Don Seeholzer/Pioneer Press on former Heat GM Randy Pfund:
“I’m moving on from the Wolves situation,” Pfund said. “I’ve got a couple other things out there that maybe intrigue me a little more, either this year or next year.”
Pfund didn’t identify any of those other opportunities, but he said he informed Wolves CEO Rob Moor of his decision to pull out.
“I just feel Minnesota is not the right situation for me at this time,” Pfund said.
That’s exactly what former Miami Heat GM Randy Pfund did on Friday. He told the Wolves he was going in a different direction. And the guy doesn’t even have another direction. Apparently, he’d rather collect on his final year of salary due from the Heat than to cast his lot with the Timberwolves. It that weren’t so pfrightening, it would be pfunny.
There is a growing suspicion that any new general manager will be required to accept Kevin McHale as the team’s coach. That leads to a question of control. I’m betting the new guy won’t be as independent as he’d like. He’s going to be strapped to some of the “old ways.”
Remember that owner Glen Taylor has left it up to McHale to decide if he wants to coach next season. Also remember that it was Taylor who engineered the Kevin Love for O.J. Mayo trade on draft night. In addition, the Wolves have been grooming Fred Hoiberg to become a general manager for quite some time. Who wants a guy in the wings looking over his shoulder?
Still, this is a chance to be a general manager in the National Basketball Association. These chances don’t come along very often. So it’s really kind of scary that a career basketball man wants no part of it.
The Timberwolves reportedly were searching for acorns that dropped close to the San Antonio and Cleveland trees, with initial interest in Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey and Cavs assistant GM Lance Blanks. (Forgetting, apparently, that the single greatest factors in those franchises’ rise was getting lucky for the No. 1 lottery pick in the precise year when a future Hall of Famer was coming out.) More recently, the Wolves are said to have focused on Portland assistant GM Tom Penn, who works with former Spurs employee and current Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard. Meanwhile, current front office leaders Fred Hoiberg and Jim Stack twist as internal candidates, and McHale waits to make a decision — returning as head coach? — that might not be his to make after all.
The Wolves just had Kevin Love on a conference call to promote his trip next week to New York City, where he will represent the team at Tuesday night’s draft lottery. Here’s what he had to say on a number of topics…
On the delay in naming a new GM and deciding who will coach next season: “I keep hearing, just talking to McHale and Stack and Hoiberg off and on, that it’s kind of just up in the air. They’ve narrowed it down. It’s a little weird not knowing who we turn to next year to make decisions. There have been a lot of firsts for me this past year, whether it’s a coaching change, players getting traded. This is definitely a first for me. I’m not used to that.”
When asked if he has ever won anything by chance: “Not that I can remember. All the Timberwolves media people have been trying to get me to bring a lucky charm. It didn’t work for Hoiberg last year, so I’ll try to figure something else out.”
Like Presti, McHale knew he had to have Rondo (along with Al Jefferson) if he was going to dump Minnesota icon Garnett in a fire sale. And Ainge had absolutely zero leverage in this trade proposal, knowing he absolutely, positively had to have Garnett to make the Celtics relevant again.
Again, Ainge steadfastly refused and his trade partner did the folding like a La-Z-Boy recliner.
Minnesota remarkably settled for Sebastian Telfair and a $1 million salary cover instead of getting Rondo. It was, quite frankly, Minnesota’s first sellout in years.
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