Listened to the David Kahn/Glen Taylor press conference on KFAN.  Here are just some very quick initial thoughts:

• Glen Taylor’s rambling description of the process used to get to this hire did very little to dispel the notion that was a disorganized, scattershot affair.  The question that is still begging for an honest answer is what exactly led Dennis Lindsey, Tom Penn, and Randy Pfund to express interest in the job and then pull out.  Taylor may well be correct that no one turned down an offer for the job.  But why were people bailing out before it even got to that point?
• David Kahn said all the right things.  Of course, the fact of the matter is that most major hires like this tend to say all the right things at their initial press conference.  In a month or so, we’ll be able to more fairly judge where this team is going and what kind of acumen he has.
• If for comic purposes only, the fact that Kevin McHale was “at his cabin” was priceless.  Like we expected him to be anywhere else?

Courtesy of Jerry Zgoda’s blog:

To Wolves Fans Everywhere:

I love your passion.

I know you want to be proud of this team.

And I know, most of all, you want to win.

I plan on spending the next several years of my life with those same objectives in mind – namely, making this a championship-contending team. I can’t promise perfection, but I can promise that nobody will outwork or outthink us as we build what I hope will be among the best front offices in the league and a team that begins a climb to the top.

We have a couple significant pieces on the team already, and a lot of flexibility (as much as any team in the league), so now it’s time to deliver. Starting this summer, and through the following summer, I expect to start accumulating more talent through every available means – the draft, free agency and trades. I expect a lot of myself, and I will expect everybody in basketball operations to work relentlessly alongside me.

I’m a lawyer, journalist, entrepreneur and more, but at my core I’m a basketball person — a former General Manager with day-to-day oversight of basketball operations for a perennial playoff team, working under one of the finest persons in the sport, Donnie Walsh. My relationships in all my previous endeavors are basketball-oriented. I have spent 24 years in, or on the periphery, of the NBA and have done everything from make trades to sign players to identify and hire coaches. I’ve served for three years on the NBA Competition Committee, which includes only the highest-ranking basketball persons.

I know some of you have worried here that I’ve been “away” for about five years, since I left the Pacers in 2004, about four months before the infamous brawl. Not to worry. My company owned four NBA D-League teams the last four years, and that meant seeing a ton of players in person who are now rotation players in our league. It meant hiring nine coaches, from Sam Vincent to Quin Snyder to Michael Cooper to Jay Humphries. It meant constantly working on coach and player matters. So, I really never left.

That doesn’t mean I’m as ready today as I will be on June 25 for the draft. The current staff will stay in place through at least July to help prepare for this draft and for free agency. I told each staffer Wednesday night, when I spoke to them on the phone, that I’m looking forward to watching them work, in this new environment, these next five weeks. This is the best time of year for us – it was always the highlight of my year with the Pacers.

When I went to law school, I never intended to practice law. I did it to become an NBA front-office person in basketball. My time in Indiana prepared me for this moment – Donnie Walsh allowed me the freedom to work in all areas of the franchise. I managed the cap, talked to Donnie every day about trades and player personnel, and then sometimes made the trades with his approval.

You may have also heard that Donnie allowed me to be the team’s point person for the design, development and marketing of Conseco Fieldhouse. To this day, most NBA persons consider the fieldhouse the finest arena ever built. I helped lead a team of people who were driven to deliver a product that was second to none. We worked 24/7 to make that building like none other in the world.

The Timberwolves now become my latest project. As with Conseco Fieldhouse, there will be no settling for run-of-the-mill, or even second best. I’m interested only in special.

I look forward to winning you over during the days, weeks and months ahead.

Regards,
David Kahn

Here’s a roundup of reactions to the David Kahn hire from around the Internet:

John Hollinger, ESPN.com:  Typical bumbling Wolves move — couldn’t convince anyone else to take the job and finally settled on a guy they had originally discarded because they were running out of time before the draft. Oh, and McHale will probably have the owner’s ear on personnel even though he’s theoretically been ousted. Have fun, Minnesota.

