And so today, with Kurt Rambis put out on the trash pile with all those other failed coaches in the team's history and J.B. Bickerstaff headed to Houston instead of grooming school, the Timberwolves move on in search of yet another coach.
David Kahn promises that search will begin shortly -- if not this week, then surely next -- even though he's been researching and compiling a list, if perhaps only in his mind, for weeks.
"You should assume this will be a pretty wide search," he said. "Not voluminous, but a wide search."
OK, so with wide but not voluminous in mind, here's a look at some possibilities.
This is not with any knowledge of exactly what Kahn's list is yet, mind you. Actually, I've had to rack by brain just to come up with a handful who might be willing now that even J.B. Bickerstaff has jumped for a Houston Rockets assistant's job next to Kevin McHale, even though Kahn said he'd already received inquiries from seven or eight interested coaches in just the few hours yesterday after the team officially announced Rambis' firing.
Kahn wants the next coach to have fast-break basketball in his "DNA." Someone asked him if he's looking for a disciplinarian.
"I think the word 'disciplinarian' is sort of a buzzword," he said. "So I wouldn't say that. But I will say we all recognize we need to find somebody who really can get the guys to play really hard, as simplistic as that may sound. Playing hard in this league, especially at home, goes a long way. What we need to do is find a coach who has a knack and a track record of really getting his teams to, for lack of a better term, get after it."
So who could that be?