Click here to listen to Kevin Love’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday morning.
Timberwolves big man Kevin Love joined the show to talk about the NBA and college hoops issues.

Love said he felt bad for everyone in the USC basketball family. Love said it’s a very tough situation. Love said that O.J. Mayo probably didn’t have good guidance. “My compassion bucket is dripping,” Love said.

New Timberwolves president David Kahn is not easing into the job. Though typically displaying a relaxed personality and going slowly in deciding the future of Kevin McHale as coach, Kahn has been aggressive in making Minnesota active in trade talks. Three picks in the first round — No. 6, No. 18 from the Heat and No. 28 from the Celtics — puts him in ideal maneuvering position. The discussions also provide an opportunity for an executive who was out of the league this season to gauge the market value of his roster.

No other team has the Timberwolves’ spending power in this draft, and no other team has the challenge of having a personnel boss who was hired last month without benefit of a single official scouting trip the entire college season. Kahn, a former Pacers general manager under Donnie Walsh, most recently owned and operated D-League franchises in Reno and Albuquerque, before selling in January. Anticipating he would get back into the NBA at some point, Kahn did pay his own way to watch games in Europe, and Minnesota does have a staff in place with Jim Stack and Fred Hoiberg heading the 2008-09 scouting.

“I do feel as though I’ve spent a lot of time on the draft,” Kahn said. “But I’m not going to lie and say it’s exactly the same as if I had the job all season. It is different.”

From Sterno at Canis Hoopus: Bfast with The Kahn
The Sacramento Bee and ESPN.com both reported that Paul Westphal accepted a contract Tuesday night with the Sacramento Kings…
With the hiring, the Wolves are the only NBA team with an unresolved coaching situation.
That kind of honesty is appreciated and is 100 percent spot on. The more I hear from Kahn, the more I like. He still needs to show, not tell, but philosophically, he gets it.
It’ll become a full-fledged man crush if Kahn decides to part ways with Kevin McHale.
My reasons for feeling that way have been documented in previous blog entries. Instead of turning the rest of this posting into an anti-McHale rant, it’ll be about why Kahn needs to hire Sam Mitchell.
Boston President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge was a Celtic teammate with, and remains a close friend, of Kevin McHale. Ainge is convinced that McHale is interested in coaching the Timberwolves next season but wants to be sure that he is wanted and can work with David Kahn, the Wolves’ new president of basketball operations.

Ainge spent four days here last week at the workout camp for potential selections in the upcoming NBA draft. He said: “I was talking to Al Jefferson [who came to the Wolves from Boston in the Kevin Garnett trade], and he said he’s learned more from Kevin [McHale] in just this short time he’s been here in Minnesota than he’s learned in his whole life. He thinks Kevin is one of the great teachers of the game, and is really hoping that Kevin takes the coaching job and stays here. Because he’s never had so much fun playing than when Kevin was coaching.”

I don’t believe Kahn would keep meeting with McHale unless Kahn was interested in having McHale coach.

Now that new Timberwolves GM David Kahn is settling into his new digs, it’s time to start asking just exactly who is going to coach the team next year. Kahn and Kevin McHale have reportedly shared a few meals together (do you think Kevin asked to trade meals after he made the order?), but Kahn is still not sharing his plans, and he says it’s not imperative the team have a coach in place before the draft. I’m not so sure about that.

Alan Hahn/Newsday on Stephen Curry
Curry clearly is enjoying the hype surrounding him as the draft nears. He worked out last week for the Bobcats (12th) and has a workout scheduled next week with the Wizards (5th). But that’s it so far. He said he has been in discussions with the Thunder (3rd, 25th) and the Timberwolves (6th, 28th) to come in for workouts, but so far nothing has been arranged with either team. Interesting to see how motivated Curry is after today to set those up at this point. Or will he shut it down after the Wizards next week….
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