Latest in the Timberwolves’ coaching search…

The Timberwolves ongoing head coaching search is moving quickly, with the top-two candidates having already interviewed for the role.

Minnesota’s top coaching candidates have been known for a matter of days, but they have reportedly already met with option #1 and option #2.

In a refreshing twist, the Timberwolves, led by owner Glen Taylor, are being proactive and moving quickly when it comes to hiring both a new head coach as well as a new president of basketball operations. It’s a stark contrast from what Wolves fans are used to seeing, to be sure.

On Monday morning, ESPN’s Marc Stein tweeted out the following…

The story followed, which included this interesting excerpt:

"The growing expectation in coaching circles is that the Wolves will choose either Van Gundy or Thibodeau to take over the team as coach/team president, with the ability to bring in a seasoned front-office executive to assist with day-to-day operations."

Not long after this encouraging bit of news, Adrian Wojnarowski and Chris Mannix of Yahoo!’s The Vertical pushed out the news that Tom Thibodeau is searching for full control of whatever team he ends up with.

That makes Minnesota the only potential job out there that checks all of the boxes, with the likes of Washington, Sacramento, Phoenix, New York, and eventually, Houston, already having front office bosses in place.

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A portion of the piece that hadn’t previously been reported included the names of two potential general manager candidates that the hiring firm Korn Ferry has identified for Taylor and the Wolves.

"Korn Ferry has already started to identify possible general manager candidates to pair with a new president and coach in Minnesota, including San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Scott Layden and Memphis Grizzlies executive VP of player personnel Ed Stefanski, league sources said. Layden (Utah and New York) and Stefanski (Philadelphia) each have GM experience in the NBA."

Not a bad couple of organizations to poach an executive from, right?

But, not to be outdone, Stein tweeted a small contradiction to the Yahoo! report within a couple of hours of the report from Wojnarowski and Mannix.

It is not clear how much this ‘news’ should affect Wolves’ fans feelings on the scenario; if anything, it could be a positive thing if you’re the sort that is nervous about the total control situation.

If Thibodeau doesn’t necessarily crave that (which, keep in mind, is the opposite of what Wojnarowski alleged), than it’s fair to assume that he would be very open to working with a personnel guru that he would presumably have a hand in hiring.

And that’s where we stand as of late on Monday evening. More news will likely break on Tuesday, and we should find out whether or not Korn Ferry and Taylor are going to bring in any additional candidates, such as a Scott Brooks.

In a seemingly unrelated and random bit of news, Sam Amico from Fox Sports Ohio floated Mike Fratello (“The Czar”) as a potential front office candidate, despite the fact that he’s been almost exclusively a head coach in his career.

We’ll keep you abreast of the situation as more news breaks over the middle portion of the week. Word has been circulating that it would not be a surprise if the Timberwolves made a decision by the end of the week — that would likely be less than 10 days from the end of the season, which was the same day that former interim coach Sam Mitchell was relieved of his duties.

Next: Timberwolves Postseason Awards, Part One

We’ll also continue our player review series of each and every player currently on the Wolves roster that appeared in a game this season.