Spurs general manger R.C. Buford confirmed Sunday that the Minnesota Timberwolves have asked for permission to interview Lindsey, who has been with the Spurs since the summer of 2007, when he replaced Sam Presti as Buford’s top assistant after the then-Seattle SuperSonics hired Presti as general manager.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor appears focused on hiring an outside candidate to lead his team, an indication he is prepared to make sweeping organizational changes soon that would include Kevin McHale’s departure after 16 years with the franchise, 14 years as the basketball operations boss.
Taylor said Sunday afternoon that he has not extended a job offer yet and is completing final reference checks in a search he hopes to complete in the next week or two.
He refused to address chatter around the NBA that he has narrowed his search to a short list that includes San Antonio vice president/assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey and Cleveland assistant general manager Lance Blanks, citing a promise he said he made to all candidates to keep the process confidential.
The Spurs hired Lindsey two summers ago to replace wunderkind Sam Presti — whom Seattle hired at the age of 30 to run their basketball operations and with pretty impressive results so far — after he spent 11 years with Houston, the last five as VP of basketball operations/player personnel.
The Wolves received permission from the Spurs, have talked to him and late in the week seemed to be doing their follow-up due diligence on him. He’s definitely on their short list.
Blanks is the guy I’m getting conflicting information about. Two sources have said they believe he’s a finalist along with Lindsey and just might be the favorite. But Cavs GM Danny Ferry told the Cleveland Plain Dealer Saturday that the Wolves haven’t formally asked for permission to talk with Blanks, who spent five years with the Spurs as scout, scouting director and TV analyst and came with Ferry from San Antonio when Cleveland hired Ferry to run the show there in 2005.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor has said he would like to fill the position within the next week or two.
First, they don’t, at the moment have a coach or a general manager. Does that seem important? It is. Kevin McHale has yet to decide whether he will coach the team next season; the question has me a bit conflicted. In the macho, businesslike world of pro-sports, McHale is a refreshingly open guy. He’s given to displays of humor, and genuine sympathy for his players, a sympathy which the players seem eager to return. Asked, after the team’s final loss, how he manages to generate such rapport with his players, McHale said, “I tell them all the time, if they forgive me my mistakes, I promise them that I’ll forgive them their mistakes.” Best believe, that kind of thing is not common among professional coaches.
Still, if McHale does stay on, whoever comes in to actually run the team will be saddled, not only with the strange, misshapen roster that McHale has constructed, but also with much of the decision making apparatus that constructed it. This, in a crucial summer, in which the Wolves have a treasure trove of draft picks, does not strike me as a great idea.
