Posted by Ben Golliver. 

Just when the interminable "Rick Adelman to coach the Minnesota Timberwolves" movie seemed to finally be approaching its climax, the projector stopped working, the lights turned on and everyone went home grumpy.

On Monday, we noted thad Adelman, the longtime NBA head coach, was set to meet with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor this week following days of rumors and speculation that he would be selected as the team's next head coach.

ESPN.com reported Tuesday that Adelman and Taylor did meet as planned but that there still isn't a clear path towards a conjoined future between coach and organization.

Rick Adelman met with Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor on Tuesday as planned but returned to his offseason home in Portland, Ore., without an offer to be the Timberwolves' next head coach or a promise that one would be forthcoming, a source familiar with the talks said.

This was Adelman's second trip to Minneapolis in as many weeks to explore the possibility of him succeeding Kurt Rambis, who was fired in July. Adelman visited last week but did not meet with Taylor because the 70-year-old owner was not feeling well, a league source said.

This news comes after reports that Adelman and the Timberwolves had broached the topic of a pay range and that Adelman had put out feelers to fill out his coaching staff.

So where does this leave the coaching search?

Not quite at square one, seeing as the Timberwolves have interviewed an estimated 4,535,976 candidates besides Adelman and because Adelman himself could still be in the picture. No immediate job offer doesn't necessarily mean no job offer down the road.

Adelman has reportedly emerged as the favorite and his hire would be a coup for the Timberwolves, who need a steady, tested hand to nurture their young roster and to reestablish the credibility of the organization. After winning just 32 combined games in the last two seasons, Minnesota is desperate. They should bend over backwards and wait until the cows come home if it means landing a coach with the playoff track record that Adelman possesses.

The biggest hang up appears to be Adelman's age, 65, and his reported desire to spend more time with his family or to take on a management role rather than go through the coaching grind again. Perhaps the possiblity of a delayed or canceled season would ease those concerns?

The Timberwolves' coaching search has now lasted more than six weeks after the team fired former coach Kurt Rambis in July. Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff, Blazers sideline reporter Terry Porter and former NBA head coaches Don Nelson, Larry Brown and Sam Mitchell have all been interviewed for the position. 

By Matt Moore

Second interviews are always kind of a big deal. The first one is like a blind date, really. Seeing a resume is the equivalent of a friend telling you "Yes, he/she is human and yes, he/she has all his/her facial parts." But a second interview means there's something there and you're looking to see if things could actually go somewhere. Usually it's the applicant trying really hard to seal the deal and beat out the other potential employees. But in the case of Rick Adelman and the Minnesota Timberwolves, it's the team trying to convince the coach not to take a year off and instead to come coach a team that has been an abject trainwreck since KG left. 

From ESPN:

Rick Adelman is returning to Minneapolis on Tuesday to meet with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor about the team's coaching vacancy, according to a league source.

Two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Aug. 24 that Adelman had met with Taylor during his first interview in Minneapolis, but the league source said Monday that Taylor's health issues kept the two from talking face to face.

....

Sources say that Adelman's family remained at his offseason home in Portland, Oregon, for much of his four seasons in Houston and another relocation or separation is a factor in Adelman's thinking.

via Rick Adelman, Minnesota Timberwolves owner set to meet face to face - ESPN.

Every indication is that the Wolves would love to have Adelman, they've already reportedly agreed to a general price range for his services. It's just a matter of convincing the former Rockets head coach not to take a year off to spend with his family. Which can be a hard sell. That's why Taylor himself is meeting with Adelman again. 

Also notable are the health issues mentioned here, which haven't been reported elsewhere. Taylor is known to be a major player on the labor committee for the NBA Board of Governors. Peter Holt has taken the lead in most of the negotiations as the owners' representative, but Taylor's condition is certainly something to watch as the NBA tries to get a deal with the players (or tried to force them to submit, depending on your interpretation). 

Adelman has a prior relationship with Kevin Love, which would make getting the young All-Star back on board the Timberwolf Train a lot easier (Love has made repeated comments about free agency and the questionable direction of the Wolves). Adelman has had success with speedy point guards facilitating a transition game, so Ricky Rubio would likely benefit from his direction. And Derrick Williams would probably enjoy some of the tutelage Adelman gave Chris Webber in Sacramento. In short, this would not only be the best fit for the Wolves, it would swing a lot of opinion on where the team is headed. 

By Matt Moore

This thing might actually be happening, which is strange and disconcerting to the world view that David Kahn can never hit a home run. Rick Adelman interviewed with the Wolves last week and it didn't go badly. Now Monday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the two sides may have figured out a big piece of the puzzle:

I'm hearing today what I heard 5 weeks ago: Adelman's presence 4 interview means #Timberwolves already have agreed to pay range: $4-6M per

via Twitter / @JerryZgoda: I'm hearing today what I h .... 

Now that's prior to the interview, but that's a big piece of the puzzle.  If the money's right, and the interview went well, that would seem to lead to the idea this thing could be moving in a good direction. Adelman reportedly is already lining up assistants for the gig. 

Adelman would be a revelation for Kahn who has been a punchline during his time with the Wolves. But as SBNation points out, all that would change with the Adelman hire.  

Are the Wolves "back?" Wait, were they ever really "there?"

Posted by Royce Young

Hard to know how accurate a report this is right now, but HoopChina reports that Michael Beasley suffered a wrist injury Sunday during the China Championships with it possibly being a broken wrist.

Want a reason to maybe not play overseas, NBA players? Well there it is.

If Beasley did indeed break his wrist, he's almost surely going to miss the start of the 2011-12 season. Assuming of course that the 2011-12 season starts on time, which as of right now appears to be quite the assumption.

