Warren Legarie said it was a difficult decision for his client. Penn arrived in Portland two seasons ago after working under Jerry West in Memphis. He's helped Kevin Pritchard turn the Blazers into one of the rising young teams in the Western Conference.

"It was just pretty much it was hard to leave friends and relationships he established in Portland," Legarie told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "They convinced him his work was not done there and they wanted him to stick around and help them win a championship."

The Timberwolves declined to comment on Monday.

Penn is the third candidate to pull his name out of the race, joining San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey and former Miami assistant GM Randy Pfund.

"We are blessed with a dynamic, talented team, terrific basketball and coaching staffs and a first-class organization," Penn said in a statement issued by the Blazers announcing his promotion to vice president of basketball operations. "We will do all that we can to improve our team and build toward our ultimate goal of an NBA championship."

The Timberwolves job has been open since December, when owner Glen Taylor pulled Kevin McHale down from the front office to take over as coach for the fired Randy Wittman.

The Timberwolves have also interviewed former Pacers executive David Kahn, while current general manager Jim Stack and assistant GM Fred Hoiberg remain as in-house candidates for the position.

As candidate after candidate has pulled out of the running for the job, speculation has increased that Taylor is making retaining McHale and Hoiberg a requirement for anyone who accepts the position.

Legarie said definitively that wasn't the case with Penn, who was offered the job last weekend before Portland sweetened the pot to keep him around.

"That was never an issue," Legarie said.

Now the Timberwolves may have to start from scratch in their search for a successor to McHale, who was named the vice president of basketball operations in 1995. McHale and Taylor have long been very close, but the owner said he would not allow the Hall of Famer to return to the front office next season.

The players on the young and rebuilding Timberwolves have wholeheartedly endorsed McHale's return as coach, but McHale is waiting to see who gets the executive position before he makes a decision on whether he wants to be considered for the job.

Time is running out for a team with plenty of work to do this offseason.

The NBA draft lottery will be held Tuesday night in Secaucus, N.J. Forward Kevin Love will represent the team at the proceeding, where the Wolves have the fifth-best chance at landing the top pick in the June draft. Shortly thereafter, the team will have to begin evaluating prospects and conducting workouts, which is difficult to do without a primary decision-maker and a head coach in place.

"It's a little weird, not knowing who we turn to next year to make the decisions," Love said late last week, adding: "This is definitely a first for me. I'm not used to that."