ESPN is reporting
Make that three candidates to withdraw from the Minnesota Timberwolves’ search for a new head of basketball operations.
Portland Trail Blazers assistant general manager Tom Penn on Monday took his name out of the running for the position after receiving a promotion from the Blazers.
Penn’s pullout, on the eve of the NBA draft lottery, follows the withdrawals of initial top candidate Dennis Lindsey of the San Antonio Spurs and former Miami Heat general manager Randy Pfund.
“It was a real tough call on his part,” Warren LeGarie, Penn’s agent, told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher, “but he’s found a home in Portland and a niche within the organization where he thought there was more to contribute to an eventual championship. The friendships and relationships there were a siren call to return.”
The offer of a new contract and a still-to-be-specified elevated position — possibly vice president of basketball operations — also factored into Penn’s decision to stay with the Blazers, Bucher reports.
Did Penn use the Wolves interest to leverage his way into a new and improved contract with the Blazers? It sure looks that way.
A couple of other notes
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported Friday that Penn had been offered the Wolves’ job, with sources close to the process saying that the expectation in Portland was that Penn would accept.
Jerry Zgoda also wrotes about how close Penn was to joining the Wolves, saying it was “signed, sealed and delivered”.
Another note from ESPN — McHale and the Head Coaching position
ESPN.com also reported Friday that signals are growing stronger that Kevin McHale, Minnesota’s longtime head of basketball operations before moving to the bench in December, will retain the right to decide whether he stays on as the Wolves’ coach no matter whom Minnesota hires to run its front office.
Wolves owner Glen Taylor — after initially saying that the new general manager would make the final call on Minnesota’s coach — has mandated that his next head of basketball operations make it McHale’s choice to keep coaching or leave the organization, according to NBA front-office sources.
That looks like an uncomfortable situation for a new GM. Good job Glen Taylor!
One final note on Pfund and Lindsey withdrawing their names
Pfund informed the Wolves on Friday that he was withdrawing from the process, saying later that he had “a couple other things I want to explore at this point.”
It’s believed that both Lindsey and Pfund wanted the freedom to make sweeping changes to the organization if they wished — including the right to dismiss McHale and hire their own coach — with Taylor reluctant to give it.
Past Wolves GM Posts
Two posts
- Lindsey pulls his name out of the running — click here
- Kahn possibly new Wolves GM — click here
Thoughts On Wolves GM Search
It sure looks like the Wolves have badly mishandled this process.
- They new they were signing a new GM back in the middle of the season when they decided McHale was no longer going to be that guy, yet here we are a month after the season has ended and there is still no GM in place.
- We’re now just a few days away from the lottery draw, plus draft workouts have been going on for over a week, and still there is no end in sight. The worry of a GM having a lack of time prior to the draft/summer is increasingly becoming a concern.
- Their have been numerous leaks about who the candidates are despite Taylor, for the most part, trying not to talk to the press about the situation in any detail.
- It looks like their first choice and second choice candidates (Lindsey and Penn) turned them down.
- It also looks like they are unhappy with their remaining choices — the time span between the interview and lack of appointment makes this seem so — I’m talking mainly about Kahn, their internal candidates and to a lesser degree Pfund.
- Taylor’s words to the press about bringing in a new management structure, not based on a team decision making process, appear to be untrue.
- Taylor’s words about letting the new GM decide if McHale stays on appear to be untrue
- Taylor seems to be cheap financially — both on the GM, but more importantly on filling out the rest of the front office
- And finally, his loyalty to previous personnel — not just McHale, but also Hoiberg and other front office staff — seems to be undermining his new GM, and any attempt they’re trying to make to turn Minnesota around.
The above are mainly just perception, my perceptions, based on what I’ve been reading and hearing about through the media … and it looks like Minnesota have badly mishandled the entire process.
It’ll be very interesting to see what happens next for the Wolves. Hopefully they find a good candidate … and hopefully an external candidate who’s has the authority to make changes and to run the club the way he feels best.
