Gersson Rosas

minskhan

Though the Minnesota Timberwolves were without a selection in the 2021 NBA Draft, President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and his front office have actively been canvassing the League to improve the 2021-22 roster.

“It’s not just about what selections are made on Draft night, it’s the work that’s done after the Draft,” shared Rosas with media post-Draft.

With a talented young roster and strong core, Minnesota’s front office leader is poised to address the team’s veteran presence, defense, and rebounding via trades and/or free agency.

“Our focus has been trades and free agency focused in terms of addressing some of those needs,” said the Timberwolves’ President of Basketball Operations.

The NBA Draft marks the start of the new NBA season, but as Summer League begins and free agency opens, the transaction opportunities across the League widen greatly. For the Timberwolves, that means the next month will be crucial for impacting areas of improvement for the roster.

“There’s time over the next two weeks to a month as people work through free agency and through Summer League,” shared Rosas. “I expect there to be a lot of activity and a lot of business around the League.”

rosas-its-about-the-work-thats-done-after-the-draft

Rosas: ‘It’s [About] The Work That’s Done After The Draft’

mincsharrett

The Minnesota Timberwolves currently do not have a pick in the upcoming 2021 NBA Draft, but that is not stopping President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and his staff from exhausting every avenue to improve the Wolves' roster ahead of the 2021-22 NBA season. 

Part of that strategy includes co-hosting a draft workout at Mayo Clinic Square July 8-11 with the Utah Jazz. The workout will include upwards of 40 players looking to impress ahead of the Draft. 

"Just because we don’t have a pick on whatever day today is doesn’t mean we’re not going to have a pick on draft night," Rosas told media earlier in the week.

"The worst thing you can do is be caught unprepared."

Even without a pick, the workouts in Minneapolis can help the Wolves front office identify future players to acquire as undrafted signings or even via trade in the future. Rosas hopes to showcase the Twin Cities and the amenities of Mayo Clinic Square.

"For us, selfishly, the opportunity to have prospects come in and see the market during this time period, and get a look and evaluation of players we typically wouldn't have gotten -- all of those things came into consideration when we mapped this out," Rosas said. 

Furthermore, almost every NBA franchise will have representatives in town for the workouts. Rosas hopes the atmosphere can breed more in-person trade discussions that executives haven't been able to have since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. 

"Trade will always be the primary platform of team-building for us," Rosas explained. "It gives us creativity, it gives us the opportunity to acquire players who address in different shapes and forms.... This is not an exact science, a lot of it is based on relationships, communication, and the opportunity to meet needs on both ends of teams and get to a point where both teams are in win-win situations."

The 2021 NBA Draft takes place on Thursday, July 29. 

wolves-looking-at-innovative-ways-to-improve-roster-with-in-market-draft-workout

Wolves Looking At Innovative Ways To Improve Roster With In-Market Draft Workout

The foundation for Minnesota Timberwolves basketball next season and beyond was formed in the late stages of 2020-21, according to President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas in his end of season media availability.

Beginning with the hiring of Head Coach Chris Finch, and the team’s desire to finish the season strong, the building blocks for a continuous winning program have been formulated, with execution beginning in-season. Evidenced by the Wolves’ 10-10 record to end the year and a 13-11 standing with D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns sharing time on the court, the workings of a future winner are in-place in the Twin Cities.

“In a lot of ways, and we’ve communicated this organizationally, we already started next season,” Rosas said.

“We want to be a winning program, we want to be a successful program… that’s not going to be an on-off switch that you’re going to touch here this summer or during an offseason. It’s building our identity, building our culture, building our habits.”

Notable for the Wolves is that players have bought-in to the mentality and culture put in place, with group offseason workouts including several Wolves players expected to take place both in and out of market throughout the offseason.

“We’re two-and-a-half weeks from having guys back,” shared Rosas. “We’ll have 8-to-10 guys here working…preparing for Summer League. After that, there’s an offseason program for each individual in this organization whether it’s in-market or out-of-market.”

rosas-we-already-started-next-season

Rosas: ‘We Already Started Next Season’

Counting down the hours until the Minnesota Timberwolves select first overall in the 2020 NBA Draft on Wednesday, President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas joined ESPN's Rachel Nichols on The Jump Tuesday afternoon. The Wolves decision-maker discussed the team's preparations for drafting in the pandemic as well as the goal of drafting a prospect that will mesh well with Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell's skillsets.

rosas-joins-the-jump-ahead-of-draft-day-tomorrow-feels-like-christmas

Rosas Joins The Jump Ahead Of Draft Day: 'Tomorrow Feels Like Christmas'

Behind every great team is another great team.

