The Minnesota Timberwolves are about to interview their third NBA head coaching candidate.  

Bernie Bickerstaff follows interviews of Terry Porter & Mike Woodson.

The Portland Trailblazers assistant will interview on Friday with President of Operations David Kahn & Owner Glen Taylor.

Bernie Bickerstaff is the father of former Timberwolves assistant J.B. Bickerstaff—who recently joined the coaching staff in Houston with former Wolves GM & Head Coach Kevin McHale.

Bernie is 67 years old and has ben a head coach with Seattle, Denver, Washington & Charlotte.  He last coached for the Bobcat in 2007 when the team went 33-49.  Bernie’s overall record stands at 415-517 in 13 seasons—with a .445 winning percentage.  Bernie also has experience as a General Manager and a Team President.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are expected to interview Don Nelson as well as a number of other candidates early next week.

That’s all for now, remember to check back daily for all your up-to-date TWolves news, information & updates all year round!  Thanks for reading and GO WOLVES!

Yesterday the Minnesota Timberwolves decided to let go there coach of two years: Kurt Rambis after a tumultuous two seasons that resulted in a 32-132 record. 

As such, the Timberwolves are again on the coaching hunt and names have begun to surface recently.

The first of course being Bernie Bickerstaff.  We’ve had a few different stories on Bernie, but that idea can basically be scrapped.  The idea was that the Wolves would hire Bernie and keep his son J.B. (already an assistant in Minnesota), in hopes that after a few years Bernie would throw the reins to his son, however news broke today that J.B. Bickerstaff had accepted an assistant coaching job with the Houston Rockets under Kevin McHale.

Now, yet another name has surfaced.  Don Nelson-formerly of the Golden State Warriors (before he was basically forced out, then they hired Keith Smart—fired him this summer and now analyst Mark Jackson is the new Warriors head coach).  Don Nelson is reportedly showing interest in this Timberwolves roster that is loaded with young talent.  There are a few big questions on Don Nelson.  1.) Is he the right fit?  Anyone who has won the most games as a coach in NBA history should be the right fit for any team…right?  Well, the bigger question is—at 71 years of age, is Nelson the right coach for such a young inexperienced team?  2.) How much money is Nelson going to demand?  Glen Taylor is already having to shell out the remaining salary on the remaining 2 years of Rambis’ contract, so the thought is—they’ll likely look for a cheaper option…unfortunately!

Nelson became the most winningest coach in NBA history late in the 09-10 season and has an overall record of 1,335-1,063 (.557) as he’s coached in Milwaukee, New York, Dallas and of course Golden State—which links him to two current Minnesota players—Anthony Tolliver & Anthony Randolph who both spent a year with Nelson before he was let go.

Of course Don Nelson isn’t the only veteran coach the Timberwolves could/should look into—Rick Adelman (formerly of the Rockets), Larry Brown (formerly of the Charlotte Bobcats—was fired earlier in the 2010-11 season) and Jerry Sloan (formerly of the Utah Jazz and currently retired in the midst of the 2010-11 season). 

The sad truth is that David Kahn will make a move that he’ll love as he leaves the entire organization and fan base left, scratching our heads.  Beaming with pride he’ll introduce him and puzzled we’ll continue to question why Glen Taylor lets him call the shots…

That’s all for now, the coaching list is likely to grow in the coming weeks and we’ll be here to bring you all the updates as it’s likely there won’t be much else TWolves news to discuss.  Thanks for reading and check back daily for all TWolves news and updates.  GO WOLVES!

Former GM and head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Kevin McHale was hired as the new Houston Rockets head coach-replacing Rick Adelman.  McHale has now begun filling out the remaining assistant coaching spots.

Kelvin Sampson (former Milwaukee Bucks assistant) and J.B. Bickerstaff (former Minnesota Timberwolves assistant).

