’s actions, they tend to get repeated. We are seeing here that despite being charged with sexual assault, his acquittal left him without consequences, and he has apparently once again behaved badly with women while on the job for the Timberwolves.

This is a black eye for an organization that appears from afar to be somewhat dysfunctional.

Meanwhile, yesterday the team announced three firings: Player Development Coach Vince Legarza, Shooting Coach Peter Patton, and Assistant Video Coordinator Wes Bohn were all let go by the Wolves.

Legarza was particularly close with Karl-Anthony Towns, who apparently was not aware of the plan to let him go. Legarza worked closely with Towns and has been thanked publicly by the big man more than once.

It’s once again a curious move by Tom Thibodeau, given that keeping Towns happy and on a good development path is the most important thing for the franchise. But Thibs is about control and being in charge, and clearly is making some sort of statement with this move.

We’ll see how it plays out, but I doubt Towns, who was not particularly happy before, is any happier to see his guy let go.