Inside The Deal
Jonah BallowRelated Images
The first free agency move by the Wolves landed Ryan Hollins in Minnesota. Jonah Ballow caught up with president of basketball of operations David Kahn to discuss the deal.
Jonah Ballow with David Kahn
Jonah Ballow: Welcome to Timberwolves.com, I'm Jonah Ballow here with David Kahn, president of basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves. A couple of days ago, the team acquired Ryan Hollins. The first free agent move of the summer, how did this deal come down and why did you decide to go with Hollins?
David Kahn: We've had our eye on Ryan, really, we talked about him even internally during the draft period, not because he was in the draft of course, but as we were thinking of ways to improve the team as you always do when you are in a war room. We really thought his length, his athleticism and his youth combined made him an attractive fit as a complementary piece to both Al (Jefferson) and Kevin (Love). Neither Al nor Kevin are, frankly, big, explosive jumpers and shot blockers.
But this kid, we think, can develop into such a player. And yet he’s not really a starting player, at least doesn’t seem to be at this point of his career, so he’s not going to take much away in terms of minutes from Al or Kevin. I just see it as a nice complementary fit.
We’re really happy to have him on the team. We think he makes us immediately better or an easier way for us to matchup against certain teams in the conference, especially the Lakers and Trail Blazers. We’re very happy to get him.
Jonah Ballow: When you look at a player like that, and I think I saw it on Twitter, one of the fans said this guy could be the Wolves’ Chris Anderson. He could be the “Birdman”, that energy type of guy that comes off the bench, gives your second, maybe third unit a little different look, more dynamic. Do you see that in this type of guy or do you feel he’s maybe a little bit more skilled than a guy like Chris Anderson?
David Kahn: I think Chris Anderson, first of all, is a heck of a player. If (Hollins) were to give us what Chris Anderson gave Denver last year, that would be great.
I see him as being a little bit different. I think that he’s a much more of a center than Chris Anderson is. So I see him much more in the low post both defensively and offensively. And I also see him just being more of a… less of the body flying around the court like a Chris Anderson. I believe most of his athleticism will be around the rim. I can see a little bit of a comparison.
Another person I’ve seen a comparison to is Tyson Chandler. But again, that’s a pretty high mark. Tyson Chandler is a heck of a player and has been a starting player in our league. I don’t want to put any pressure on Ryan right now at this early stage. But I can see similarity in his game to both of those players.
Jonah Ballow: And when you look at the free agency period, this is obviously the first move by the Timberwolves, was it a wait and see approach or you wanted to see the first wave of players gone and pick your right move and the guy that’s going to fit for this team?
David Kahn: In this case, we wanted to be careful. I really think Dallas liked Ryan Hollins. But it got to a point about a week ago where it appeared to us that Dallas just might be adding pieces that are more conditioned to win right away with the moves for (Shawn) Marion and Drew Gooden.
I shook hands with (Hollins’) agent before Gooden was done. But the way we crafted the offer sheet, we wanted to make it so it wouldn’t be an issue whether Dallas could match or not. Under the way we did it, they really couldn’t once they spent some of their mid-level exception on Gooden.
We wanted him, that’s very clear from what I just said. We wanted him bad enough that we wanted to be patient to make certain that we didn’t put an offer sheet on that would just be matched.
Jonah Ballow: And looking at the rest of the free agent crop, probably going to take a look at some possible deals you can make toward the beginning of the season. Are there any other positions that you are looking at targeting for the free agency class?
David Kahn: I think that a lot depends on whether (Ricky) Rubio comes or not, this season or not. Obviously if he doesn’t come, we certainly need to add a backup point guard to Jonny Flynn or somebody who can play considerable minutes alongside Jonny.
We probably need maybe one more wing. I’m debating. A lot depends too on what we decide to do with Quentin Richardson, who is on the roster. There’s one scenario where we could move him, but another scenario is he could be on the team.
So I think we still have some tweaking to do. We’ve been doing some tweaking and I believe some of this will continue to occur perhaps even through September. It depends. I can’t really dictate the flow of events. They kind of just occur as they occur.
Jonah Ballow: Is it fair to say that in this day of age it’s almost about financially putting your team in good position for the future as much as building the roster for star players. I know that certain teams are in different circumstances. You know, the Cavs are making a run at the title; they’re going to take on a contract that maybe takes them over the luxury tax. But looking ahead to the future, is that financial stability as important right now as adding certain players?
David Kahn: In our particular case, I think the critical issue is maintaining as much cap room as we can have in the summer of 2010. Many of the decisions that I have been engaged in this summer have had, frankly, something to do with that, with the exception of Ryan, who I was willing to give a second year with a third year option at a low number.
With the exception of Ryan, every decision that we have made has been with the intent of keeping our number low for the summer 2010. And I only felt, frankly, comfortable doing that with Ryan, meaning going out beyond next season, until after we moved Sebastian Telfair’s contract which included a second year.
I’ve been trying very hard because I think the cap will come down, and that means we’ll have less room under the cap but that will be the same for everybody. In our particular instance, the financial issues aren’t about financial issues in the normal course of events as much as how do we make certain that we’ve maintained our flexibility through next summer.
Jonah Ballow: From a basketball standpoint, I can just see right now Jonny Flynn and Hollins on that pick-and-roll and the alley-oops. It will be entertaining at least next season right here at the Target Center.
