Taylor told The Associated Press on Sunday that the financially motivated trades Kahn has made this summer that have jettisoned veterans Mike Miller, Randy Foye, Mark Madsen, Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair probably would not have sat well with former coach Kevin McHale, who brought all those players to Minnesota when he was the boss.
Kahn told McHale in June that he would not return to coach next season, but he refused to divulge his reasons for making the decision in a news conference after it was announced.
“It’s probably a little bit more obvious why he would have had trouble with Coach McHale,” Taylor said Sunday after a visit to Vikings training camp in his hometown of Mankato. “Some of those guys were really his favorite guys.
“I think David knew he was going in that direction. I think he talked that over with McHale. So I think now you have a better understanding why they both agree that it probably wasn’t going to work out in the long run because David was going in a different direction than probably McHale would want to go.”
“It’s probably a little bit more obvious why he would have had trouble with Coach McHale,” Taylor said Sunday after a visit to Vikings training camp in his hometown of Mankato. “Some of those guys were really his favorite guys.
“I think David knew he was going in that direction. I think he talked that over with McHale. So I think now you have a better understanding why they both agree that it probably wasn’t going to work out in the long run because David was going in a different direction than probably McHale would want to go.”
The Timberwolves have been the only team in the NBA without a head coach for seven weeks now. But Taylor said on Sunday that he expects the job to be filled fairly soon.
From Sid Hartman:
Look for the three leading candidates for the Timberwolves coaching position to be in town this week. They will be interviewed personally by team owner Glen Taylor and club President Rob Moor.
The candidates are Mark Jackson, currently working for ESPN and being recommended highly by Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown and New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh. The other two candidates are Elston Turner, a Houston Rockets assistant, and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis.
Rambis would be the best choice after working under Lakers coach Phil Jackson for a long time. But that would make too much sense for the Wolves to do.
From Tony Mejia/Pro Basketball News: Rating the NBA’s offseason, from best to worst
18. Wolves: David Kahn won the sweepstakes for control of an NBA franchise, dispatching Kevin McHale and likely winding up with rising coaching star Mark Jackson as his tag-team partner. With Ricky Rubio unlikely to come over this season, taking a pair of point guards with picks Nos. 5-6 doesn’t look so bad. At least Rubio is an asset. Kahn is blowing everything up, but seems competent enough to produce a much better product once he puts it back together.
Michael Lee/Washington Post on DeShawn Stevenson:
Stevenson said he wasn’t upset or insulted by the move, even when he heard that the Wizards tried to include him in the trade with Minnesota before the Timberwolves balked and asked for Darius Songaila instead.