Rex Kalamian
College: Cal Poly Pomona

Rex Kalamian joins the Timberwolves this season as an assistant coach, bringing 13 years of NBA experience to Minnesota. He served as head coach of the Timberwolves entry in the 2005 Minnesota Summer League. Kalamian served as an assistant coach for player development for the Denver Nuggets last season.

Prior to joining the staff in Denver, he served as a West Coast scout for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2003-04. Additionally, Kalamian spent 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers.

He began his career with the Clippers as an assistant to the scouting department in 1992 before being promoted to video coach in 1994. In addition to his many responsibilities on the bench, he prepared coaches and players with scouting reports for upcoming opponents, as well as breaking down individual player performance.

During the offseason, Kalamian served as head coach for the Clippers' entry in the Southern California Summer Pro League. Prior to joining the Clippers, he was an assistant coach for his former team at East Los Angeles College for two seasons. Kalamian led the South Coast Conference in three-point field goal percentage during the 1988-89 season. He also was named First Team All-San Gabriel Valley in 1985 and 1986 while attending Mark Keppel High School in Alahambra, Calif.

He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor's degree in business management.

Vince Taylor
College: Duke University

Vince Taylor is in his first season as an assistant coach/player development with the Timberwolves. Prior to joining the organization, Taylor spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville, including the last four campaigns under Rick Pitino.

Before joining the Louisville staff in 1998, Taylor was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1997-98) and briefly at the University of Wyoming (1998).

Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Taylor spent 13 seasons playing professional basketball in Europe, including the last two as a player/assistant coach in the Belgium professional league. Additionally, he averaged 3.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg, and 1.3 apg in 31 games for the New York Knicks in 1982-83, after being selected by the team in the 1982 NBA Draft.

A standout guard at Duke University, Taylor earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference and honorable All-America honors as a senior (1981-82) after averaging 20.3 ppg. During Taylor’s collegiate career, the Blue Devils won the 1979 ACC regular-season championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1979 and 1980) and National Invitational Tournament once (1981).

A native of Lexington, Ky, Taylor has two children, Brendan and Maya.

Bob Thorton
College: California-Irvine

Bob Thornton enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Timberwolves. An eight-year NBA veteran, Thornton served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls in 2002-03 and spent the 2003-04 season as an assistant coach and then a scout for the Bulls.

Prior to joining the Bulls, Thornton was head coach of the NBDL's Huntsville Flight in 2001-02. In 2000-01, Thornton was head coach of the CBA's Quad City Thunder, where he was also responsible for all basketball personnel decisions and player recruitment. Thornton was an assistant coach for the CBA Champion Yakima Sun Kings in 1999-2000. Prior to his tenure in the CBA, he was an assistant coach with Chapman University (1997-98) and Cal State Fullerton (1998-99).

A fourth round selection (87th overall) by the New York Knicks in 1984, Thornton played for five teams: New York (1985-86 - 1987-88), Philadelphia (1987-88 - 1989-90), Minnesota (1990-91), Utah (1991-92) and Washington (1995-96). The Wolves acquired Thornton from Philadelphia on Nov. 10, 1990. He played in 12 games for the Wolves before breaking his wrist on Dec. 18, 1990. Additionally, he played three seasons in the Italian A-1 League with Rome, Siena and Pavia.

A native of Los Angeles, Thornton earned a bachelor's degree in social science from the University of California Irvine. Thornton and his wife, Kim, have three dogs.

Aleksandar Dzikic
College: Serbia

Aleksandar Dzikic (pronounced Jee-KEECH) comes to the Timberwolves with a lengthy international basketball resume. He becomes the first NBA assistant coach with no prior coaching experience in the United States at either the collegiate or professional level. Additionally, he becomes just the second European native to become an NBA assistant coach, following the Pistons' Igor Stefan Kokoskov.

He began his coaching career in 1991 leading the youth Partizan Belgrade (Yugoslavia) team before being promoted to second assistant for the Partizan professional team. In 1994 he was named lead assistant coach for Beovuk Belgrade and was the club's head coach for two seasons (1997-98 - 1998-99). In 1999, Dzikic was named the top assistant coach for Partizan and help lead the team to four consecutive Serbia & Montenegro national championships from 2002-05.

Dzikic was an assistant coach for the Timberwolves entry in the 2005 Minnesota Summer League at Target Center. He has also spent time in summer leagues working with the coaching staffs of the San Antonio Spurs and Seattle SuperSonics.

Dzikic and his wife, Lilly, have a daughter Katarina.

Brent Haskins
College: University of Minnesota

Brent Haskins begins his sixth season with the Timberwolves and his first as an assistant coach/NBA advance scout. Previously, he served three seasons as an advance scout for the team and an additional three campaigns as the club's video coordinator. Prior to joining the Timberwolves, Haskins spent three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota.

Haskins assists the coaching staff during draft preparation, summer league, training camp and the playoffs. He is also responsible for assembling the club's summer league team. His duties as an advance scout require him to travel throughout the country to watch the Wolves' upcoming opponents and prepare a detailed scouting report on the upcoming opposition. The scouting report, along with individual and team breakdown tapes prepared by the Wolves' video department, allows the coaching staff to formulate a game plan for an opponent.

Haskins graduated with a sports management degree from Minnesota in 1996. The native of Wayzata, Minn., resides in Plymouth, Minn.