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Matt Lloyd will connect Timberwolves’ front office, fill in the gaps everywhere else

jace frederick, pioneer press
·7 min read

NBA front offices have grown exponentially, Orlando Magic general manager John Hammond noted. Front-office staffs may have included four or five people in the mid-1990s. Now, four or five people could be a meager analytics department.

Bigger staffs bring more firepower but also more people to manage and align. Minnesota president of basketball operations Tim Connelly certainly understands that, having inherited a talented front office that he kept multiple people from, while also bringing in others.

The Timberwolves feature a deep, versatile front office, similar to the roster they will put on the floor when the season opens Wednesday night at Target Center. But you have to be able to take that talent and connect it.

Thankfully for Connelly, he hired Matt Lloyd as senior vice president of basketball operations this offseason. Experienced in many areas with exposure to varying methods of operation, Lloyd is the ultimate connector.

“I think Tim probably looked at it and said, ‘Hey, look, I want someone that will make my job easier, that will make me look even better than I am and maybe even better at this job,’ ” said Hammond, who worked with Lloyd the past five seasons in Orlando. “I think that’s what Tim is hoping for, and I think Tim is getting that.”

UNUSUAL PATH

Lloyd assumed he would be a history teacher and high school basketball coach for 30 years. He loved basketball, and merely the chance to be involved in it at any level was more than enough for him. But the one percent, dream goal of his did exist in the back of his mind. That was to be an NBA scout traveling around the country to watch and understand players.

So as he sat in his college dorm room, devouring a pro basketball annual and uncovered a list of switchboard numbers for every NBA franchise, he decided to take a chance.

“In 2022, this would never happen,” Lloyd noted.

He dialed up the number for the Pacers. When someone answered on the other end of the line, Lloyd asked to speak with then-Indiana general manager Donnie Walsh.

“They put me through to him. So I’m a little bit taken aback, but I asked him, ‘How do you become a scout for an NBA team?’ ” Lloyd said. “And he told me you’ve got to figure out a way to get into the NBA, you’ve got to be ready to travel and you’ve got to watch a lot of players, and then he kind of shuffled me off the phone, and that was fine, but the fact that that had happened, I was kind of blown away.”

Getting into the NBA, is no easy feat. Lloyd did so with the Bulls in 1994, joining the organization as a game-day and special projects employee in the video room where he would cut endless amounts of VHS tapes and hope nothing got erased.

While doing that, Lloyd — who interned at ESPN in college — started to dip his toes into media relations, working as the assistant director of information services for Conference USA and the director of media services for the Arena Football League.

That work led to a full-time gig in the Bulls’ public-relations department, which is where Lloyd thought he may end up for the duration of his career. But when John Paxson, a former NBA player and coach, who worked in radio when Lloyd was working PR, took over as Chicago’s general manager in 2003, he brought Lloyd into the front office.

“I knew right away that I wanted his passion and energy on the basketball side for us,” Paxson said.

Lloyd showed his chops by updating the team’s scouting database and was quickly put on the road to scout games. Lloyd eventually served as Chicago’s director of college scouting. He worked for the Bulls until he went to Orlando in 2012, where he worked for a decade.

At every position, Lloyd made a point to be where his feet were and put his best effort into whatever his responsibilities were at the time. When recounting his journey, Lloyd described himself as “lucky” on multiple occasions, but the opportunities were earned. Success, Hammond noted, starts with hard work.

“Matt is just a relentless worker,” he said. “One of those guys that leaves no stone unturned.”

Lloyd noted his path is no longer the traditional one to his type of role, but Hammond believes his breadth of experience helps him today.

“When you’re a young person starting out, and someone that’s running the meeting is someone that’s done your job,” he said, “I think that probably leans them toward appreciating you and respecting you even more.”

COMMUNICATOR

Lloyd’s job in Minnesota is to help Connelly communicate with the staff — keep everyone organized and moving in the right direction, and then fill in the gaps in between.

On days like Sunday, that meant being on the court with a ball in his hands, assisting in post-practice work. Lloyd will be involved at nearly every touch point, helping hold it all together.

“(Tim is) really a dynamic leader, and we were lucky to have deep front-office talent, as well,” Lloyd said. “So I want to support them, support the people that were here while supporting and helping him on a day to day basis.”

There may be no one better suited for such a job.

“Matt is one of those guys that … I’d say almost to a fault, cannot do enough for others,” Hammond said. “That’s probably what people appreciate more than anything is someone that’s willing to help me, and that’s Matt. I think it’s one of the greatest attributes, by far.”

The NBA, at its core, is still a people-driven business. Those who can relate will flourish.

“People are drawn to him,” Paxson said. “Just one of the best people in the business. You can trust him. He’s honest.”

Lloyd noted that if you operate with a touch of humility and self awareness and act the right way, “people tend to like you.”

“Over the years, he has worked out and developed relationships with so many people,” Hammond said. “He knows everyone.”

His ability to connect, paired with an impressive knack for organization, helps Lloyd manage and lead. In Orlando, he was responsible for organizing and driving meetings between people from multiple departments.

“One of the reasons he had such a strong leadership role was he did an awful lot of work,” Hammond said. “I think people really respected him because they knew how hard he worked.”

TIMBERWOLVES EFFECT

In his scouting travels, Lloyd developed a close-knit group of friends with similar roles at the time within the industry. Included in that group were a number of people who went on to become general managers — including Tim Connelly.

The two met at a DePaul game in 2004. The relationship budded from there. Lloyd said he “had to” jump at the chance to work alongside Connelly. Now here, Lloyd said the Timberwolves are in a “great situation,” armed with high-level players like Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. The front office’s job is to supplement them with players who can help the group reach its highest potential.

That’s a challenge, given the Wolves have traded away many future picks and will be relatively cap-strapped. But Lloyd has experience finding talent in unexpected places.

During his time in Chicago, the Bulls nabbed Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Chris Duhon outside of the top 25 picks of the draft. Lloyd said a key to scouting is to know who your team is and what works with it. Sure, there is luck involved in the process, “but some of that luck is born out of your preparation.”

“The outcome will take care of itself as long as the process is the right process,” Lloyd said. “I think that’s the thing I’m probably most proud of is developing a process that I can get to the end of the season with, knowing I put XYZ into this decision and supported my boss, in this case it will be Tim, and allow him to make the best decision.”

And, in turn, give the Timberwolves a best chance to succeed.

“I know that this opportunity in Minnesota is a great thing for him, and he’ll do a terrific job,” Paxson said. “He’ll do really good things for the Timberwolves.”

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