Said it last year and I'll say it again...David Kahn is an idiot!!

[More Banners]

So, what's Minnesota's starting 5?

Minnesota's starting 5 is... horrid. Not having a single guy who makes more than $10 million is typically not an indication of good management, it's an indication you don't have a go-to player.

Is that really Kahn's fault, though?  The Wolves tried to build around Big Al but it didn't really work out for them.  They haven't had any other players who could be a "go-to guy" since KG left.

I think Kahn is just doing what he can to try to end up with a "go to guy" simply by acquiring a lot of young players and hoping enough of them develop that he can either build around them or trade them for a star or two he can actually build around.  It's a perfectly understandable strategy even if it isn't a perfect one.

I just think you can't blame Kahn entirely for the situation the Wolves are in...it was a crappy situation before Kahn got there.  In the NBA, you really have to get lucky in order to get better.  The Wolves haven't gotten lucky yet.

Well, they got two more 1st rounders coming in exchange for Big Al...

But for all of their recent picks, I'm not sure they're that great at the draft thing...

[nickagneta]

So, what's Minnesota's starting 5?

Minnesota's starting 5 is... horrid. Not having a single guy who makes more than $10 million is typically not an indication of good management, it's an indication you don't have a go-to player.

Is that really Kahn's fault, though? 

You tell me. It was possible to have gotten the following players out of the last two drafts

Stephen Curry
Ricky Rubio
Omri Casspi
DaJuan Blair
DeMarcus Cousins
Luke Babbitt
Damion James

And he then could have traded Ricky Rubio for just about anyone before he signed in Europe and still would have been able to trade Gomes and Jefferson for assets.

[PosImpos]

So, what's Minnesota's starting 5?

Minnesota's starting 5 is... horrid. Not having a single guy who makes more than $10 million is typically not an indication of good management, it's an indication you don't have a go-to player.

Is that really Kahn's fault, though?

You tell me. It was possible to have gotten the following players out of the last two drafts

Stephen Curry
Ricky Rubio
Omri Casspi
DaJuan Blair
DeMarcus Cousins
Luke Babbitt
Damion James

And he then could have traded Ricky Rubio for just about anyone before he signed in Europe and still would have been able to trade Gomes and Jefferson for assets.

Cousins is the only player on that list I think he'll really end up regretting.  Curry clearly is a much better choice than Flynn but he's not a franchise-saver.  He's not the answer for the Warriors and he wouldn't be for the T-Wolves.  All the other players on the list are complementary guys at best - who may not be any better than some of the guys the Wolves already have. 

Cousins may be that kind of player but if Kahn had drafted him and he'd turned out to be the next Eddy Curry everybody would be bagging on him just as much.  Wes Johnson was just the safe pick.

Rubio might still turn out to be a great asset for the Wolves either on their team or as a trade to somebody else.  I agree that Kahn does a lot of things that don't make a ton of sense (e.g. signing Ramon Sessions after drafting Flynn and Rubio), but he's far from the worst GM in the league.

[Mike-Dub]

Last year after David Kahn drafted three PGs in the first half of the draft bypassing perhaps the best PG in the draft(Stephen Curry).

Tyreke Evans was the best PG in last years draft (if you consider him a point, which I do).  David Kahn really is an idiot though.

[kozlodoev]

So, what's Minnesota's starting 5?

Minnesota's starting 5 is... horrid. Not having a single guy who makes more than $10 million is typically not an indication of good management, it's an indication you don't have a go-to player.

Is that really Kahn's fault, though?  The Wolves tried to build around Big Al but it didn't really work out for them.  They haven't had any other players who could be a "go-to guy" since KG left.

I think Kahn is just doing what he can to try to end up with a "go to guy" simply by acquiring a lot of young players and hoping enough of them develop that he can either build around them or trade them for a star or two he can actually build around.  It's a perfectly understandable strategy even if it isn't a perfect one.

I just think you can't blame Kahn entirely for the situation the Wolves are in...it was a crappy situation before Kahn got there.  In the NBA, you really have to get lucky in order to get better.  The Wolves haven't gotten lucky yet.

Building around Al Jefferson means getting at least one other alpha dog to run with him, and filling out the roster with decent role-players.

