Does he have hobbies? Does he need to decompress? Didn’t seem like it in Las Vegas last week. Tom Thibodeau was in his element -- available, gregarious, surrounded by people who care about basketball as much as he does.

It’s been an eventful summer already for the Timberwolves’ president and coach, who moved to surround his two young stars, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, with credible veteran starpower -- chief among which is Jimmy Butler, Thibs’ former Bulls player and three-time All-Star.

Jimmy Butler reflects on his trade to Minnesota and shares his hopes for 2017-18.

Minnesota sent Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 overall pick in the 2017 Draft (Lauri Markkanen) to Chicago for Butler, who’ll provide the young Wolves some defensive bite and leadership that they’ve lacked. Thibodeau also traded longtime fan favorite Ricky Rubio to Utah, and signed free agent point guard Jeff Teague to a three-year, $57 million deal to replace him. He also brought in another ex-Bull, Taj Gibson, and will reportedly soon sign ex-Clippers guard and three-time Kia Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford. The new crew has, first and foremost, the task of ending the Wolves’ postseason drought, at 13 seasons and running -- the longest current streak in the league.

Me: When you approached the offseason, what were your priorities?

Tom Thibodeau: When the season ended, obviously, the first thing is to get the guys that you have under contract and are on your team, get their offseason program going. And then we knew we had a number of needs, so you start preparing for the Draft. And as we were preparing for the Draft, we realized how deep a Draft it was going to be. As we got closer to Draft day, we were getting a lot of calls about the seventh pick. And once that happened, we realized we might have an opportunity to trade for an elite player. We started to look at some guys that fell into that category. When Jimmy became available, that was something we had great interest, and we were able to work out the deal.

Me: When the terms of the deal were finally agreed upon, were you surprised you were able to pull it off?

TT: I think as you’re approaching Draft day, you’re thinking about all of the possibilities, and you know that’s one way you can improve your club. And so we looked at the possibilities of moving up in the Draft, and also moving back. We thought we might be able to add another veteran player. But once we realized we might be able to get Jimmy, we wanted to pursue that. It wasn’t an easy decision, because we had to give up a couple of good players in Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn. But it’s rare that you’re able to get an elite player, a top 10 player going into his prime. And getting the 16th pick was very important to us as well, and we were able to get Justin Patton with that pick. We think he’s a great fit for us also. And of course, we knew we had the money for free agency.

Me: How much did Chicago fight you for that 16th pick?

Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau talks about his team's bright future.

TT: Well, we probably wouldn’t have done the deal if that didn’t happen. But I think it was a good deal for both teams. Our windows matched up. Chicago had a great run for a long time, and then they decided they were re-setting. We wanted more veteran experience. We have Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, 21 and 22 years old, and I think what they’re doing is terrific. But (we needed) someone with a little more experience. Where Jimmy is in his career, I think he can share some of the things he’s going through with Karl and Andrew, what they’re going through now. And we had 22 games in which we had double-digit leads late in the game. and ended up losing. And Jimmy is, I think, one of the best closers in the game. I think that helps us. And of course adding Jeff Teague, who was an All-Star two years ago and on a team that had the best record in the league, we think that’s a big plus as well.

Me: With all the point guards that were available this summer, what sold you on Teague?

TT: Well, we felt there were a number of really good point guards available in free agency, so we knew that they had to have interest in us. I think once we had Jimmy, we had more guys that became interested in us. And we had to see if we could work out a financial package. Jeff made the commitment right away. That was really appealing to us. And the fact that he’s won every year he’s been in the league. And coaching against him, I realized how hard he was to contain in the high pick and roll (in Atlanta) with Al Horford. And with Karl and Wigg in the side pick and roll, I think he’s great at it. I thought he’d be a great fit for us.