Before evaluating and changing the Minnesota Timberwolves’ on the court product, President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas had to assemble a supporting front office that could strategically work together to turn the Timberwolves franchise into a winning team.

“My job on a day-to-day basis is not only to have a vision for our basketball operations department, but to make sure that that vision is being fulfilled day in and day out,” Rosas says. “Whether it's building the team with players or building our basketball operations group with staff, it's important to establish the principles that are a big part of our philosophy.”

Rosas, who spent 16 seasons in various positions within the Houston Rockets’ front office, has constructed the league’s most diverse front office staff with wide-ranging expertise and track records of success in the NBA.

At Rosas’ right hand is Executive Vice President Sachin Gupta. Gupta spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets, and Detroit Pistons front offices before coming to Minnesota last summer.  The MIT grad is the new-age analytics and salary cap expert on the Wolves staff, and most notably for NBA fans, he developed ESPN’s hugely popular Trade Machine.

As General Manager, Scott Layden brings over 30 years of experience with the Utah Jazz, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs. With the Wolves since 2016, Layden’s experience and eye for talent has proven invaluable to the organization.  Assistant General Manager Gianluca Pascucci oversees operations of Minnesota’s G League affiliate Iowa Wolves, in addition to leading scouting efforts on all levels following stints in the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets front offices. Fellow Assistant GM Joe Branch brings decades of experience from the player representations side, most recently working with Roc Nation Sports. Entering his 11th season with the Timberwolves, Manny Rohan lends his NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement and administrative expertise as Assistant GM. Finally, Dr. Robby Sikka makes all aspect of player health and safety a priority as Vice President of Basketball Performance and Technology.

“I can't follow anybody's template or prototype,” Rosas says of assembling his staff. “I have to be who I am and my background, my experiences, my values, my priorities they make who I am and a big part of that is this family and people. And the ability to do it as a family, with a diverse group of individuals --and not just diversity in terms of background or race, it's experience and profiles. I'm a big believer, one person doesn't do this, you need a great team to be able to have success at the highest levels. And a big part of it is understanding your blind spots. I'm not going to see everything. I don't know everything, so surrounding myself with talented individuals that can help address those weaknesses that I have, or the blind spots that I have is going to make us greater as a whole.”

Gupta agrees: “Gersson is a terrific leader. He's put together an unbelievable team, and he makes sure that everyone is aligned and we're all swimming in the same direction. He's created an incredible environment here.”

Much like the on-the-court product, the front office needs a certain chemistry level to thrive. Rosas hopes that camaraderie translates into unprecedented success in Minnesota.

“To me, the passion for the job and what we do is about building a championship organization,” Rosas says. “And you do that by building a team on the floor and you build a team off the floor and the ability to day-in and day-out, have that focus -- to have that mission --is something that I value and enjoy. The ability to be elbow-to-elbow with your head coach, with your front office, with your scouts, with your trainers, with your players: those are invaluable experiences working to do something that's never been done here in Minneapolis with the Timberwolves, and to bring a championship here. That's a mission that motivates you and it lights you up.

“The ability to do that with such a great group, the ability to do something that hasn't been done here excites me and gets my passion going every day.”

Rosas has assembled a championship-caliber team off the court, now the focus shifts to building championship team on the court.

for-gersson-rosas-on-court-success-starts-with-front-office-chemistry

For Gersson Rosas, On-Court Success Starts With Front Office Chemistry

Coming nearly five months after its typical date in June, the Minnesota Timberwolves will leave no stone unturned in evaluating prospects in the 2020 NBA Draft class.

With the No. 1, 17, and 33 selections in the upcoming Draft on November 18, President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and his staff are examining every aspect of every prospect’s game in an effort to bolster the roster for next season and beyond.

Surrounded by the diverse experience and backgrounds of Vice President of Basketball Operations Sachin Gupta and Assistant General Managers Gianluca Pascucci, Joe Branch, and Manny Rohan, as well as Vice President of Basketball Performance and Technology Robby Sikka, Rosas has ample resources at his disposal in evaluating each prospect. Having known their place in the Draft since the Lottery drawing in August, the Timberwolves staff has had months to identify talent.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosas and his team have been evaluating college and overseas game film while also holding Zoom calls with draft prospects.

