How Did Kahn Get Us Here?

[Klomp]

On May 22, 2009, the Minnesota Timberwolves hired David Kahn as President of Basketball Operations. Lets take a look at the moves Kahn has made to get us from where we were then to where we are today.

1. June 24 - Minnesota traded guards Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for the 2009 No. 5 draft pick, forwards Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov.
2. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Ricky Rubio with the 5th overall pick.
3. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Jonny Flynn with the 6th overall pick.
4. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Ty Lawson with the 18th overall pick.
5. June 25 - Minnesota traded the draft rights to guard Ty Lawson to Denver for a 2010 conditional first-round pick.
6. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Wayne Ellington with the 28th overall pick.
7. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Nick Calathes with the 45th overall pick.
8. June 25 - Minnesota traded the draft rights to guard Nick Calathes to Dallas for a 2010 second-round pick and cash considerations.
9. June 25 - Minnesota drafted Henk Norel with the 48th overall pick.
10. July 20 - Minnesota traded guard Sebastian Telfair, forward Craig Smith and forward Mark Madsen to LA Clippers for forward Quentin Richardson.
11. July 27 - Minnesota traded center Etan Thomas, a second-round selection and a conditional second-round selection in the 2010 NBA Draft to Oklahoma City for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins.
12. August 3 - Minnesota signed center Ryan Hollins to an offer sheet.
13. August 10 - Minnesota named Kurt Rambis head coach.
14. August 13 - Minnesota traded forward Quentin Richardson to the Miami Heat for center Mark Blount.
15. September 9 - Minnesota traded guard Bobby Brown and forward Darius Songaila to New Orleans for Antonio Daniels and a future second-round pick.
16. September 11 - Minnesota signed guard Ramon Sessions to an offer sheet.
17. September 17 - Minnesota signed guard Sasha Pavlovic to a one-year contract.
18. September 22 - Minnesota waived guard Chucky Atkins.
19. October 20 - Minnesota acquired forward Nathan Jawai and cash from Dallas for a conditional second-round draft pick in 2012.
20. November 2 - Minnesota exercised their contract 2010 options on forward Corey Brewer and forward Kevin Love. Declined their 2010 option on Oleksiy Pecherov.
21. December 29 - Minnesota acquired forward Alando Tucker, a second-round draft pick and cash from Phoenix for guard Jason Hart.

[Krapinsky]

Only two moves I would second guess

-- Sasha and Flynn over Curry.

That's pretty good so far.

[cpfsf]

Only two moves I would second guess

-- Sasha and Flynn over Curry.

That's pretty good so far.

I didn't know too much about Sasha when we signed him, yet I loved signing him because at the time NYK wanted him too.

I was not too happy about the Flynn pick, but I wasn't angry either. It wasn't Kahn's fault the draft was so point guard heavy. I thought talent-wise Curry and Flynn had very high ceilings, yet at the time I thought the only guy who could play SG next to Rubio was Curry (at the time I was unsure if he was a SG or PG)

Still wanted Casspi. I remember making a thread because I liked him so much

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=911245&start=15

So I wanted Rubio/Curry/Casspi/Pavlovic

Hire me as GM

BTW, did Denver tell us who to draft?

[wolves_fan_82au]

Smith and telfair for blount is just so wrong,why didnt we keep richardson he would of provided 3 point shooting which we really lacked early

we traded for Tucker yet ive only seen him used once ,wtf was the point of that

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

18th pick and we didnt even look at blair ffs,instead we trade it for probley a worse pick this year

the rest i dont mind

[Klomp]

BTW, did Denver tell us who to draft?

Yes. I believe we originally wanted Johnson. When he wasn't there, we shopped the pick.

[horaceworthy]

Smith and telfair for blount is just so wrong,why didnt we keep richardson he would of provided 3 point shooting which we really lacked early

Not really a big deal. Don't really see why one would complain about it.

we traded for Tucker yet ive only seen him used once ,wtf was the point of that

We traded for a 2nd round pick, Tucker was just there to match salaries.

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

Since the lottery began in 1985, a top 5 pick hasn't suited up right away 6 times.
Boston- Len Bias- Cocaine
San Antonio- David Robinson- Naval commitment
Clippers- Danny Ferry- Hated the Clippers
Portland- Greg Oden- Injury
Clippers- Blake Griffin- Injury
Minny- Ricky Rubi- Insane buy-out

18th pick and we didnt even look at blair ffs,instead we trade it for probley a worse pick this year

the rest i dont mind

I think the jury's still out on this move. Wait and see what happens with the CHA pick this year before starting with the woe-is-us stuff.

The only Kahn moves I didn't like at the time were selling our 2nd round pick and drafting Flynn over Curry. Other than that, no real complaints.

