Bill Simmons interviews Kahn, whom Simmons has ragged on relentlessly for 40 minutes. Talks about, among other things, the Rockets trade. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/podcenter/?id=6701395&autoplay=1&callsign=ESPNRADIO
They actually talk more about our draft and the trade from our perspective (and Flynn) in part 2: http://c.espnradio.com/audio/649361/simmons_2011-06-24-164701.mp3 (direct link) Skip to about the 15:20 mark.
Upfront disclaimer: I am a David Kahn defender. I think he gets way too much grief for doing lots of the same things Morey is lauded for, and the fact that ESPN is picking up on this narrative is ridiculous. If you followed the draft yesterday night, the way they were ragging on Kahn was unprofessional and unwarranted; the single worst 1st rounder was probably Cory Joseph, and you hear nary a peep except "San Antonio got him, so he must be good", and when they got Norris Cole (temporarily), it was all about "OMFG, MIN +1 PG, KAAAAHHHHHNN!1!11!!! /ragequit, when it was about the right area for him, and it turned out it was for Miami. With that being said, this is an absolute disaster of an interview. I'm ranking up with the Michael Heisely "I've never seen the collective bargaining agreement" interview for self-delusion, overreaction and awkwardness. The Kurt Rambis discussion was the peak of awkwardness. It's so abundantly clear that they're firing him, Glen Taylor doesn't want to hire a new coach with the lockout coming, and Kahn is being diplomatic. Kahn's comments on Jonny Flynn kind of lead me to believe that he actually could be much, much better than we expect, and that Minnesota completely botched their handling of him. According to Kahn, they were so afraid in 2009 about losing Ramon Sessions (!) that they burned a top 5 pick on a stopgap, immediate need PG in Jonny Flynn, then built the rest of the team with Rubio in mind, which plays to none of Jonny's strengths. Finally, it really seems as if he doesn't understand the theory of asset collection. On multiple occasions, he seemed to indicate that getting rid of certain players for peanuts to preserve the value of others was a winning strategy, which is crazy when the team is talent bereft and taking BPA. It really seems as if he's not willing to swing a trade to balance the roster, and thinks that a lack of shots from Rubio will balance out having 3 different high usage forwards. When Kahn gets fired, NBC NEEDS to give him a blank check to appear on Celebrity Apprentice. The way he says "I take full responsibility" while deflecting the blame; simultaneously understanding why he made a mistake while not learning anything from them.
Kahn is like Morey but without common sense. BPA is great, but not to the point where you already have like 5 tweeners in the roster. In our case, at least we know where the future lies (PP, MM), but in Minny they literally have two top picks who have the same skill set and profile (Beasley, Williams). If they were really building for Rubio why get a coach who works in the triangle offense, when the triangle needs pgs who have deadly outside shots? If you're looking for an impactful veteran why did you get Brad Miller? LOL Kahn is such an epic fail, he makes Isiah Thomas and Mchale look like Jerry West.
I don't understand why you would want to build a team around Rubio...I mean he's a talented point guard, true, but to build an entire roster around an unproven prospect has to be the maddest thing I've ever heard from a NBA GM.
Weird vibe throughout the interview. I respect Kahn for speaking with Simmons despite 2 years of derisive comments, but the interview was like a very thorough explanation of his decisions these last 2 years. Kahn knew the BS report has a big following and reached out to Minnesota fans.
Great post. On the other hand, you can see why Kahn has kept his job. The guy is reasonably clever at explaining his poor performance. One flaw in the asset collection strategy is that players need minutes to develop into assets. It's possible that other teams can see value without minutes (like the Rockets did with Lowry), but in general it's hard to turn someone who is 3rd on the depth chart into an asset, to showcase their value or potential value. That was the reasoning for trading away Flynn. But players not getting minutes presents an opportunity to find value others haven't. That's how we got Lowry and the same thinking went into acquiring T-Will. It's one of the best ways to find hidden value.
Don't hire lawyers as GMs, leave politics for them to ramble in lots of words without actually ever saying anything.
KAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! This was an awesome interview. Kahn does take too much crap but the guy just says some off the wall stuff. I paused a few times in the interview.. and was just baffled.
The problem is that if you look at Kahn's draft picks, he has more often than not, NOT taken the best player available. In 2009 he had multiple high lottery picks, indeed, 5 of the top 50 picks.... all he has to show for it is Rubio, and there is a good chance Rubio flames out. In 2010 he took Wes Johnson over a number of better players... Honestly, the guy has been an absolute disaster in the draft. It is hard to be as bad as he has been.
