Owner Glen Taylor, interviewed at halftime of Minnesota’s 110-87 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night at Target Center, said he still expects Kevin McHale to return as coach next season but that McHale hasn’t told him he would.
Taylor also said the team will have a general manager-type to head up basketball operations, ending the committee-style approach it has used in recent seasons.
“We’re going to have one person that will be at the top,” Taylor said. “We’ve interviewed quite a few people.”
Asked if that person will come from inside or outside the organization, Taylor said: “We’re interviewing inside and outside. I’d say we’re pretty much done with it.”
…Taylor said he expects to fill the front-office position within a couple of weeks after the end of the season and reiterated that McHale returning to his former job is not an option.
No one put the Timberwolves’ current injury/illness situation in better perspective than guard Sebastian Telfair.
“When the horse [Al Jefferson, ACL tear] went down, we’ve been riding the pony [Love],” he said. “The pony down, we went to the rhino [Craig Smith]. The rhino down …”
Telfair uttered a bad word, then with a smile offered, “I don’t know. I guess next game we’re gonna have to feed the dog [Mark Madsen] and then pray Mad Dog don’t go down.”
Billups had 17 points and seven assists in the Nuggets’ victor Sunday.
He even threw down a dunk, which Billups’ children and teammate Kenyon Martin have accused him of not being able to do.
“The only thing was I was a little scared because Mad Dog (Mark Madsen) was hawking me down,” Billups said. “Let me tell you right now, I don’t want no part of Mad Dog.”
Asked to describe the feeling, Billups said: “It was cool. I was just like, ‘Boy, I hope my little girl is watching this game right now.’ Because if she’s not, she might not see it again.”
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