Is Kurt Rambis Tired of Riding Shotgun with Phil Jackson?

When you’re at the pinnacle of your profession, your competitors will always try to poach your talent. Such is the case for teams like the New England Patriots who see their assistant coaches courted year after year for head coaching positions.

In recent years, this has been exactly what Kurt Rambis and the Los Angeles Lakers have been through.

Rambis has been linked to coaching vacancies in Indiana, Philadelphia and most recently Sacramento.

Now, the Minnesota Timberwolves are his latest flirtation.

According to Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, former Laker Mychal Thompson is doing his best to deliver Rambis to the Twin Cities.

"The word in NBA circles is that Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis will be the next Timberwolves coach and Mychal Thompson, the former Gophers star and Lakers teammate of Rambis’ who now is a radio broadcaster for the Lakers, has made a strong recommendation."

Rambis has been sitting in waiting to take the helm of the Laker ship for some time now. He has had his moments of taking the reigns in the past including compiling a 24-13 record during the strike shortened season in ’98-99 when he replaced Del Harris. Most recently, he has filled in for PJ when Jackson’s health did not permit him to travel including games in both the regular and pre-season.

After much speculation surrounding how involved Jackson would be with the team in the ensuing season, many saw a narrow window open for Rambis to slowly transition into the head coaching job. Now that Phil is back on a full-time basis, Rambis could be tempted to spread his wings else where.

No matter what the future holds for Rambis, he’ll have to make his peace with staying on board with Phil and hoping Brian Shaw is not the one actually being groomed to slide one seat down. Or, Kurt is going to have to suck it up and take a chance with a franchise that is in the process of rebuilding.