Former Arizona Basketball players Joseph Blair (Assistant Coach) and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson join the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Isn’t it lovely when you hear good news about a former Arizona Basketball player making moves in the NBA? Just this past week, now former Sixers Assistant Coach Joseph Blair announced he just landed a great job with the Minnesota Timberwolves!
Blair started coaching officially in 2015 after leaving Arizona as a Graduate Assistant. Eventually, his friend since at least middle school and Arizona teammate, Matt Brase, hired him as his right-hand Assistant Coach on the Rio Grande Vipers (Houston Rockets G-League affiliate).
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After Brase coached the team to the G-League finals, he was promoted to be a Houston Rockets Assistant Coach. This move left his Head Coach job on the RGVipers open, which was a perfect fit, and the next step for Coach Blair and his career.
Blair then followed in his close friend’s footsteps leading the Vipers to the finals, but this time, the RGVipers won the Championship in 2019. That lead to even bigger things for our Wildcat, he signed as Assistant Coach with the Philadelphia 76ers the following season.
The Sixers shook up their front office after last season and ironically hired former Houston Rockets GM, Daryl Morey as their next president who subsequently hired former Celtics and Clippers Head Coach Doc Rivers. Leaving all the behind, Blair is moving on to a team that could win an NBA Championship. Good for him.
Blair, managed by Elfus Sports, announced on Instagram and Twitter that he is working for a new team under Head Coach Ryan Saunders.
And there’s even more good news, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson also just signed with the Timberwolves. Blair was a graduate assistant with Arizona the two years Rondae played from 2013-2015. This will be Rondae’s third NBA team. After the draft in 2015 (Round 1, pick No. 23) he was traded by the Portland Trailblazers to the Brooklyn Nets, after that he was traded to the Toronto Raptors along with Stanley Johnson. Hollis-Jefferson signed with the Wolves as a free agent, and now Blair and Rondae are reunited!
If you remember, these two have mad chemistry…check out this video haha.
The “Vegan Coach” is headed to meat and potatoes country, so anyone in Minneapolis reading this, please let Coach JB know what the best Vegan restaurants are to try out. We are very happy for these two very much loved Wildcats and wish them the best of everything. The Shimmy and JB are going to blow up Minnesota, they don’t know what’s coming.