David Kahn Can: Why Minnesota's General Manager Deserves More Credit
If you read through any publication over the course of this summer, who would you conclude was the worst general manager in the NBA?
David Kahn, of course.
In this summer alone, Kahn has been criticized heavily for drafting Wes Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins, signing Darko Milicic, being unable to land a major talent in free agency (Rudy Gay), and of course, lowering Al Jefferson's trade value.
David Kahn has been getting an unfair reputation as soon as he became General Manager of the Siberia of the United States.
The truth is that he has turned a Minnesota team around and resurrected a platform that he can now properly rebuild with.
Something his predecessor, Kevin McHale, could not do.
Let's first go back to the major error Kevin McHale incurred just a season before David Kahn took over in 2008.
In my mind, there is always one time where you can really blame a general manager (GM): On draft night.
Surprisingly, it is not when they take a risk on a player and he becomes a bust. Guys like Greg Oden (still pending), Kwame Brown, the O'Bannon brothers, and Mateen Cleaves were considered to be quality picks at the time, and injuries more than anything else played a major impact in their mediocre careers.
The real error lies when everyone and their mother figures the team will obviously take player X because he is not only the most talented guy on the board, but he would also fit that team perfectly.
Yet for some reason, the GM wants to seem gutsy, sexy, risky, and makes the really questionable move...opting for an alternative route than the obvious.
It usually takes teams quite a while to recover from such mistakes.
In 2008 there were actually two such cases to illustrate (in 2004 we saw this occur when Atlanta took Marvin Williams over Chris Paul after the team already had a slew of small forwards/wings and of course only Speedy Claxton at point guard) these very blunders.
First let's dissect when the Charlotte Bobcats had the ninth overall pick and drafted DJ Augustin over Brook Lopez.
You have to remember how obvious the Brook Lopez selection appeared.
During the 2008 draft, I was tracking an online sportsbook to see the current odds over who would be selected next.
Most typical previous picks' greatest odds (or the least amount of money one could win in a bet) were at most 3:2 (i.e. if you bet $3 on that pick, and that player was selected, you'd win a $2 profit).
I recall that right before Charlotte was drafting at nine, the online sportsbook had the odds of Brook Lopez being selected at literally 500:1.
I kid you not (meaning that a correct $500 bet would only net you a profit of $1).
The logic even made sense.
The team had most of their starting lineup in place: Point guard, Ray Felton; shooting guard, Jason Richardson; small forward, Gerald Wallace; and power forward/center, Emeka Okafor.
It would appear the team could use another big man to play alongside Okafor upfront.
Had Charlotte selected Brook Lopez they would make for one of the largest, most physical teams in the entire league.
Of course, they ended up selecting, DJ Augustin, a point guard when the team already had Ray Felton in place, and are now in the midst of a strange summer that includes an array of rumors, multiple trades, and a team struggling to find an identity and a future.
Had Charlotte just made the obvious selection two summers ago, they would likely not be in their current mess.
A similar story also occurred in the very same draft with then GM, Kevin McHale, and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
McHale actually drafted OJ Mayo with the third overall selection of the 2008 draft.
You would figure that with OJ Mayo and Al Jefferson in place you would have one of the league's best inside/outside combinations for years to come.
Kevin McHale thought otherwise.
He had OJ Mayo in his fingers and opted to deal him to Memphis for another power forward (Kevin Love) when the team already had more than $50 million committed to another one (Al Jefferson).
So what happened to Minnesota as a result of that trade two years later?
They had more power forwards than they knew what to do with.
This summer, current GM David Kahn did indeed paint himself into a corner by signing an additional big man, Darko Milicic, and trading for another forward, Michael Beasley.
With the addition of big men and forwards in place, an Al Jefferson deal was a must.
It was Kevin McHale's earlier acquisition of Kevin Love; however, that eventually led to this conclusion.
Since taking over as General Manager, David Kahn's major acquisitions include trading for a top foreign prospect, (Ricky Rubio; he traded away Randy Foye and Mike Miller who would have been off the roster by now anyhow due to free agency), netting a former No. 2 pick who can provide instant offense (Michael Beasley), and netting plenty of cap space and an abundance of future draft picks (recent Jefferson trade and past draft day trades).
Perhaps had David Kahn traded certain players in a more appropriate time (Al Jefferson earlier) or drafted others (Stephen Curry over Flynn or Rubio in 2009), Minnesota may have a more quality team going forward.
With everything considering; however, looking at Minnesota's current roster, they now have the perfect makeup for a rebuilding process to take full effect.
The team has no one set to make over $5 million and a plethora of prospects in great position to succeed.
Players like Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Martell Webster, and Darko Milicic can now all properly develop with more of a defined role, added offensive touches, and increased minutes.
With their current lineup, Minnesota should not be set to make the playoffs, or even win more than 30 games. Still, they have a nice nucleus built, a team that makes some sense together, and some talent to build upon.
Don't expect any immediate title hopes from these Wolves, but because of David Kahn, title contention is a lot closer than people realize.