Jim Souhan, Star Tribune:  Kahn brings … what? A close, personal relationship with commissioner David Stern?

Kahn is blessed to be joining an organization that has little choice but to grant him the power to effect change. There are two problems with this: 1) We don’t know if Taylor is capable of backing away and letting his new hire operate, and 2) We don’t know if Kahn is capable of rebuilding a dysfunctional franchise.

Sid Hartman, Star Tribune:  Kahn, 47, apparently was the Wolves’ fourth choice and hasn’t been a GM since 2002. Recently, he has owned National Basketball Development teams and led an unsuccessful effort to lure the Montreal Expos to Portland.

The challenge the Wolves presented was too great for those who turned down the job and who no doubt felt they were better off staying put and waiting for another opportunity.

Tom Powers, Pioneer Press:  Acting quickly and decisively, Glen Taylor hired David Kahn to be the Minnesota Timberwolves general manager before Kahn had a chance to withdraw his name from consideration.

Kahn was believed to be the only external candidate remaining. The other three came to the conclusion that they weren’t interested. That’s what you get for dragging your feet, Mr. Kahn. Now you’re stuck.

Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh:  I’ve never really worked directly with him (in the front office), but he was here when I was coaching. I know he’s a very intelligent man. He knows how the league works. I always thought he would be a great GM or whatever his title is because he’s got a lot of knowledge. It’s very positive for Minnesota. – Bird

These things can’t be done overnight, but if you start doing the right things, I think good things will happen. I haven’t been there so I don’t know what was done in the past, but I know David will do a good job and see what needs to be done and overcome what’s stopping them. – Walsh

Canis Hoopus:  Oh well, more of the same from our favorite underachieving, underwhelming local professional sports franchise.

At least we’re not the Clippers, or Grizz, or Wiz. But we’ve dropped a couple of steps down toward their level.

OKC, you looking for fans? Seattle, how’s that new arena coming along?

Britt Robson:  At least two of them, San Antonio’s Dennis Lindsey and Portland’s Tom Penn, had on-the-surface credentials and temperament that made me more excited for their arrival than what I’m feeling for Kahn. The guy hasn’t even been in the NBA since 2004.

Nevertheless, there’s no sense in being totally down and negative about Kahn until we see what he can do. I’m going to the press conference this Friday noon mostly just to get a feeling for the guy. I’m thinking that what owner Glen Taylor has to say for himself will be the more informative “news” of the day. Will Kahn have the ability to determine the fate of his personnel guy and his coach? If so, why didn’t Lindsey or Penn take the job? Taylor must know that his franchise is fostering a reputation for dysfunction, and his frequent contradictory statements about whether or not Kevin McHale can determine his own future with the ballclub, and whether the Hoiberg/Stack/Babcock crew who have been evaluating talent all these months under the much-hyped blueprint are going to be around to provide input when the Wolves utilize a bevy of draft picks in just a few short weeks.

TalkHoops:  They couldn’t get anyone because Glen Taylor doesn’t know how to own a successful basketball franchise. We watched for a decade while he kept Kevin McHale around instead of finding someone who could figure out how to put winning talent around one of the most talented big men to ever grace the court. We watched while KG’s prime was wasted because he had to drag guys like Dean Garrett and Trenton Hassell (no offense, Trenton. I did like you but c’mon, you know what you are) around while trying to wade through the busted draft picks of Paul Grant, William Avery, and Ndubi Ebi who happened to break up the years of not having a draft pick at all due to an illegal deal under the table with Joe Freaking Smith.  And how are we repaid for this loyalty?

With David Kahn.

