Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff is scheduled on Friday to become the third candidate to interview for the Timberwolves' head coaching job.
President of basketball operations David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor interviewed former Timberwolves guard Terry Porter on Monday and former Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson on Tuesday. They are expected to interview Don Nelson and perhaps one or two other candidates this weekend or early next week.
Bickerstaff, 67, owns a .445 winning percentage (415-517) in 13 seasons as head coach with Seattle, Denver, Washington and Charlotte. He last was a head coach for the Bobcats in 2007, when his team went 33-49.
He also has worked as an NBA general manager and team president.
A Yahoo! Sports report last month said Bickerstaff and his son J.B., a Wolves assistant coach, were one of Kahn's top options to replace Kurt Rambis, who hadn't yet been fired. The plan: Make Bernie the head coach and groom his son for the job for a season or two.
Since then, Bickerstaff's son has accepted an assistant coach's job on former Wolves boss Kevin McHale's staff in Houston.
It's conceivable that the father-and-son coaching tag team still could happen if Bernie Bickerstaff emerges as Kahn's choice and if J.B., 32, is offered a promotion -- associate head coach title and accompanying salary? -- to leave the Rockets before he ever really arrives.
Woodson was a finalist for the vacant Detroit Pistons job, but multiple reports are saying that Boston Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank will be offered the job within 48 hours.
