Kevin Love Prevented Timberwolves From Hiring Lionel Hollins

The Minnesota Timberwolves were unable to hire coach Lionel Hollins this offseason because of uncertainty surrounding Kevin Love.

The Brooklyn Nets made a great hire this summer, bringing Lionel Hollins on board to coach the team. But Hollins was nearly hired by another team: the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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However, the Wolves were never able to secure Hollins because of Kevin Love and the trade rumors that surrounded him.

From the New York Post:

"part-owner and team president of basketball operations Flip Saunders returned to the sidelines to coach the team instead, a decision Saunders said he made because of the uncertainty at the time surrounding the status of superstar forward Kevin Love.“We talked a lot about it,” Saunders said before his Timberwolves beat the Nets 98-91 in Brooklyn. “I think Lionel is a great coach. … But that whole thing was because of the Love situation. There was too much of the unknowns. Lionel, he’s a team who took a team to a conference finals, I thought that he was going to go to a veteran type team, and I couldn’t guarantee him that would be this type of team."

It certainly makes sense that Hollins would want to avoid joining the Timberwolves at a time when there was so much uncertainty about what the team’s roster would look like.

Still, it’s an unfortunate break for Minnesota that their franchise player’s trade demands ultimately cost them a chance at hiring a great coach.

The Timberwolves ultimately traded Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer.

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Report: Kevin Love Prevented Minnesota Timberwolves From Hiring Lionel Hollins

By Sam Richmond | Nov 6, 2014

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