Thunder, Timberwolves Mull Their Coaching Options

Over the weekend, the Jazz announced that Jerry Sloan would be back for his 22nd year as head coach in 2009-10, the longest stint for any head coach in any of the professional sports.

On the exact opposite of the longevity spectrum, the Thunder and Timberwolves are mulling the futures of Scott Brooks and Kevin McHale, respectively, two of the newest members of the NBA's head coaching fraternity. Will they remain with Sloan in that elite group?

The Thunder are just 8-34 on the season, but five of those wins have come in the last 10 games, including upsets over the Jazz and Pistons in their last three. Brooks has his team playing hard every night, and while their early-season struggles guarantee they won't be in the race for a playoff spot, they certainly seem to be embracing the role of the spoiler.

According to The Oklahoman, GM Sam Presti is leaning toward removing the "interim" tag from Brooks' title at the end of the season, although a formal decision won't come until the end of the season. Jeff Green, for one, would endorse such a move:

"The way we're playing now is the best we've played throughout the whole season," said Jeff Green. "He's gotten us to the point where we can play against any team. But he's just been positive...I think he's worked hard for the spot if he gets it, so my vote is behind him."

Not that it counts for anything, but my vote is behind him, as well. I've only had a chance to cover a Thunder game in person once this year (a two-point loss in Detroit last month) but I came away impressed -- not only with the play on the court, but also with Brooks' optimism and enthusiasm in the face of adversity.

Consider, for example, his comments after that loss in Detroit: "It's an incredible thing to watch this progress and evolve. I've been on teams where we've had a little better record than we have and they weren't bringing it every night. We're bringing it every night. We're not getting rewarded yet, but it will turn if we continue to play with that type of energy."

As for McHale, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said that he'd allow his VP of Basketball Operations (um, that'd be McHale) to make that decision. From the Pioneer-Press:

"It will be up to Kevin to find out, is this something that he wants to do, and is he good at it," Taylor said. "I didn't make him the interim coach. He knows that his job is to coach. There are lots of factors - how this works out with his family - and I know Kevin well enough not to press him on those things until he does this for a while. He looks like he's enjoying it."

This is McHale's second stint as head coach, and considering he opted to step aside in 2005 to focus solely on his GM duties, you have to figure there's a chance he'll do the same this summer. Fortunately, there are a lot of experienced head coaches currently unemployed at the moment, including, of course, former T'Wolves coach Flip Saunders.

Saunders has strong roots to the state of Minnesota dating back to the mid-70's -- he played college ball with McHale at the University of Minnesota -- and, of course, the ten years he spent coaching the T'Wolves from 1995 until he was fired in 2005. He still calls the state home, and there's definitely a strong local sentiment to bring him back. Don't be surprised when this eventually happens.