Mavericks 7-footer Hollins signs with Wolves

Restricted free agent center Ryan Hollins has reportedly signed an offer sheet with the Wolves today that the Mavericks appear unlikely to match. Although Dallas has a week before the move becomes official, a tweet from Mark Cuban indicates Hollins will be Minnesota bound. What matters most about this signing is obviously Hollins' size. At seven feet tall, Hollins is bigger than every player on the Wolves roster, save Ukrainian big man Oleksiy Pecherov who came over in the deal that sent Randy Foye and Mike Miller to the Wizards. Whether Pecherov is still on the team by the season opener or not, this year's edition of the Wolves won't be quite as hamstringed by the lack of size that plagued them last year. Neither Hollins nor Pecherov are anything to get excited about and aren't going to be stalwarts in the middle, but on paper it looks like a better option than the frontcourt combinations that dominant big men took full advantage of last year. This whole rebuilding process is about correcting the mistakes that were made under the previous regime, one of which was the inability to get somebody with Hollins' size to defend the paint. I'm not saying this move has solved that problem by any means, and I understand that size alone doesn't make Hollins or any other player a strong defender. The frustration of watching the Craig Smiths and Mark Madsens of the world, however, was getting to be a little much.In what may be a first, the top two stories on the sidebar of ESPN's NBA page are both Wolves related with a story about the Hollins acquisition and another about the ongoing coaching search. It seems David Kahn has narrowed his focus down to three guys - Mark Jackson, Kurt Rambis, and Elston Turner - as reported by AP sports writer Jon Krawczynski. Glen Taylor said that he will meet with the candidates before signing off on what may be one of Kahn's most important hires.