Terry Porter became the first candidate interviewed by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. Porter, the former head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, was likely to interview with both David Kahn and owner Glen Taylor, according to the Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda.
The Wolves were expected to interview former Golden State Warriors head coach Don Nelson for the position first --a man that certainly fits Kahn's edict for a coach that has "up-tempo" ingrained into his DNA -- but Zgoda reports that Nelson never reconnected with Minnesota's president of basketball operations as planned.
Nelson implied that not talking to to the Wolves over the weekend as planned means nothing one way or the other, but the fact that the team went in such an opposite direction by interviewing Porter in the meantime is a bit surprising.
Porter, a two-time NBA All-Star who played a couple of past-his-prime seasons for the Wolves, was last seen in the NBA when he was fired by Phoenix in 2009. Porter's intention was to bring a defense-oriented, slower playing style with him following a stint as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, but was ran out of town when he was unable to adjust his coaching philosophy to the run-and-gun Suns' offense.
The same offense, essentially, that Kahn would would like to instill into the Timberwolves future plans. At least the team is keeping it interesting, I guess.