Sam Newman-Beck stood on the practice court at Mayo Clinic Square this week, watching Timberwolves players putting themselves through a workout while Ryan Saunders’ head coach office was just a few feet away.
It felt at the same time so familiar and so different for a young coach who cut his teeth in Minnesota’s video room and spent eight years with the franchise before departing in 2018. Now he is back in the organization again, this time as the coach of the Iowa Wolves, the G-League affiliate that suddenly has become a major priority for the new Timberwolves regime.
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“Every now and then I get emotional,” Newman-Beck said. “A year ago, if you asked me if I ever thought I’d be back here with the organization and working with Ryan (Saunders), most importantly, I never thought that would’ve happened.”
Wolves president Gersson Rosas, coach Ryan Saunders and assistant GM Gianluca Pascucci conducted a months-long search for the new face of their G-League team, looking for a leader capable of helping the Iowa Wolves become the kind of forward-thinking, player development-oriented basketball petri dish that Rosas and Pascucci had a big hand in building with the Rio Grande G-League team in Houston’s organization.
The Rockets used the Vipers to develop NBA talent and test their theory for shot selection that ultimately was implemented in the NBA and has taken the league by storm. While Rosas has been careful to say that his vision for the Timberwolves does not boil down to “Houston North,” this is one area that Minnesota most certainly wants to replicate.
“We take Iowa very seriously,” Pascucci said. “It’s extremely easy if it’s coming from the top to us, ownership, business, Gersson, Ryan. We want to have Iowa more like an extension of the Timberwolves. We want to make sure it will be a good place for our players to develop.”
The Timberwolves have already implemented one edict: the phrase “go down to Iowa” will not be used. Timberwolves leadership doesn’t want the idea of playing in Iowa, for one of their two-way players or a younger full-time roster player, to be referred to in a way that could be viewed as a negative. Iowa will be marketed to players as a feeder system, not an outpost, and Newman-Beck will be charged with creating a program that mirrors what is happening with the parent club.
Sam Newman-Beck, during Timberwolves media day in 2015. (Brad Rempel / USA Today)
He will run similar systems, both offensively and defensively, to what Saunders is running with the Timberwolves to ensure any transitions that are made are seamless. That means the motion offense and switching defense fans see at Target Center will also largely be seen in Des Moines.
“We want the players when they’re coming to Iowa or going to Minnesota to feel like it’s the same playbook, that there’s no change,” Newman-Beck said. “That provides the best learning platform for them. With that being said, Ryan and Gersson have both said they want us to try different things, be yourself and experiment with different things. So that’s going to happen as well.”
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The NBA uses the G-League to test out possible rule changes, but the most connected franchises also use their development teams to push things from a basketball theory perspective. If Saunders has an out-of-the-box idea, and both he and his father have been known for them, he can talk to Newman-Beck about giving it a trial run in Des Moines to see if there is anything there before he unleashes it on the NBA club.
“We want to try to be as much as we can forward-thinking at different levels, and Iowa will be part of it,” Pascucci said.
The Timberwolves’ union with Iowa has only lasted for a few years, and in the early days there wasn’t a lot of use being made out of the Iowa squad. Tom Thibodeau assembled a veteran roster that relied on experience and was pushing for playoff berths, so there weren’t many opportunities to utilize what they had. Players like second-round pick Keita Bates-Diop spent considerable time there, but there wasn’t a lot of synergy between what the Timberwolves were running and what the Iowa Wolves were doing.
This year figures to be different. The Wolves signed point guard Jordan McLaughlin and shooter Kelan Martin to two-way deals after both performed well in the Las Vegas Summer League. They also signed second-round pick Jaylen Nowell and undrafted free agent Naz Reid to team-friendly four-year deals that open the door for them to use Iowa to help develop their skills over the next couple of seasons. And with a team that has gone younger again following the departures of Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson and Anthony Tolliver, the importance of developing talent has become paramount for the team’s future.
“I was told immediately in just the interview process, ‘You’re an extension of the Timberwolves staff,’” Newman-Beck said. “I think that’s very important. It’s not, ‘You’re going to Iowa and we forget about you. No, we want you here learning with us, learning from us and giving us ideas.’ You can see it’s really important to Gersson, Gianluca and Ryan to have us involved.”