Instead, Kahn went for a bunch of "experimental" signings and questionable draft choices. If the idea was to follow the Celtics model and accumulate chips that would be ripe for a trade when his main man was in his prime... well, this failed spectacularly, and that can't be on anyone else but the management.

You know, you don't always have to draft all your picks. Sure, the Suns now look very dumb for giving away Rondo for nothing, but you can often get proven commodities in exchange for first-round picks. What I've noticed is that the most risk-averse GMs in the league are the ones who do the best.

[celticsclay]

This is what the T-Wolves look like next season:

- Flynn / Sessions
- Webster / Ellington
- Brewer / Johnson
- Love / Beasley
- Pekovic / Milicic


The issues with the team are obvious; besides Kevin Love, none of those players is clearly a starter-caliber player on a good team.  The bench is also made up of younger, borderline starters.

What Kahn seems to be doing is compiling as many assets as he can and hoping one or two of them turns out to be a real star.  Considering that Kahn is a businessman, I suppose this strategy must seem like the best way to him. 

I don't know how well it's really going to work out.  As Nick pointed out, it has the unfortunate result of severely devaluing the assets that don't workout because they never get playing time to prove their worth.

However, the team Kahn is putting together doesn't look outright terrible.  It's got plenty of depth, and a good deal of potential at each position.  The strategy actually reminds me a lot of what Pritchard did with the Trailblazers (getting a lot of young assets at each position), only the Wolves lack stars. 

I suppose you can't really blame Kahn for that.  If one of his assets turns out to be a Brandon Roy, I doubt there will be so much knashing of teeth regarding what Kahn has done with the Wolves.

I think the Beasely trade was a pretty good one. I will give him credit for that. Also, we mine as well see how rest of the offseason shakes out before we hammer the team. I dont think any of us would think it was fair if someone came up to our desk at 2:00pm and asked what the hell was up with our proposal for a week later.

[Levis107]

Kahn's incompetent drafting has robbed Wolves fans of a Rubio-Curry-Cousins trio that would have been fun to watch.  Imagine a lineup of Rubio-Curry-Beasley-Jefferson-Cousins in a few years?  That could be a scary team.  

Instead, he keeps adding PG's and SF's and nobody has any idea what he's doing.  What does the Ridnour signing do for them?  If I was a Minnesota fan, this would be my reaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNqEURmKtA

[GreenFaith1819]

Kahn's incompetent drafting has robbed Wolves fans of a Rubio-Curry-Cousins trio that would have been fun to watch.  Imagine a lineup of Rubio-Curry-Beasley-Jefferson-Cousins in a few years?  That could be a scary team.  

Instead, he keeps adding PG's and SF's and nobody has any idea what he's doing.  What does the Ridnour signing do for them?  If I was a Minnesota fan, this would be my reaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNqEURmKtA

Tommy Point.

That video, my man, was too funny

[Lucky17]

This is funnier: Better GM: Kahn, or Avocado?

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/07/13/david-kahn-at-it-again-ships-jefferson-away/

[Mike-Dub]

Kahn's incompetent drafting has robbed Wolves fans of a Rubio-Curry-Cousins trio that would have been fun to watch.  Imagine a lineup of Rubio-Curry-Beasley-Jefferson-Cousins in a few years?  That could be a scary team. 

Instead, he keeps adding PG's and SF's and nobody has any idea what he's doing.  What does the Ridnour signing do for them?  If I was a Minnesota fan, this would be my reaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNqEURmKtA

Tommy Point.

That video, my man, was too funny

R u a fan of Bill Simmons, because it's his avatar on twitter and he tweeted it after the Darko signing I believe.

[obnoxiousmime]

I have a little sympathy because most players don't want to play in Minnesota. When they traded Garnett, they really lost the only reason anyone ever wanted to play there the last decade.

This creates a problem when drafting because sometimes the best pick will refuse to work out and make it clear through channels they don't want to play for you, creating a no-win situation. Either you take the best player who doesn't want to play for you (Favors/Rubio) or you take someone worse who is happy to be picked earlier than expected and probably has a lower ceiling (Wesley Johnson).

Anyway, I said I had a LITTLE sympathy.

[Who]

I still don't know what to make of him. His decisions are all over the map. It doesn't look good though.

I thought this summer was big for Minnesota, that he needed to start giving his roster some shape and he didn't achieve that.