New Minnesota president of basketball operations David Kahn has gone on record in saying he won't look for a replacement for fired coach Kevin McHale until after the NBA draft, but multiple sources have told Pro Basketball News that Mark Jackson has emerged as the leading candidate for the position and will wind up with his first coaching gig.
Jackson, 44, has worked as a lead analyst on broadcasts for ESPN/ABC since 2007 and was linked to the New York Knicks opening filled by Mike D'Antoni last offseason. He's made no secret of his desire to coach in the NBA, telling reporters in Los Angeles just last week that it's "been a dream of mine, like anyone who's ever played the point guard position and has been the extension of the coach on the floor. I've been tempted to run a show my entire life."
Kahn, who has more than a decade's experience with the Indiana Pacers and owned the NBDL's Reno Big Horns for a spell, has already made one splash in firing McHale and vows to make another at next week's draft, where Minnesota will have three first-rounders.
As far as making a splash with a coaching hire, Kahn would have to recruit Bobby Knight or Avery Johnson to get a bigger name than Jackson, who played for Kahn twice during Kahn's nine-year stint in the Pacers front office and has been tabbed as a future coaching star from the minute he retired.
Reporting: Sam Amico and Tony Mejia.
Mark Jackson is the top candidate for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ coaching job, with Bill Laimbeer as a likely member of his staff.
League executives say new GM David Kahn will hire a coach whom he can hold a hammer over, and certainly Jackson would owe him. Jackson has wanted to become a head coach since his retirement five years ago, but no one has shown an inclination to hire him right out of the television booth. Kahn’s ex-boss, New York Knicks GM Donnie Walsh, came the closest to taking that leap of faith until Mike D’Antoni became available.
Kahn was an executive in Indiana when Jackson played point guard for the Pacers.
Mike Fratello is eager for the job, too, but it’s unlikely he’ll be given the chance to coach a young team. Fratello pursued the Sacramento Kings’ job hard, but was rebuffed. Fratello and Kahn worked together at NBC Sports in the 1990s.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsWSgRFpiqtmGPlF6whJPXg5nYcB?slug=aw-draftnotes061909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
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