Minnesota Timberwolves: Ranking potential Timberwolves head coaches

1. Dave Joerger

The best potential head coach for the Wolves isn’t even available. He’s too busy helping his current team overachieve and challenge for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference.

Dave Joerger is a Minnesota native (trust me, Glen Taylor knows this) who interviewed for the Wolves’ coaching vacancy back when Flip Saunders ultimately hired himself. At the time, Joerger had completed his first season as Memphis’ head coach, leading them to 50 wins and a playoff berth.

The Grizzlies upped Joerger’s salary to encourage him to stay, however, and he spent three years in Memphis, winning 147 games and making the playoffs each of his three seasons.

He was fired nonetheless and went to Sacramento, where he won 32 games in 2016-17 and 27 games last year. This season, the Kings are 20-20, one game ahead of the Wolves and a game-and-a-half out of the No. 8 playoff spot.

Rumors circulated in November that Joerger could be fired due to a lack of cohesiveness when it comes to the organization’s direction, but the team has played well since that point and it’s unclear what the front office’s view of Joerger is at this point.

There have been some rumors surrounding Joerger and the Wolves job already, of course, and Joerger offered a tepid endorsement of his current job, admitting that the Wolves role is “interesting”.

"“I think all of us will always say that we don’t listen to that stuff, but come on, we do,” … “Obviously I’m a Minnesota kid, so it’s interesting, but at the same time, my focus is right here, right now,” Joerger said. “I mean, we’re having a great time with our guys. We’re watching them grow every day. I feel like I’ve worked my tail off, I know the players have and the coaching staff — to put us in a position where we have tremendous chemistry.”"

The interesting thing about Joerger is that his teams have generally overachieved, from the waning years of the grit-and-grind Grizzlies to the current edition of the Kings. They’ve usually had good, middle-of-the-pack offenses that do not rely on the 3-point shot, which flies in the face of today’s conventional wisdom.

Joerger’s teams have had more consistent success on defense, and he’s finally dragging a young Kings roster closer to a respectable defensive rating (currently No. 23 in the league). During the Grit-and-Grind era in Memphis, Joerger was the defensive coordinator when Lionel Hollins was head coach, and the defensive excellence continued when Joerger slid over to the head coach’s chair.

If Joerger is fired in Sacramento, look for the Wolves to pursue him — especially if UCLA offers Hoiberg first, and especially if Saunders doesn’t appear ready to take over the job long-term.