Rob McClanaghan was in town Wednesday to audition for Rambis and assistant coach/player development director J.B. Bickerstaff.
McClanaghan, a player at Syracuse in the early 2000s, has become a player development guru. He prepares college players for the NBA draft through Wasserman Media Group and NBA super-agent Arn Tellem.
He worked with current Wolves forward Ryan Gomes when he was a junior at Providence in 2003-04.
Rambis on the progression of Flynn:
“[Flynn] is trying to learn the most difficult position in the NBA to learn. Offensively and defensively it’s going to be tough for him. I keep encouraging him to execute our offense. That’s the initial phase of our offensive thrust is to get us organized so everybody knows how we are playing and spots on the floor. I need him to be a leader on the floor and to show his team how to play and how to execute and how to play together, that’s part of his role as a leader and an orchestrator out there.”
In other injury news, 7-footer Oleksiy Pecherov (fractured left wrist) participated in the scrimmage a day after just working out with assistant coach Reggie Theus following a lengthy practice. Rambis said Tuesday he does not expect Pecherov to play in Friday’s preseason game against Toronto.
“I can’t dunk on anybody, but the game is far bigger than being the greatest athlete or having a muscled-up body,” Cardinal said. “It’s about playing smart and doing the right things. That’s why I’ve been fortunate to play this long.”
Even if Cardinal makes the Wolves’ final roster, he knows most of the playing time at power forward will be divided between Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.
And Rambis was fortunate that Kahn is walking the walk when it comes to giving his new coach security, to the point where he offered four guaranteed years, twice the traditional length for a bad NBA job. Both Rambis and Kahn say that the idea for four years was Minnesota’s idea, not Rambis’ or his agent’s.
Player development is crucial to Kahn’s vision of team building.
But for some NBA players the move made sense.
“He’s still so young. It’s good for him to get a couple of more years playing over here and then make the transition over,” Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams said Wednesday as his team prepared for a preseason game against Real Madrid.
“I think he’s a great player. He’s definitely going to be a good player in our league, he has all the skills — ball handling, court vision, he knows how to lead a team. It’s just a matter of maturing and becoming a better player.”
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