We’re repaid with a retread guy who spent nine years with the Pacers and hasn’t been back in the league for seven years. What has he been doing during that time? He’s been flipping D-League franchises like it was an infomercial on how to make an extra $10,000 a month from the comfort of your own home. He’s been trying to get baseball to the city of Portland. He’s been an owner and operator of D-League teams that coaches don’t want to coach for and interns avoid because he’s supposedly the biggest dick in all of basketball. He’s crippled franchises financially in order to put a few extra bucks in his pocket for a developmental league that is desperate for competent owners to help grow a minor league system for the NBA – a league that he is now running a team in.

And you know who suffers? Wolves fans and their players.

What did we do to you, Glen Taylor?  What have we done to earn your wrath?  All we have done is try to care for your basketball team, and insist on some standards for the people who work for it (and own it).  We don’t do it out of hate or spite.  We do it out of love.

And this is how you repay us? By driving away three qualified candidates to hire a guy who’s been out of the league for seven years and racked up a string of lawsuits and unhappy campers in the D-League. Just great.

For years, it’s been fun to call the Wolves front office a “country club”, as coined by KFAN’s Dan Barreiro.  At this point, though, some new term needs to be developed.  At least country clubs have some standards and try to make things better.  Glen Taylor’s shop is one of no accountability and not caring about building a winner.

I was tempted to go back to buying tickets for this team if the right sort of hire had been made.  Now, it’s back to wait-and-see mode.

The never-ending search for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ new front office boss hit yet another nadir today with the news that Portland Trail Blazers assistant GM Tom Penn has withdrawn his name from consideration to take an enhanced title and salary from the Blazers to stay with the organization.

The singular word one can use to describe the “process” used to make this hire is:  circus.  And Glen Taylor is the ringmaster.  Instead of the normal way teams go about this (see the Minnesota Wild, for instance), identifying a group of candidates, interviewing them in one fell swoop, maybe interviewing a couple of them again, and then making your pick, Taylor has turned this thing into a massive flop under the big top. 

And the cause of the problems is the ringmaster himself.  Imagine the ringmaster firing a blow dart into the neck of your high-wire walker or greasing up the trapeze or not feeding the lions for a week before putting them in the cage with the lion tamer.  The foolish decisions of Glen Taylor are solely responsible for the predicament the Wolves find themselves in.

First, Taylor brought out his first act:  Dennis Lindsey, the assistant GM of the best-run franchise in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs.  Lindsey has been high on everyone’s radar for open jobs, and in fact, he turned down the Atlanta Hawks last offseason.  While the 2008-09 Timberwolves were slogging to the end of their season, Taylor and Lindsey were quietly working on the outlines of a deal.  But, as the annoucement loomed, Lindsey suddenly pulled out.

Next, Taylor turned to a pair of folks not currently employed in the league.  Former Miami Heat GM Randy Pfund emerged for a time, confirmed to have been interviewed by the team.  And then there was David Kahn, who was the Indiana Pacers GM earlier in the decade, before going off to run four D-League franchises.  Kahn was noted for being a favorite of NBA Commissioner David Stern and for a history of questionable practices while in D-League.  Pfund was seemingly ready to come aboard, but the Wolves apparently gave up of him, leading to his eventual withdrawal.  Kahn, meanwhile, was reported to be close to a deal until his history (and negative public reaction?) caused the ringmaster to back away.

As those acts ground to a halt, it was time for the clowns.  Enter Bill Simmons, whose entirely unserious campaign (yes, I know he thinks he was being serious) nonetheless galvanized thousands of Wolves fans who were ready to believe in anything or anyone not named David Kahn or Kevin McHale.

The most recent act from the ringmaster was Penn.  Penn’s acceptance of essentially the same role with the Blazers that he had before is an indication that something has gone horribly wrong.  What is it?

It’s the ringmaster’s insistence on Kevin McHale and Fred Hoiberg remaining part of the organization.  No credible candidate is going to going to have his hands tied by his owner in advance.  No credible candidate is going to want to be forced to keep two possible successors with close ties to the owner in place.

Mr. Taylor:  If you want someone to do the job, let them do the job.  Give them the authority they need, and let them go to work.