This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity. This conversation is from an episode of the Layup Line podcast between Kyle Ratke, Julian Andrews and former Timberwolves guard Pooh Richardson.
KR: The first two years of your career, Tom Thibodeau was the assistant coach with the Timberwolves.
PR: Yes he was.
KR: He’s the head coach of the Wolves now obviously. What was young Thibs like in his first two years?
PR: Hard worker, man.
KR: So not much has changed.
PR: Not at all. Hard worker. He is who he is. Hard worker. Aggressive. Strong. Opinionated. He was good for me, I know that. He wasn’t even good for me, he was great for me. He was the guy and this is the first time, I’m glad I’m able to come back. This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to thank him for being there for me as a rookie. When you’re somewhere and there’s a protocol to a lot of the things you do, especially when you’re a rookie at something. You almost come in feeling like an outsider kind of because you talk about, you have coach Musselman. He surrounded himself with a lot of guys he that he coached in the CBA. I was the fresh face, knowing that I was going to have to have some significant role at some point, just trying to figure him out and him figuring me out. Back then, it wasn’t as much as the coach figuring the player out , it was more the player better conform and figure out what the coach wants until he becomes a good player, then they don’t have to worry about it anymore.
It was that kind of thing. Thibs was the one who kept me going, kept me sharp. I was looking at the fact, see, I’m real logical. I’m a really logical person. I think with logic all the time. I’m thinking if it’s about basketball, and it’s clear that I’m better, why am I not playing? Well, there are different things you have to go through because they want to make sure you have mental toughness. All rookies go through it. You understand the dynamic of what you’re dealing with. I always thought we had an advantage because going to UCLA in the summer, the pros up there playing ball. I played with Magic. I played with Isiah Thomas. I played with Dominique Wilkins. I played with Spud Webb. I played with and against all those guys for four years in the summer. Getting out there in the real game, of course it’s going to be a little more intense. They’re going to be a little more intense, but so am I. You know? The shock part is not even going to be a part of my problem. It’s just going to be about me creating ways to get to the spots on the floor to make me effective. I thought that’s where I wanted to be out there.
Thibs told me it was going to be a process. And I thought I was ready then. Thibs said, ‘Come on. We gotta work.’ Thibs would work me hard. During shootarounds we would work a little bit. But before the games, me and him would work for an hour and a half. Just hardcore work. Back then, I wasn’t playing a lot. I was getting some minutes, I was playing every game. I was getting some minutes, but I was playing sharp so I would look the part. I wasn’t a guy who wasn’t playing and wasn’t working out. Thibs would make my pre-workout before the game, like a game for me. I was pretty sharp. When I got the opportunity and I moved into the starting lineup about a month in, he kind of laid off it, not as hard. But we still got some work down. If I didn’t play well in a game or something, we would go back to our little regimen.
I was doing that when people weren’t doing that stuff. He was ahead of the curve on that.
KR: Because now, that’s very common. You go out and you see the rookies putting in time before the games.
PR: He had it, man. He had me right. I have to say half the making the First Team All Rookie, I was watching some footage here, David Stern was giving me the plaque. Half of that plaque goes to Thibs because he had the vision to guide me, to show me what I need to do. He was out there pushing me to do. I gotta thank him for that. . . If there was anyone on that staff that I trusted, it was him.