Joseph Blair

Joseph Blair begins his first season with the Timberwolves as an Assistant Coach.

Blair joins the Timberwolves coaching staff after spending the previous season as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers. Prior to the 76ers, Blair spent four seasons with the Houston Rockets G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, one of which as head coach (2018-19). Blair led the team to the 2019 G League title over the Long Island Nets after amassing a 34-16 overall record. In 2015, he originally joined the Rockets organization as an assistant with Rio Grande Valley. He also spent two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, the University of Arizona.

Prior to coaching, Blair enjoyed a professional career that spanned 1996-2009 and included stops in France, the USBL, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Russia. He also performed with the Harlem Globetrotters. Blair spent four years at Arizona, where he averaged 14.7 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game for the Wildcats as a senior. Following his collegiate career, he was drafted No. 35 overall in the 1996 NBA Draft by Seattle. Blair founded the Blair Charity Group, which seeks to change the lives of the country’s most vulnerable youth. The group and its partners, through the Arizona Basketball Academy, provide access to worldclass basketball camps and clinics for thousands of underserved youth in southern Arizona.