[Klomp]

we traded for Tucker yet ive only seen him used once ,wtf was the point of that

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

18th pick and we didnt even look at blair ffs,instead we trade it for probley a worse pick this year

1. We also got a second round pick and cash savings.
2. David Robinson?
3. CHA pick is currently at 17. Blair is a shorter version of Love, with less offense.

[Slum_Dillinger]

BTW, did Denver tell us who to draft?

Yes. I believe we originally wanted Johnson. When he wasn't there, we shopped the pick.

I thought we only wanted Johnson because of that Sac trade?

[Diggler]

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

I don't know how you can call Rubio a wasted a pick. We picked him fifth last year, and we could probably trade him straight up for the third pick this year. That's already a pretty good return on the investment, and Rubio's value is still rising. Even if he never plays a game for Wolves, Rubio probably has more potential to improve the team than Steph Curry or anybody else you would've preferred at that spot.

[Klomp]

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

I don't know how you can call Rubio a wasted a pick. We picked him fifth last year, and we could probably trade him straight up for the third pick this year. That's already a pretty good return on the investment, and Rubio's value is still rising. Even if he never plays a game for Wolves, Rubio probably has more potential to improve the team than Steph Curry or anybody else you would've preferred at that spot.

Well, Washhington has given up on that deal....

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=986452

[Krapinsky]

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

I don't know how you can call Rubio a wasted a pick. We picked him fifth last year, and we could probably trade him straight up for the third pick this year. That's already a pretty good return on the investment, and Rubio's value is still rising. Even if he never plays a game for Wolves, Rubio probably has more potential to improve the team than Steph Curry or anybody else you would've preferred at that spot.

If we did the draft over today knowing Rubio was not coming over in two years, I still think he goes 5th.

[GopherIt!]

nice post Klompowski

[Breakdown777]

21 moves? is that a record? how many more does he need to make before he makes the most moves of any gm in a year in nba history?

[Krapinsky]

This one still amazes me --

15. September 9 - Minnesota traded guard Bobby Brown and forward Darius Songaila to New Orleans for Antonio Daniels and a future second-round pick.

[shangrila]

The only two deals I didn't like were giving up Calathes and the Oklahoma one. All through pre-draft Calathes looked like a good player to have on the team, even if he was going overseas and I was disappointed they gave him up for nothing especially when I think Budinger went in between their two picks. But I guess to fall that low there must have been something wrong with him but I just thought he would have been a good stash pick.

In the Oklahoma trade I felt the team gave up too much value. Getting Wilkins hasn't turned out too bad and they are just 2nd round picks, but still I can't help but feel like Kahn just went "yeah, whatever".

But overall he's earnt my support and even with the whole Flynn-Rubio thing I think he's got a good eye for talent, which is encouraging with the team coming into most probably their most important draft in franchise history this offseason.

[Klomp]

21 moves? is that a record? how many more does he need to make before he makes the most moves of any gm in a year in nba history?

Well, to be fair, 6 of them were drafting players, 4 were signings/waivers, and one was exercising team options. So really, only 10...

[Krapinsky]

I don't mind the OKC trade. For a team that's going to lose over $10 million this year, I can't blame them for selling a couple 2nd rounders for more than a couple million.

[skorff26]

The only two deals I didn't like were giving up Calathes and the Oklahoma one. All through pre-draft Calathes looked like a good player to have on the team, even if he was going overseas and I was disappointed they gave him up for nothing especially when I think Budinger went in between their two picks. But I guess to fall that low there must have been something wrong with him but I just thought he would have been a good stash pick.

It was Danny Green who went in between

[Worm Guts]

18th pick and we didnt even look at blair ffs,instead we trade it for probley a worse pick this year

the rest i dont mind

I think the jury's still out on this move. Wait and see what happens with the CHA pick this year before starting with the woe-is-us stuff.

I don't even know if the jury is still out. There were some good players left at 18, but they were Lawson, Collison, Blair, those are guys that are impossible fits for this team. Unless I'm missing something, the opportunity to push the pick back a year while moving up a couple spots seems like a no brainer.
The only other option I could think of would be trading out of 6 instead 18, but I think it would have tough to get full value by trading 6, at least within the scope of what we were looking for.

[Diggler]

wasted a top 5 pick on someone that didnt come over straight away (how many teams have EVER done that?)

I don't know how you can call Rubio a wasted a pick. We picked him fifth last year, and we could probably trade him straight up for the third pick this year. That's already a pretty good return on the investment, and Rubio's value is still rising. Even if he never plays a game for Wolves, Rubio probably has more potential to improve the team than Steph Curry or anybody else you would've preferred at that spot.

Well, Washhington has given up on that deal....

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=986452

Wow. You should've let me know that I'd need some Prozac to make it through that thread. Too bad for those sucke... I mean fans in Washington. The Wrath of Kahn leaves only shattered dreams behind.