“Today, the Minnesota Timberwolves parted ways with President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas. As an organization, we remain committed to building a winning team that our fans and city can be proud of.” Thus went the two-sentence statement that Timberwolves Glen Taylor released yesterday. A short while later, the 80-year-old Minnesota native issued another press dispatch. “Given the leadership changes announced earlier today, Sachin Gupta will assume basketball operations oversight while remaining Timberwolves Executive Vice- President of Basketball Operations. We are committed to staying aligned to achieve our short-term goals and reach our long-term vision.” In between and thereafter, the franchise offered no additional information.
That the Timberwolves would be less than forthcoming about the development is no shock to longtime followers of the pro hoops scene. Radio silence has met many of their moves since Taylor became majority owner in 1994. That the turn of events seemed to have been precipitated by — well — nothing is at best a surprise. There’s a reason Rosas was fired from a job he left the Rockets to occupy in 2019, of course, and that reason may even be justified. Whether it will be revealed by knowledgeable quarters using more than hushed tones in darkly lit rooms, however, is another matter altogether.
At this point, National Basketball Association (NBA) fans are left to speculate on why Rosas was given the boot. True, the Timberwolves have scraped the bottom of the barrel since he arrived on the scene, going 19-45 and 23-49 in the last two seasons. If nothing else, the numbers reflected the poor returns on the significant personnel changes he made during his time. On the other hand, he remained active in the front office up until he was given the pink slip yesterday. The last month saw him spring trades and signings that underscored the authority he continued to wield internally.
Why Taylor would swing the revolving door open once more without warning — and, at first glance, without logic — remains to be seen. He’s not talking, at least not yet, although it’s hard to envision him pulling the trigger on Rosas’ departure without the imprimatur of the new ownership group slated to assume full control in two years. Then again, given the way things have been run in the Timberwolves, nothing can and should be construed as coming from left field anymore insofar as they’re concerned. Frequency of occurrence has made the exception the norm. And so, even as resident superstar Karl-Anthony Towns could not help, but tweet “wtf…” in reaction to the news, just about everybody else sees it as the same old, same old, worthy of a shrug and little else.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
