David Kahn said he has no list of coaching candidates — not even one scribbled on the back of a napkin — and says he won’t begin to compile one until the draft is over eight days from now. So…to get him started, here’s my list of possibilities, totally from left-field but all of them with a connection to Kahn or a reason for being on there.

Mark Jackson: Was Indiana’s point guard when Kahn was there. The television analyst has never coached an NBA team but really wants to and he’d understand the truism that NBA players let you coach them.
Tom Thibodeau or Mario Elie: Thibodeau is the oft-mentioned hot NBA assistant-coaching name known for his defensive philosophies. Elie won two NBA titles as a player with Houston and now is a respected assistant under Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, the former Pacers coach who probably would be Kahn’s first choice if he didn’t already have a job.
Bill Laimbeer: The timing of his sudden resignation Monday as Detroit’s WNBA coach is intriguing, but don’t know if this former Pistons bad boy is the positive, nurturing presence Kahn says he is seeking. Never has coached a NBA team.
Terry Porter: Former Phoenix and Milwaukee head coach was a favorite as the top assistant if McHale came back but he still might get a chance.

Mike Fratello: Has coached three NBA teams and the TV guy is itching to get back in the league (tried to get an interview for Sacramento’s just-filled opening) at age 62. There’s a Kahn connection, too: They both worked on NBC broadcasts in the early 1990s and both are tight with Marv Albert.
Paul Silas: Maybe the best people-managing NBA head coach currently not working. Has coached three NBA teams, the last time with Cleveland in 2005 and wants to get one last job.
Jay Wright: If Kahn calls up Larry Brown — a coach Kahn apparently has admired since he was a student at UCLA in the late 1970s — and asks for a recommendation, the Villanova head coach might be the first name out of the esteemed coach’s mouth. Did a courtesy interview with the hometown 76ers before they hired Eddie Jordan. Would be a tough “get.”

Quin Snyder: If Kahn is smitten by a cerebral, out-of-the-box candidate — you could argue that’s exactly what attracted the Wolves to Kahn — then the last guy he hired as an NBA Development League coach  in Austin, Texas, might be the guy, if you can get past his baggage at Missouri and elsewhere. He’s a disciple of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. In 2008, the Missourian newspaper in Columbia, Mo., paraphrased Kahn as saying Snyder was destined for greatness in the NBA D League (Snyder was Coach of the Year this past season) and quoted him saying,”He has all the tools you need. He has intensity. He has ambition — and I mean that in the good sense — and he has drive. He’s not lacking anything.”

Unemployed ex-coaches: Jeff Van Gundy, Avery Johnson and Sam Mitchell are all available and seemingly employable.

Thoughts? Comments? Your own candidates?

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