Beasley was in China with Paul Pierce playing a Chinese team in some exhibition thing. Beasley had scored 32 points when the injury happened. According to the report, he injured it during the game but it felt much worse the next morning (being Monday).

Nothing is entirely clear at this point but it seems sure that Beasley injured his wrist in some regard Sunday night. Whether that's a break, a tear, a sprain or whatever, we'll have to wait and see a bit. The main thing to take is how this could send a bit of a wake up call to the players hooping all over the place. I doubt it will stop anyone, but injury is indeed a real possibility. To this point, nobody had been bitten by it, but injuries can happen at any time.

Via HoopsHype

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Posted by Royce Young

It took quite a bit of work, but the Timberwolves finally got Rick Adelman to come in for an official interview over the weekend. The coach, most recently with the Rockets, had said he was pretty content with taking off at least this season.

It wasn't so much an interview for Adelman. Really, it was more him interviewing David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor.

Evidently, the Wolves had a pretty good pitch.

According to KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, Adelman is very interested in the job. So much so that he's even lining up would-be assistants. Via a tweet:

"Adelman is definitely interested in Wolves job, from great source, he has made calls to line up potential assistants."

Who might these people be? Via the Star Tribune: "If Adelman indeed is lining up assistants, names to watch: Jack Sikma, T.R. Dunn and Adelman's son, R.J." Sikma and Dunn of course were on Adelman's staff in Houston. R.J., well that's his son and that obviously makes sense.

This doesn't necessarily mean Adelman is ready to take over the Wolves. It's a big task to take as the team is young and going to take some work. For an older coach like Adelman, it might not be ideal. But the roster is very intriguing. Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams and Kevin Love make an interesting core. And with Adelman in charge there, that would make for a pretty explosive offensive team.

Other rumored candidates right now are Don Nelson, Larry Brown and Sam Mitchell.

Posted by Ben Golliver. 

What's the only way to top having four NBA players, including two All-Stars, in your college class? By adding a hip hop mogul, of course.

On Wednesday, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Baron Davis and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love tweeted that hip hop legend Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy, was attending summer school with them at UCLA.

"Another great day at school," Davis tweeted. "Recruited P. Diddy to our history class!! Good looking big bro."

"We recruited a new classmate," Love confirmed, attaching the picture shown to the right as proof.

As ESPN.com noted, Davis and Love are just half of the NBA contingent in this particular summer school classroom.  

In the meantime, Love is back on campus, taking a course on American popular culture. He said former Bruins and current NBA players Russell Westbrook, Baron Davis and Trevor Ariza are all in the same class. The four-credit class will make him a sophomore after he left UCLA following his freshman season in 2008. 

"I don't want the lockout to go to December or January but just in case I've signed up to be in class in the fall," Love said. "I'm excited to have the opportunity to do so but I'm hoping my fall classes get cut short."

According to CBSSports.com's UCLA RapidReports, Diddy was on campus because his son, a high school football player, is apparently getting a recruiting look from the Bruins. 

Back when the lockout went into effect, I promised my family that I would put away the snark in any post about NBA players going back to college to fulfill promises to their families. Working towards a degree is an admirable pursuit for anyone, and it's one of the smartest things a professional athlete can do given the relatively short career time frame and all the pitfalls that go with becoming extremely rich overnight.

But then P. Diddy had to get involved and it's pretty much impossible to write about him in 2011 without snark. So we'll just stop right here. Good times, though. Good times.

Image via Kevin Love on Twitter. 

Posted by Ben Golliver. 

Not all criticism is created equal.

Harsh words from a credible critic are more painful than the shouts of a drunk in the street and a tough assesssment from one's professional peers and mentors trumps both by a country mile.

That's why the following passage from a Yahoo! Sports piece on Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Tex Winter is so difficult to read. Winter, of course, is the longtime assistant coach of Phil Jackson and father of the Triangle Offense, a revered offensive system based on ball and player movement that the Chicago Bulls used to win six titles in the 1990s and the Los Angeles Lakers used to win five more in the 2000s.  

The GM of the Chicago Bulls during their 1990s dynasty was Jerry Krause. He, arguably better than any other executive, understood what it took to make the triangle offense, a rarely duplicated system, produce championships on the NBA level. Krause won the NBA's Executive of the Year award twice and oversaw a franchise that secured more rings than any other in the modern era of the game. 

So what did this premier authority think when he saw the Minnesota Timberwolves and president David Kahn attempt to implement the triangle with former Jackson assistant Kurt Rambis? 

“But when you take on the triangle, you have to have your whole organization geared toward it. It takes a very specific kind of player to play in it. I saw the Minnesota guy [GM David Kahn] hire [Kurt] Rambis, after he took two players in the draft who couldn’t possibly ever run the triangle. I have no idea if Rambis is a good coach or not, but [Kahn] screwed him right off the bat.”

Brutal drive-by. Put simply, it took Krause, the expert, just seconds to realize what it has taken Kahn more than two years: the personnel didn't fit the system and a head coaching change was necessary. That paragraph is the equivalent of Pablo Picasso attending your child's elementary school class and telling little Bobby that he has no chance of making it as a painter.  

The players Krause seems to be referring to are 2009 NBA Draft picks Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn. Both players are best with the ball in their hands; Rubio has played abroad for the last few years and Flynn, who was recently traded to the Houston Rockets, is more of a pick-and-roll specialist who admitted to struggling with the principles of the triangle. 

By way of comparison, the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls won an NBA record 72 games; the Minnesota Timberwolves have won a combined 78 games over the last four seasons.