“In a lot of ways, the extra time has been great,” Rosas told media via a Zoom call on Wednesday morning. “We’ve done serious, in-depth analysis of the body of the Draft that we typically wouldn’t have time to do. We’ve done multiple interviews. We’ve done the scouting perspective, the production perspective, the analysis perspective, the medical perspective in ways where a lot of times, you don’t have enough time to do it going from the end of the regular season to the Draft. This season has allowed us to do that.”

Media analysis leading up to the Draft has not provided a consensus, shoe-in prediction for the No. 1 pick. With the extra time to evaluate prospects, Rosas is confident the Wolves will land the player that best fits Minnesota’s system and organizational culture on Draft Night.

“There’s no guy that has separated himself from the pack [for the No. 1 pick], from a public or external view,” said Rosas. “But I’m very confident as we go through this process, the talent will rise to the top and we’ll be confident about identifying one guy as the best guy, the best talented player with the most upside and the most ability for our organization.

“We feel good about the talent up top; we feel good about the depth,” Rosas continued. “It’s easy for me to say that because we have those picks, but after studying these guys for six or seven months, we’re very confident of what Draft Night is going to bring us.”

After acquiring D’Angelo Russell at the trade deadline in February to pair with Karl-Anthony Towns as franchise cornerstones for the foreseeable future, adding talent in the Draft and via upcoming Free Agency to complement the All-Star duo is a priority for Rosas. Rosas is keeping the option of trading for veteran experience during the Draft open as a possibility.

“The Draft is going to be a big data point in terms of how [playoff contention next season] goes, whether we’re adding young talent or a trade happens and we’re adding a more ready-to-play player that contribute now,” Rosas said.

Though Russell and Towns played just one game together before a wrist injury sidelined Towns, the Wolves showed promise with the pair as the focal points. Rosas cited a top-10 offense and an improved defense as aspirations for the near future.

“I do believe last year we showed, especially when Karl played, the signs of a top-10 offense,” Rosas told media. “That’s going to be incredibly important for us. But we can’t ignore the fact that we have to improve defensively.”

The 2020 NBA Draft takes place on November 18. Visit Timberwolves.com’s Draft Central for coverage leading up to the event.

rosas-were-very-confident-of-what-draft-night-is-going-to-bring-us

Rosas: 'We’re Very Confident Of What Draft Night Is Going To Bring Us'

With all the excitement over the Minnesota Timberwolves winning the 2020 Draft Lottery and securing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft, you may have overlooked the rest of the Wolves' abundance of draft capital. 

Along with the No. 1 pick, Minnesota owns the rights to the No. 17 and No. 33 overall picks. The 17th overall pick was originally owned by the Brooklyn Nets, but acquired by the Wolves from the Atlanta Hawks before the trade deadline in February. The pick was lottery protected, thus the Nets qualifying for the playoffs secured the pick for Minnesota. 

Can Gersson Rosas and the Wolves find a steal at the No. 17 pick?

1989: Shawn Kemp, Seattle - 6x NBA All-Star

1996: Jermaine O'Neal, Portland - 6x NBA All-Star, 3x All-NBA, 2002 NBA Most Improved Player

2004: Josh Smith, Atlanta - 1x NBA All-Defense

2005: Danny Granger, Indiana - 1x NBA All-Star, 2009 NBA Most Improved Player

2008: Roy Hibbert, Indiana - 2x NBA All-Star, 1x NBA All-Defense

2009: Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia - 1x NBA All-Star, 2x NBA All-Defense

can-the-timberwolves-find-a-steal-at-no-17

Can The Timberwolves Find A Steal At No. 17?

mintimberwolvespr

It’s been an inexplicable two weeks for our nation but especially for those of us in Minneapolis — the city now known as the home of George Floyd’s murder scene and a defining history of racial injustice and police brutality.

Our entire country was shaken when Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officers on Monday, May 25, outside of Cup Foods. The area of the senseless death has now become a memorial site for Floyd and other black Americans who were unjustly killed before him.

Floyd’s tragic death was a wakeup call for those of us in Minneapolis whose privilege has shielded us from the harsh reality that our home is not as livable nor lovable for our neighbors who’ve been oppressed because of the arbitrary nature of their birth and skin color.

Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas and head coach Ryan Saunders have spent the last two weeks mourning Floyd’s death while trying to navigate their franchise’s role in positively impacting its community.

“We know a little bit of time has passed, but our city, our community and our organization are still in a tremendous amount of pain,” said Rosas during Wednesday’s Zoom media availability. “We can’t not be sensitive to that fact.”

