LAS VEGAS — Nathan Bubes walked into the makeshift locker room at halftime of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Las Vegas Summer League opener against New Orleans with a message.“I told them we need to take a deep breath,” Bubes said. “And as I said that, I was like, ‘So do I.'”Summer league is a chance for players with a lower profile to get noticed and try to earn a spot on a roster, either as a full-time or two-way player. It also offers that opportunity to young coaches, who are typically entrusted with running games and practices as they try to work their way up the ladder.This is the chance Bubes has been dreaming about since he entered the NBA as a barely paid intern with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. Long encouraged by those around him to go into the front-office side of basketball operations, Bubes has been determined to make his way in coaching. Now, as the leader of the Wolves’ summer team, he is charged with furthering the development of Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky, getting second-round draft pick Isaiah Evans up to speed and helping to evaluate other players, including promising point guard Zyon Pullin, two-way forward Enrique Freeman and sharpshooter Nate Santos.Bubes has long been the right-hand man for Wolves head coach Chris Finch, winning him over when both were in New Orleans and then serving as his chief of staff in Minnesota. He’s done everything asked of him, including serving as the man on the hot seat during games to determine if Finch should challenge a call, spending a season as an assistant with the G League team in Iowa and easing Finch’s day-to-day operations by helping with planning, organizing and communicating with the rest of the staff.“He deserves the opportunity just because of how important he’s been to me,” Finch said. “So, I figured this was the summer to do that.”It is the culmination of years of grinding, starting as a student manager at Boston College and including a brief stop at BYU and a video-coordinating job in New Orleans before joining Finch’s staff and helping return the Timberwolves to relevance in the Western Conference.Bubes recalled coming to Las Vegas as a fan before he got established in the league, roaming the corridors of the Thomas & Mack Center and scanning the credentials hanging around everyone’s necks, hoping to strike up one conversation that would yield a phone call that could help get him in the door.“You would always look at the head coach, and you’re like, ‘How did that guy get there?'” Bubes said. “And so to do that is really, really cool.”