The Minnesota Timberwolves hired Gersson Rosas as their new president of basketball operations last week, making the Colombia native the NBA's first Latino executive serving a top role.

The hiring of Rosas was received well by most, but some Timberwolves fans are concerned that he will try to bring his philosophies from Houston to Minnesota. Rosas says that won't be the case, however:

“I've been fortunate enough to be in a very successful period in Houston,” Rosas said during a recent media appearance. “One of the reason I felt that I was the best person for this responsibility is because in Houston, three years ago, we were in a very similar place. We had a leadership change, and we had to reset our philosophies. We had to reset our environment and our culture. That experience, in terms of where the game is now from a modern approach, is something that I want to bring here.

“I want to make it very clear — my time in Houston was very special, but this is not going to be Houston North,” Rosas added. “This is going to be about Minnesota, and we're going to build an identity. There are special people and special players here.”

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Rosas played a huge role in constructing what is the current iteration of the Rockets. In fact, he served 18 seasons with the team.

“Gersson has been an unbelievable person to work with,” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told ESPN. “He's been way overqualified for his job for a while here. He's more than earned his shot, although I wish he would've gone East. We're going to have an extremely tough competitor in the West.

“Minnesota is going to find how forward-thinking, how hard-working and how talented he is at putting together a winning team.”

The hiring of Rosas meant the end of Tom Thibodeau's tenure in Minnesota.

And though the Timberwolves (36-46) failed to make the playoffs in this campaign, it's clear that the team is focused on improvement.