One more candidate?: Wolves still hope to interview Adelman

Team making one more run at a seventh and final candidate

August 20, 2011 at 3:41PM
Rick Adelman
Rick Adelman. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Looks like that Timberwolves coaching interview process isn't over after all.

After interviewing six candidates in person, the team is working once again on trying to get former Houston coach Rick Adelman to come to town early next week to meet with David Kahn, Glen Taylor, Rob Moor, minority partners and other personnel.

It's not a done deal yet though, I've been told.

Adelman spoke with Kahn about the job at some length on the phone, but didn't come to town for an interview process that has brought Don Nelson, Sam Mitchell, Mike Woodson, Bernie Bickerstaff, Larry Brown and Terry Porter to town.

Adelman, 65, recently at his annual Oregon charity golf tournament told a reporter he won't coach next season, but Kahn has worked to change the mind of a man who lives not far from him in Portland, Ore., and who he has known since the late 1980s.

That's when Adelman coached with the Trail Blazers and Kahn wrote for the Oregonian newspaper.

If he interviews and decides he wants the job -- he has said he plans to take at least a year off from the grind of NBA coaching, presumably because of family reasons -- he might instantly become the frontrunner for the job.

If, of course, the team agrees to pay his price, a discussion that probably starts at $4 million a year and goes from there.

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Everybody in the league I have talked with in recent weeks would be more than surprised, though, if Adelman agrees to coach the Wolves.

If he declines, the Wolves then will move ahead with the process and probably choose either Nelson or Mitchell for the job.

about the writer

about the writer

Jerry Zgoda

Reporter

Jerry Zgoda covers Minnesota United FC and Major League Soccer for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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