The Welshman seeking NBA title with Timberwolves

With eight different teams the winners over the past eight seasons, it is hard to predict who takes home the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.

If there is to be a ninth different name in as many seasons, you might look to San Antonio Spurs, with Victor Wembanyama leading the team to the Finals last season before coming unstuck against the New York Knicks.

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Maybe the Philadelphia 76ers off-season moves to acquire Jaylen Brown and sign the NBA’s all-time leading scorer LeBron James is an attractive pick, or perhaps the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As the season tips off, the first British-born coach in the NBA, Tim Lewis will be hoping he can assist Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first NBA title.

Lewis has been something of a journeyman in basketball.

Born in Saint Asaph, Wales, he went on to represent the country in the 1990s, before forging a coaching career that spans almost the entire globe.

He has coached the Thailand and Qatar national teams and had spells in Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States of America and Panama. He most recently worked in Japan as head coach of Eneos Sunflowers who he helped to the Empress Cup in January.

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That is not including more than 15 years of coaching England and Great Britain age groups, where he was an assistant to now Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch at the London 2012 Olympics.

Lewis was one of the Team GB assistant coaches, alongside Philadelphia 76ers head coach, Nick Nurse.

But Lewis and American Finch’s friendship began way before that.

“We played against each other when I was back at [Crystal] Palace and Chris was at Sheffield [Sharks], he said.

“I’ve had stops with Chris when he was in Belgium and then before the Olympics, I spent six months at Houston with him.

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“We’ve become close, it’s almost like brothers. We’ve known each other 25 years and it’s a strong bond.”

After a previous brief spell with Minnesota, Lewis left to continue to be a head coach in Japan for three years, but Finch was persistent.

“For the last year and a half, Chris has knocked on the door and said, ‘come back, come back’.

“Eventually…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/welshman-seeking-nba-title-timberwolves-041039426.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-19 04:10:00

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