CP: The Cassell and Sprewell situation still left a bad taste in his mouth.
Taylor: Last year, yes. And then last year, I think if Kevin had had his druthers, I think he would have liked if we had gotten a coach—he didn't have a name in mind—who maybe had coached ten years, a coach he had confidence in. He didn't know Casey, he didn't know what to expect. He had always had Flip, and he was thinking, gosh, what is he going to do? I can see this year that he knows Casey, and Kevin has always reacted with more comfort to stuff that he knows. This year I see him asking Casey all kinds of questions: We did it this way last year, why are we doing it this way this year? That kind of stuff. And he used to do that stuff with Flip. So there was a lot of new stuff and a lot of the guys were gone last year. All of a sudden he was the leader, and what does that all mean?
CP: If Kevin ever decided he wanted to leave, would you try and make that happen? Or, if despite the best efforts of you, Kevin, and Kevin McHale, this team is not performing well with the core you have, would you ever consider moving Kevin without his asking?
Taylor: I don't think it will happen either of those ways. I think the way it would happen is more like the second thing: We have surrounded Kevin with players we want and that he thinks he wants—not 100 percent, but as much as we can—and for some reason, it doesn't work. That's how I think it would come, and I think then we would come to a mutual conclusion.
I don't know who would come to the other first. But let's say I went and said, Kevin, we are not doing well. I think Kevin would then say, Well, with my salary and my deal we are not going to win here. I want to go where I have a chance to win. Would you trade me? Or I might say to Kevin, Kevin, you can stay here, but I've got to bring in young guys. Do you want to stay here? And my guess would be that he wouldn't really want to go through that.
But I think it is a mutual thing. We've been together so long that I don't think he is going to independently come to me and say, Glen I want to leave. I think he would have done it by now if he wanted to do that, and he has never done that. He has always said, and we have said, I want to play with you my whole life and I hope we are together and we have a good team. And we both have said, Yeah, but that means we both have to believe we are going to win. So I think there could be a scenario [where he leaves], but I don't think it will be because Kevin puts pressure on me or that I would blindside him. If it happens, it will be because we talk to each other and say, you know, it isn't going so good this year. I think we need to sit down at the end of the year and talk. And I think we would both know what we are going to talk about. That is how my relationship works with him.
People say, "Just trade Kevin." But the possibility of trading him to a team that could win is not easy. He knows that, too. If he became a free agent, the only teams he could sign up with are very poor teams, probably not as good as the Timberwolves. So it has to be a thing that is good for him and good for me. You'd have to sit down together and he would have to say, Yes I am willing to do it. I will give you time to negotiate a deal. These are the teams I would go to. And that list couldn't be too limited, and would have to be very private, or we wouldn't be able to negotiate a good deal. Then we would have to negotiate a deal that was good for us—a couple of young players and a couple of draft picks, so we could build a team around [that trade].
Right now we've got Shaddy [Rashad McCants] and we've got Foye, and they are players you could potentially build a team around, depending on how they develop.
CP: How crucial is this season for this franchise? You guys have been on a path. Almost since you took over ownership of the team, it has been the three of you—you, Kevin McHale and Kevin Garnett. And you have hit some highs, nearly making it to the NBA Finals one year. But the last two seasons have been two steps back. A third step back this year, and one would assume that something more drastic needs to happen.
