David Kahn Discusses Kurt Rambis Hire

Jonah Ballow with David Kahn

Jonah Ballow: Welcome to Timberwolves.com. I’m Jonah Ballow here with Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations David Kahn. And David, it’s been a long process to finally get the head coach and it’s going to be Kurt Rambis. How did you arrive at this decision and why did you think Kurt was a good fit here in Minnesota?

David Kahn: As everybody knows, I arrived at it carefully. We spent several weeks going through an initial group of interviewees and narrowed it down to three. Some of the delay was due to the fact that a lot of player matters, (Ricky) Rubio included, have occupied some time as well. It’s been, as you said, a long proccess – a little over six and a half weeks.

But I wanted to make sure we got it right. This, I think, is a really important hire for us as a franchise given where we are in our team’s history and with all the changes that have occurred and are sure still to occur. And having somebody on board to help lay a foundation with me for how this team will be built over the next several years was really important.

I felt that of all the things that we’ve done or maybe we will continue to do, you can make an argument that this was the most important thing to do. I wanted to make sure we spent the requisite time on it in getting it right.

Ballow: What were some of the attractive points for Kurt Rambis? Obviously (he had) a long playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers and then as an assistant coach for the very same team. What was attractive about making this hire especially with his prior experience with a championship caliber squad?

Kahn: Well I think that was a big part of it. He’s won at a very high level both as a player and a coach. I was a big fan of the way his Lakers teams played in the ‘80s. And he knows that’s kind of the way – a running up-tempo style – we want to employ. So I’m confident he can do that.

I also felt from a player development standpoint, he really has a reputation for working with players and helping them improve as a teacher. I think he can manage our players, meaning he’s going to have to manage playing time and expectations as we grow this young team. I felt that he could do all these things.

Let me say this, we had two other terrific finalists – Mark Jackson and Elston Turner. Both of them were fully capable of doing this job. That’s partly what made it so hard. I really felt we had three people who had the ability to do this for us and it was a very close call. I believe we’ve made the right call.

But I also wanted to say that, out of respect for Mark and Elston and there were even a couple of people in the first round that I felt could have done this too, but we couldn’t have too many finalists or this would have taken forever. But I’m thrilled to have Kurt here.

Ballow: There was rumors circulating that Kurt possible chance that he could be the coach in Sacramento also in Philadelphia, which they later filled with Eddie Jordan. Did you feel like, maybe, this was a better fit for him now that the Lakers season had been completed, they won a championship, maybe he was ready for that next step and this was a good fit for him as well?

Kahn: He’ll address that tomorrow. I don’t want to speak for him. I do know though, the one thing that I can confirm, I know that Sacramento and him did talk and that he was, I think possibly, their number one choice but they weren’t able to reach satisfactory contractual terms. I think they’ve obviously picked a very fine coach in Paul Westphal after that. I’ll leave it up to him tomorrow to determine what to say as to the reasons for this move.

Ballow: As far as the up-tempo type of style that you’ve said on many occasions you would like to see this team run, that it can’t rely just on Al Jefferson in the half court offense, Kurt certainly knows about Showtime Lakers, ‘80s, fast-pace, fast-break basketball, is that something that he’s said to you that he would like to install with this team?

Kahn: It really was a threshold issue for all of the candidates. I wasn’t going to hire somebody if that wasn’t something they would assure me they would do. Meaning if somebody felt very strongly that that wasn’t the right style of play not only for us but, maybe, for anybody, that meant that this job would be an appropriate fit.

He assured me time and again that he wants to play that style, it’s the way he played growing up, it’s the style he likes best. I think he understands too what many of us do understand that players like to play that way. They want to play in an up-tempo system.

Ballow: When you think about Kurt as a player, what do you think about? What do you remember?

Kahn: Hard working. Doing the dirty work. Rebounding. Also a terrific runner on the fast break. He was often one of the lane fillers or one of the last guys with the exception of Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) up the floor who often times could finish. A better offensive player probably than people would acknowledge, he wasn’t really allowed to do too much offensively, but I know that was because he was surrounded by some of the best offensive players in the history of the game. Somebody who really was recognized for that proverbial lunch pale type of approach.

Ballow: Filling the head coaching position, does that help with Ricky Rubio? Is that any further along than we last talked to you?

Kahn: I don’t think that it’s a huge factor. I think that the paramount factor from the moment we drafted him has been the buyout and how to solve what is a very difficult issue. We’ve been doing what we can, which isn’t much, but we’ve been doing what we can to help solve it alongside his representatives. I’m sure it’s helpful to have a coach and I’m sure that it fills in a little bit of a gap. But I truly believe that the buyout has been the paramount issue in this process.

Ballow: Regardless it’s an exciting time for the franchise. A new direction. Head coach Kurt Rambis will be announced tomorrow at a press conference right here at the Target Center. David, thanks so much for your time.

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