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It’s been quite a trip for Newman-Beck, who worked under Kurt Rambis, Rick Adelman, Flip Saunders, Sam Mitchell and Thibodeau during his first stint in Minnesota. He played in college at Emerson for coach Hank Smith, an inventive basketball mind who embedded a “challenge the status quo” type of mentality into Newman-Beck. Smith eventually took a job scouting for the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Newman-Beck broke into the league as a video intern with the Boston Celtics during the championship run in 2009-10.
My top 5 professional influences
(in no specific order):1. Coach Hank Smith (now with the OKC Thunder) – my college coach.
Senior year won 24 games with no one over 6’5. Led nation in FG% and played a 5 out system before it was “the thing”.
— Sam Newman-Beck (@SJNB1) May 30, 2019
He then got his chance with the Timberwolves and endeared himself to players and coaches with his quiet work ethic. He learned from Adelman, Flip and Mitchell and then had a reunion with Thibodeau, who was an assistant for the Celtics when Newman-Beck was an intern.
My top 5 professional influences
(in no specific order):4. Rick Adelman – offensive mastermind. Introduced an NBA system oriented offense to me. Taught it in a step by step process. Amazing teacher.
— Sam Newman-Beck (@SJNB1) May 30, 2019
My top 5 professional influences
(in no specific order):5. Flip Saunders – most personable coach I’ve been around. Family man. Made the job fun. Always appreciated that.
— Sam Newman-Beck (@SJNB1) May 30, 2019
Thibodeau eventually gave him some responsibilities as a player development coach in addition to his video work, but then abruptly changed course when he restructured his staff before his final season.
“You get down on yourself and you start thinking of the other things that are important in life,” Newman-Beck said. “I was about to get married. You think about what’s really important in your life, so it makes you look at decisions you’re going to make and career moves. I didn’t know where I was going to end up.”
It turns out that Newman-Beck got out just ahead of the storm. Even coming off of their first playoff appearance since 2004, the Timberwolves were a team in turmoil. Later that summer, Butler would request a trade, which set up a chaotic opening to the 2018-19 season and ultimately laid the groundwork for Thibodeau’s exit.
He found a spot on the coaching staff of the Erie BayHawks, Atlanta’s G-League affiliate. There he saw how an NBA team can truly partner with a G-League club. Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce and GM Travis Schlenk opened their arms to the players and coaches from the BayHawks, all of whom are looking for opportunities.
“The trials and tribulations you go through in the G-League are like no other,” Newman-Beck said. “You have roster changes every couple days. You have intense travel situations. Then on top of that you get to coach and develop relationships with guys who are striving to get to the next level. This year was one of the most fun years I’ve had and one of the most self-fulfilling years I’ve had.”
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When Ryan Saunders was given the full-time head coaching duties and Rosas made the decision not to bring back Iowa coach Scott Roth, a Thibodeau hire, Newman-Beck started to explore the possibilities of a reunion with the Timberwolves. He had informal meetings with Pascucci and the Wolves brass at Summer League, then embarked on a long interview process. Pascucci handled much of the search process, but Newman-Beck also had a marathon interview session with Rosas and Saunders before nailing down the job.
“The one thing I appreciated with Ryan was Ryan really interviewed me hard throughout this process,” Newman-Beck said. “He didn’t just say I know you from before. He sat me down and asked me tough questions.
“We have a relationship and I think Ryan’s a great human being. You can already see the culture he’s instilling here. I think I have a good grasp of what’s important to him as a head coach. Being able to mirror that in Iowa will be easier because we have that relationship.”
Pascucci said Newman-Beck’s familiarity with the organization helped, but it wasn’t what sealed the deal for him.
“When you have the chance to have someone who has been a part of the organization, which means he’s well known personally and professionally is always a help,” Pascucci said. “But he has been through a very long and tough process, which speaks for his qualities.”
Now Newman-Beck is back with the Wolves, and there are times where he still can’t quite believe it. He has spent countless hours at Mayo Clinic Square and certainly knows his way around. But even in the early days of his return, he is already feeling a difference from the team he left to the one he returns to today.
“It doesn’t feel like anything I’ve experienced here,” he said. “I think it’s definitely a culture that I want to be a part of and a culture that I think players would want to be a part of. And it’s something we want to carry to Iowa. It feels like a whole new team, a whole new organization, a whole new start, really.”
(Top photo of Gersson Rosas and Ryan Saunders: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)