The Minnesota Timberwolves have hired high profile agent Joe Branch as Assistant GM. He was a former executive at Roc Nation, the sports agent juggernaut ran by Jay-Z. Branch’s will help Scott Layden oversee all basketball moves. Layden, who was brought in by former coach Tom Thibideau, has been responsible for bringing in the current talent on the Wolves roster. So it was a no-brainer that he was kept on the staff.
Joe Branch in his days has represented players such as Danny Green, Caris Lavert Jr., Josh Hart, and Justice Winslow. So it’ll be interesting to see what kind of talent he and Layden and Rosas can bring in. With Geresson Rosas’ success with the Houston Rockets, if they could somehow represent that feat in Minneapolis, it’d probably be the best team since the Kevin Garnett era.
Minnesota has decided to follow in the footsteps of the Warriors and Lakers, which is to sign former high profile agents (Bob Myers, Rob Pelinka) and bring them into their front office as a GM (on in the Wolves case, assistant GM) and bring in their “all-in” mentality. For the Warriors, the move has worked out tremendously. For the Lakers, not so much. But the move landed them Lebron James (I’d give Magic Johnson more credit) and Anthony Davis.
What This Means For The Wolves’ Roster
With the overhaul in the front office nearly complete, the next focus will be on the current roster of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The front office has brought in a slew of talent to surround their best player Karl Anthony-Towns. Also with the sudden emergence of Josh Okogie and the drafting of Texas Tech guard Jarrett Culver, the writing may be on the wall for Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins hasn’t really been himself since the Jimmy Butler, many will be keeping a close eye on him to see if he comes back into form.