Kurt Rambis was officially fired earlier today and the Timberwolves have already begun to search for replacements—J.B. & Kelvin were both early candidates for the head coaching gig, but it doesn’t seem likely now.  Kelvin was also a candidate for the Houston job before Kevin was hired, he was also being considered for the Detroit head coaching job.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were rumored to be looking to interview current Portland assistant—Bernie Bickerstaff, for the Timberwolves head coaching gig, then retaining J.B. as the main Timberwolves assistant—the idea being that after a year or two, J.B. could take over as the head coach of Minnesota from his father.

The main news here is: You can take two solid coaches from the list of potential candidates for Minnesota.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for reading and remember to check daily for news, updates and information on your Minnesota Timberwolves.  GO WOLVES!

The Minnesota Timberwolves still have head coach Kurt Rambis on the payroll, but that hasn’t stopped David Kahn from asking the Portland Trailblazers permission to interview current assistant coach to Nate McMillan-Bernie Bickerstaff (J.B. Bickerstaff’s father).

The Timberwolves requested permission earlier this week and the Trailblazers honored the request and allowed Bernie to be interviewed for the Wolves head coach position.

Blazers head coach Nate McMillan had this to say: “Bernie’s been (a head coach) before, so we’ll see what happens.  I don’t want to speak for Bernie, but I know he’s extremely happy with Portland and being here working with me.  He’s said time and time again he likes where we are and what we’re doing.  It’s going to have to be something really attractive to go,” McMillan told the Oregonian.

Bernie has a career record of 415-517 in 14 NBA seasons as a head coach.  His most recent stint was with the Charlotte Bobcats from 2005-07.  Bickerstaff began as an assistant with Portland, last season.

“Bernie’s been around for a long, long time, he’s seen so many different systems and worked with so many different coaches.  He’s been a GM; a president.  He’s done just about everything you can do in the NBA except own a team.  So he has a great deal of experience and knowledge for the game and he can help in so many different ways,” McMillian told the Oregonian.

Stay tuned for more updates on this and all Timberwolves news & information.  Thanks for reading and GO WOLVES!

The latest on Kurt Rambis and the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Word came today, that Pres. David Kahn wants to reassign current head coach Kurt Rambis (who has yet to get the “axe”).  

The initial story was that just days before the 2011 NBA Draft, news broke that the Minnesota Timberwolves would be firing Kurt Rambis and had already begun the search for potential replacements.

However, earlier this evening, the TWolves are now proposing that they want to reassign Rambis to the front office for the remaining 2-years $4M.  

However, sources say that Kurt Rambis has no desire whatsoever in teaming with Kahn in the front office—something that reportedly holds little to no appeal for Kurt.  

Honestly, can you blame Kurt Rambis?  He’s been strung along since mid-April when the Timberwolves season mercifully came to an end riding a 15-game losing streak and now, the beginning of July and there’s been no official announcement firing him or intentions to keep him around.  

Yahoo Sports have said that this is being seen as more of a concept than a formal offer by David Kahn to Kurt, as there’s been little to no communication between Rambis and the Wolves front office in quite a few days.

On June 22nd, the informal news broke that Rambis wouldn’t return as Wolves head coach, but again, no official announcement has been made.  The idea being that the Wolves will pay Rambis through the NBA lockout as it is cheaper, right now, than firing him and having to negotiate an expensive buyout—AS WELL AS hiring a replacement.

Kahn has reportedly been searching for replacements the past few weeks and among the names include Portland Trailblazers assistant Bernie Bickerstaff.  Bernie of course is the son of current Wolves assistant coach—J.B. Bickerstaff.  The obvious idea being that the Bickerstaffs would come in and work together with Bernie as the head coach and after a few years would turn the team over to his son—J.B.  Other candidates that Kahn has shown interest in include: U of Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, Rick Adelman and Sam Mitchell (though Rick and Sam aren’t being looked at as closely as Bernie and Lorenzo).  

The Timberwolves—with newly signed Ricky Rubio have stated that they want to ‘run’ next year—utilizing a fast break offense to coincide with the talents of Ricky, Wes, Beasley, Love, Williams, Randolph etc.

The chance of Rambis accepting this is extremely low, but for now, it’s a wait and see situation.

Thanks for reading and remember to check back daily for all the up-to-date TWolves news, information and updates all year round (lockout or not!).  GO WOLVES!