David Kahn: I hope so; I hope you’re right.
Jonah Ballow: All right David thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule and joining Timberwolves.com.
David Kahn: Thank you Jonah.
For more news and notes on the team follow the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jonah on Twitter.
Jonah Ballow with David Kahn Jonah Ballow: Welcome to Timberwolves.com, I'm Jonah Ballow here with David Kahn, president of basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves. A couple of days ago, the team acquired Ryan Hollins. The first free agent move of the summer, how did this deal come down and why did you decide to go with Hollins?
David Kahn: We've had our eye on Ryan, really, we talked about him even internally during the draft period, not because he was in the draft of course, but as we were thinking of ways to improve the team as you always do when you are in a war room. We really thought his length, his athleticism and his youth combined made him an attractive fit as a complementary piece to both Al (Jefferson) and Kevin (Love). Neither Al nor Kevin are, frankly, big, explosive jumpers and shot blockers.
But this kid, we think, can develop into such a player. And yet he’s not really a starting player, at least doesn’t seem to be at this point of his career, so he’s not going to take much away in terms of minutes from Al or Kevin. I just see it as a nice complementary fit.
We’re really happy to have him on the team. We think he makes us immediately better or an easier way for us to matchup against certain teams in the conference, especially the Lakers and Trail Blazers. We’re very happy to get him.
Jonah Ballow: When you look at a player like that, and I think I saw it on Twitter, one of the fans said this guy could be the Wolves’ Chris Anderson. He could be the “Birdman”, that energy type of guy that comes off the bench, gives your second, maybe third unit a little different look, more dynamic. Do you see that in this type of guy or do you feel he’s maybe a little bit more skilled than a guy like Chris Anderson?
David Kahn: I think Chris Anderson, first of all, is a heck of a player. If (Hollins) were to give us what Chris Anderson gave Denver last year, that would be great.
I see him as being a little bit different. I think that he’s a much more of a center than Chris Anderson is. So I see him much more in the low post both defensively and offensively. And I also see him just being more of a… less of the body flying around the court like a Chris Anderson. I believe most of his athleticism will be around the rim. I can see a little bit of a comparison.
Another person I’ve seen a comparison to is Tyson Chandler. But again, that’s a pretty high mark. Tyson Chandler is a heck of a player and has been a starting player in our league. I don’t want to put any pressure on Ryan right now at this early stage. But I can see similarity in his game to both of those players.
Jonah Ballow: And when you look at the free agency period, this is obviously the first move by the Timberwolves, was it a wait and see approach or you wanted to see the first wave of players gone and pick your right move and the guy that’s going to fit for this team?
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I shook hands with (Hollins’) agent before Gooden was done. But the way we crafted the offer sheet, we wanted to make it so it wouldn’t be an issue whether Dallas could match or not. Under the way we did it, they really couldn’t once they spent some of their mid-level exception on Gooden.
We wanted him, that’s very clear from what I just said. We wanted him bad enough that we wanted to be patient to make certain that we didn’t put an offer sheet on that would just be matched.
Jonah Ballow: And looking at the rest of the free agent crop, probably going to take a look at some possible deals you can make toward the beginning of the season. Are there any other positions that you are looking at targeting for the free agency class?
David Kahn: I think that a lot depends on whether (Ricky) Rubio comes or not, this season or not. Obviously if he doesn’t come, we certainly need to add a backup point guard to Jonny Flynn or somebody who can play considerable minutes alongside Jonny.
We probably need maybe one more wing. I’m debating. A lot depends too on what we decide to do with Quentin Richardson, who is on the roster. There’s one scenario where we could move him, but another scenario is he could be on the team.
So I think we still have some tweaking to do. We’ve been doing some tweaking and I believe some of this will continue to occur perhaps even through September. It depends. I can’t really dictate the flow of events. They kind of just occur as they occur.
Jonah Ballow: Is it fair to say that in this day of age it’s almost about financially putting your team in good position for the future as much as building the roster for star players. I know that certain teams are in different circumstances. You know, the Cavs are making a run at the title; they’re going to take on a contract that maybe takes them over the luxury tax. But looking ahead to the future, is that financial stability as important right now as adding certain players?
David Kahn: In our particular case, I think the critical issue is maintaining as much cap room as we can have in the summer of 2010. Many of the decisions that I have been engaged in this summer have had, frankly, something to do with that, with the exception of Ryan, who I was willing to give a second year with a third year option at a low number.
With the exception of Ryan, every decision that we have made has been with the intent of keeping our number low for the summer 2010. And I only felt, frankly, comfortable doing that with Ryan, meaning going out beyond next season, until after we moved Sebastian Telfair’s contract which included a second year.
I’ve been trying very hard because I think the cap will come down, and that means we’ll have less room under the cap but that will be the same for everybody. In our particular instance, the financial issues aren’t about financial issues in the normal course of events as much as how do we make certain that we’ve maintained our flexibility through next summer.
Jonah Ballow: From a basketball standpoint, I can just see right now Jonny Flynn and Hollins on that pick-and-roll and the alley-oops. It will be entertaining at least next season right here at the Target Center.
David Kahn: I hope so; I hope you’re right.
Jonah Ballow: All right David thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule and joining Timberwolves.com.
David Kahn: Thank you Jonah.
For more news and notes on the team follow the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jonah on Twitter.