“Whether it be George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner or the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a light has been shined on the systemic racism and police brutality towards people of color, and it’s real,” Saunders said. “We as a community need to listen, we need to educate and communicate and get outside of our comfort zones. That’s something that our group has been trying to do since the tragedy.”

Through the pain, Timberwolves players, coaches, executives and staff members have sought out ways to take action. First, they must look inward.

The day after Floyd’s death, the Timberwolves brought in author, public speaker and founder of Tru Access, Tru Pettigrew, to lead the team’s conversations regarding systemic racism and police brutality. 

“We sought to learn, to understand and to sympathize with what’s going on around our community and our organization,” Rosas said.

From there, the typical roles between coaches and players were reversed.

Players began leading uncomfortable, imperative conversations and sharing their own experiences while Rosas, Saunders and their staff looked for guidance. 

“(They’re the) youngest team in the NBA and they’re leading us into incredibly hard conversations that were transparent,” Rosas said. “They were very open about their feelings, their frustrations, their hurt.

Players such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Okogie, Malik Beasley, Jake Layman and D’Angelo Russell have all used their platforms to show support for their communities by protesting, speaking at rallies or volunteering with communities in need.

Towns shouldn’t have to plead for equality of all people by marching and standing in solidarity with Floyd’s loved ones just months after losing his mother to COVID-19.

Okogie shouldn’t have to share his story of experiencing the pain in Georgia after the horrific murder of Arbery only to relive that same trauma weeks later when he returned to Minneapolis days before Floyd’s life was taken. 

But their strength and advocacy have created an environment within their team that demands growth while allowing for honesty.

“I think our players of this generation deserve a lot of credit,” Rosas said. “They have an understanding of what’s going on, and they have a passion to impact that’s pretty impressive.” 

The conversations have fostered a level of humility from coaches and staff members who’ve acknowledged their privilege and uncertainty of where to go from here.

“I think that reinforces to our players that the questions they’re bringing up, the conversations they’re initiating, what they’re doing in our community is impacting people,” Saunders said. “It’s important to them and it’s important to all of us, but it has to be actions and not just words.”

‘Not Something You Put a Band-Aid On’

The Timberwolves recognize the importance of their internal conversations but are well aware those discussions cannot remain behind closed doors and private Zoom calls. 

To bring real, community-wide change, those same conversations must be had with community members — especially those who’ve endured the brunt of the injustices plaguing our city. 

“We need a lot of dialogue,” Rosas said. “This is not something you put a band-aid on. These are systematic changes that need to take place at all levels because it’s unacceptable, and the reality is it’s not just about Minnesota, it’s about our country and unfortunately our world. We have to make it a priority in our lives to make sure that it’s something that’s talked about, it’s something that’s brought up, it’s something that’s dealt with.” 

The Timberwolves and Lynx recently announced their partnership with the Minneapolis Foundation in which they’ll “address systemic inequities and translate community anger into actions,” according to the organization’s June 3 press release.

Timberwolves and Lynx CEO Ethan Casson and Vice President of Social Responsibility Jennifer Ridgeway have worked diligently to identify appropriate partnerships. The task will be an ongoing process that outlives the protests and news segments.

“The African American community needs to be supported, needs to be included, and we have to understand how we can do our part for the African American community here in Minneapolis so that we can have meaningful change,” Rosas said. “If we can be more involved in giving young boys and girls an opportunity to live a different life and to have a safer environment and it’s within our power, in our market and in our community, those are high priorities for us right now. We want to get to the right people.”

“I’ll be the first one to say that I don’t have those answers,” Saunders said. “There are a lot of people who are a lot smarter than me and a lot of people who have dealt with this on a daily basis who don’t look like me who have educated me, and I look forward to hearing more from them. I need to continue to learn.”

But what is clear is that inaction has been and will continue to be compliance. We cannot forget about those 8 minutes, 46 seconds and the hundreds of years of racial injustice that preceded Floyd’s death once the Timberwolves return to play.

As a society, we have not done enough for Floyd, Castile, Taylor, Arbery, Rice, Jamar Clark, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin and so many more.

“This is an epidemic that affects all of us on different levels,” Rosas said. “We’re at the epicenter of it here in Minneapolis. We really believe as an organization that the league and the country look to us to see how we are going to respond and how we’re going to handle this. We take that responsibility incredibly personal.” 

timberwolves-putting-words-into-action-we-need-to-be-bold-right-now

Timberwolves Putting Words Into Action: 'We Need To Be Bold Right Now'

Protected by

Aura

<a href="https://www.nba.com/timberwolves/live">Now Streaming: Naz Reid 6th Man of the Year Press Conference</a>