Lance Blanks, one of the quiet rocks on Danny Ferry's front-office staff in Cleveland, has been frequently mentioned as a candidate for the GM opening in Minnesota. But Blanks, contrary to reports, has not been interviewed by the Wolves, who have still not requested permission from the Cavs to bring him in for a chat.
The Wolves' only known external candidate to take over their basketball operations is Spurs assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey, although plugged-in sources say Wolves owner Glen Taylor has also spoken to former Indiana Pacers executive David Kahn.
Landing Lindsey would be an undeniable coup for the Wolves. With more proven talent on its roster and residence in the Eastern Conference to offset its muddled ownership situation, Atlanta couldn't do so during last season's playoffs when it sought to convince Lindsey to become the latest alumnus from San Antonio's front-office factory -- along with Ferry, Blanks, Portland's Kevin Pritchard and Oklahoma City's Sam Presti -- to leave the staff of Spurs president R.C. Buford.
Kahn's most recent basketball experience took place in the D-League, but he is a longtime favorite of NBA commissioner David Stern, which is presumably how he hooked up with Taylor. This is Taylor's first season as the chairman of the league's Board of Governors, who meet twice annually with Stern, but his sphere of contacts outside the Wolves' organization is said to be very limited.
The Wolves' core young players (primarily Al Jefferson and Kevin Love) want Kevin McHale to stay on as coach, but the theory I'm hearing more and more is that Taylor wants to make an outside hire, whose inevitable desire to hire his own coach -- along with McHale's likely reluctance to work for someone he doesn't know well -- would lead to a coaching change that spares Taylor from having to outright dismiss McHale. Which is something Taylor has resisted for years and clearly doesn't want to do.
