From ESPN's Marc Stein over the weekend:
The Wolves' only known external candidate to take over their basketball operations is Spurs assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey, although plugged-in sources say Wolves owner Glen Taylor has also spoken to former Indiana Pacers executive David Kahn.
Kahn's most recent basketball experience took place in the D-League, but he is a longtime favorite of NBA commissioner David Stern, which is presumably how he hooked up with Taylor. This is Taylor's first season as the chairman of the league's Board of Governors, who meet twice annually with Stern, but his sphere of contacts outside the Wolves' organization is said to be very limited.
Admittedly, I don't know enough about Kahn save for some "you can't print this" goodies (which I can't print), but I felt this was an interesting development, as he's been exclusively involved in the D-League for the past four years.
As far as basketball operations, it seems he's only been in charge of hiring coaches in the D-League. To his credit, he has hired (mostly) good coaches for his D-League teams: Quin Snyder, Sam Vincent (first time around in the D-League), Joey Meyer, Michael Cooper, the late Dennis Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Jay Humphries, Jeff Ruland and John Coffino.
Kahn was the former GM of the Indiana Pacers before getting involved in the D-League. By getting involved in the D-League, I mean bought four franchises in 2005 (Forth Worth, Austin, Tulsa and Albuquerque) and turned around and sold all of them for a pretty decent profit by the middle of the 2008-2009 season.
He's obviously a shrewd business man, as he sold the Tulsa 66ers to Oklahoma City for over $2 million dollars, according to this report by our old friend Matt Moore. Fairly certain that he bought the team for at least half of that amount. He also "sold" the Albuquerque Thunderbirds to Sam Bregman, though that situation is still in doubt. 'Sold' is in quotes because of this report from the Albuquerque Examiner:
Van Tate, Sports Director for Channel 2/KASA and 13/KRQE, reported that the Tbirds had released all their front office staff, but one. This Examiner later learned that all account executives, sponsorship and media personnel, along with the COO, were laid off. The only remaining front office position is the Business Operations Manager.
However, since this drastic front office change the Tbirds have already posted a job listing for a new Account Executive.
Along with those two recent moves, he also recently sold the Reno Bighorns (Fort Worth franchise relocated) to the Reno Aces, a local AAA baseball team. This comes a couple of years after the San Antonio Spurs bought the Austin Toros, meaning all four of his D-League teams have been sold.
I end this with a nice little question from an interview he did with the Biz of Basketball. For some reason, I worry about the Timberwolves if Kahn ends up being their final choice.
Bizball: During your time as GM of the Pacers, who was the best player you felt you acquired, either through trades, or the draft?
Kahn: I was most proud of draft-night deals I engineered for Jeff Foster and Jamaal Tinsley, two players who remain with the team today nnot because they were our best players but because of the pressure surrounding both deals.
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