Timberwolves Coach Rambis a Sure Goner

CBSSports.com reported on Saturday that Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Kurt Rambis “appears to be on his way out.” The story further claimed that management won’t make a final decision until the end of the season, and that assistant coach Kelvin Sampson was “atop the list of successors.” While we’re unable to say what the future holds for Sampson, our analysis indicates that Rambis is a goner.

We looked at both Rambis’ response to the story and a statement by a Timberwolves spokesman quoted in Sporting News, and concluded that the Rambis portion of the story is likely true -- that he will be gone at the end of the season. There were not enough relevant behaviors to enable us to assess the validity of the contention that Kevin Sampson will be his replacement.

First, we note that the Timberwolves’ spokesman failed to deny that Rambis would be terminated. “The notion of Kelvin Sampson is completely false,” he said. “That report is not true in all aspects.”

While some might argue that this statement covers the Rambis termination, we would question that, because the spokesman led with the denial about Sampson, and did not refer to Rambis at all in the statement. Whether Rambis is departing is clearly the key issue, and the fact that the statement focused on Sampson appears to be a smokescreen.

Also telling is that neither Timberwolves’ owner Glen Taylor nor head of operations David Khan commented on the matter, instead deferring to a spokesperson. This is a frequent ploy used by organizations to avoid commenting on rumors about a development that are true, but that the organization doesn’t want to be public knowledge.

Of more interest from a behavioral standpoint is Rambis’ response. Speaking to the Pioneer Press, Rambis went into attack mode – a glaring deceptive behavior. Referring to the fact that the source of the story was anonymous, Rambis said he doesn’t “comment on things I haven’t read, and I never comment on things that cowards say.” He lashed out vociferously about cowards and rumors, but ignored the allegation that he was going to be terminated at the end of the season.

Rambis’ failure to deny the rumor, and his attack on its source to avoid answering the real question, indicate that he knows he’s a goner. There is insufficient behavioral information to determine whether he had been told directly that he would be terminated. But the evidence indicates that regardless of how he came to the conclusion, his departure is a reality in his own mind.