“We’re still very much in a process to determine if he or whoever will be the coach,” Kahn said. “So I think until that process plays itself out, it would put too much pressure on him, in my opinion, and it would probably make it very uncomfortable with other people here. I think that it’s not appropriate yet until we resolve it.”
Kahn, who had a dinner meeting with McHale last Tuesday, said they would meet again this week, but he wouldn’t say when.
“Not now,” he said. “It’ll be this week.”
If McHale doesn’t return, Kahn said he doesn’t necessarily feel the need to have a new coach by the time draft night arrives three weeks from now. Asked if he needs the coach’s input to help make draft decisions, Kahn said, “We have a lot of voices,” referring to General Manager Jim Stack, assistant general managers Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock, player personnel director Zarko Durisic and assistant coaches Jerry Sichting, Dean Cooper, J.B. Bickerstaff and Ed Pinckney.
Kahn and the team’s existing front-office staff conducted 30-minute interviews with 18 players at last week’s Chicago scouting combine — many of whom the Wolves will consider with the sixth overall pick, their first of three first-round picks.
Stack and Hoiberg leave Thursday for Treviso, Italy, and a three-day “Eurocamp” featuring many of Europe’s top prospects at a camp run by Wolves scout Pete Philo. Babcock and Durisic, meanwhile, will head to college campuses to continue background checks on players.
Top prospects the Wolves will consider selecting with the sixth overall pick will begin arriving for individual workouts next week. Hoiberg said he expected those workouts to be scheduled through June 19, the Friday before the draft.
Kahn’s four lieutenants — general manager Jim Stack, assistant general managers Hoiberg and Rob Babcock, and director of player personnel Zarko Durisic — watched a handful of draft prospects work out Monday at the team’s cramped practice facility adjacent to Target Center.
Representatives from 20 NBA teams attended, while Omri Casspi (Israel), Eric Devendorf (Syracuse), Danny Green (North Carolina), Daniel Hackett (Southern California), B.J. Mullens (Ohio State) and Luke Nevill (Utah) moved around the court in the morning. Another half-dozen were due in the afternoon, with more workouts scheduled throughout the week.
Timberwolves assistant coaches were there, too, but McHale was missing.
“It would put too much pressure on him, in my opinion, and it would probably make it very uncomfortable with other people here,” Kahn said. “I think that it’s not appropriate yet until we resolve it. It would be more appropriate once we have it resolved.”
“What is helpful here is what we didn’t get in Chicago. It’s not 5-on-5 but at least it’s 3-on-3 and you get to see the kind of live hitting and you are reminded again that basketball is very much a contact sport. You can see them in live action, which is really helpful and live action against other kids of like quality, so it’s really helpful in that respect.”
The new member of the Wolves franchise explained the importance of adding a player with length in the paint this offseason.
“I don’t know if we will do it in the draft but I agree with this concept that ideally it would be great as well all know to have some length to compliment Al [Jefferson] and Kevin [Love] because we are not a very long team right now especially in the post. Whether it comes in the draft or trade as we have talked about before, I think what we have to establish is how do we get that and what avenue are we going to pursue to get that.”
His son is projected to go anywhere from a late lottery pick to the middle of the first round, despite his obvious lack of bulk.
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