Presti, Kahn, Hinkie, Prosas, Presti

I think you have your answer.

Also I would have loved DeRozan, but both he and Holiday had pretty poor numbers going into that draft. And there was some cultural concerns about a Compton kid, and how happy he would be in MN. Particularly when they were covered as just a bad team, oppose to the reset everyone else got to do. He probably would have handled it better than Love though, waiting for Ricky.

He was def the third or fourth option, and was recommended by Stern and Walsh as a cap guy.  Penn was the other guy, and my understanding is those other guys were scared off because they were not given the reigns to part with McHale, which I think was also part of why HTB and ESPN Gods aimed their fury towards us.

I just think the way he was covered, versus what he was doing could not be more wrong.

A lot of the moves jumping in on the Melo trade for Randolph, taking a flier on Beas were all great moves for a team that could not for the life of them get free agents in the door. That was, and in some ways still is very real.

The qualified not qualified, it was totally unique to NBA fans, but ESPECIALLY Minnesota fans to go through a three four year rebuild. And he said as much, but for whatever reason it as framed as he didn't realize that year one roster was not a good basketball team.

Right on jojo. Kahn was a disaster in every way.

My favorite part of drafting Wes was afterwards there was video of Kahn talking about how pure of a shooter he was and in the background it was literally just Wes clanking all his 3s for the entire clip.

I was on record at the time saying I wanted to trade down a few spots for George, but if there were no takers, to just draft him at 4.

Flynn, Ellington, Johnson, Williams were all not only reasonable picks, but HTB said Flynn likely had a chance to be one of the five best players in that draft. Johnson and Williams were mostly considered the right pick, and in Williams case considered the clear cut choice.

I had guys I preferred too, but my overall point was it just wasn’t as bad as it was covered. And def no sure things that were passed on like KD or Griffin. I mean how many franchise changing guys were in those? And where did they get drafted. I just don’t see it as realistic to go back he should have found all those guys year to year that were MVP caliber.

I was trying to think was Westbrook kind of high for where he was anticipated for Presti or was that more or less where he was expected to land?

I do think the Kid from Coney Island, and Latrell maybe scared Wolves away from the Mayo’s DeRozan’s and Cousins of the world, but the irony is Love ended up being a massive massive problem.

Btw I heard that Marbury doc is pretty good. Probably not a ton of Wolves stuff to it though.

Kahn almost destroyed the franchise. The team was set up beautifully with draft picks to build around Love. And he butchered every single one of them. Sure I can forgive missing on some guys, but he didn’t appear to have a clue on how to evaluate talent. Actually I blame Taylor more than anyone for not building a professional front office. I feel like this is the first time the Wolves have ever had one, although I’ve got to give Rosas credit for starting the process and being relatively competent in the draft.

Not even remotely true. Were you old enough to even watch it?

Ha I go back to the days of Jack McCloskey. He was a disaster. Flip was the only semi competent GM but it wasn’t his strength. In the whole Wokves history they had a few big talents ( and one generational one) but were never able to build around them. Hell there one WCF team they lucked into getting Sprewell and Cassell having last gasp years at the end of their career. They never were on a sustainable path. Seems like they might be now.

McCloskey!!!

I agree, Wolves def are now.  A process that started in 2015 tanking for Towns, and again in 2020 where Wolves franchise Wolves landed a legit, potential top five guy.

I guess I see it more as we say Presti's smart because he drafted KD, but so much of that tank/turnaround depends on giving it time, and lucking out on that type of player being there when you are in the top five.  And then having the flip of injuries like this last season where Wolves are the last team standing in the west, even GS and Memphis had key dudes miss time.

Kahn had a plan, we didn't get that guy, but he had the right idea.  I mean you're looking at Wall, Griffin, Harden, George, DeRozan, Holiday, 09 and 10, there's just not many guys.

I remember people freaking out Wolves hadn't won since KG (only a two year period from the KG trade to Kahn, although the last few years of KG were devastating), and it was clear to me whatever we were doing was going to be something new, and require much more patience, all things Kahn openly told people walking in, but because Simmons and Woj were ripping us Love and fans assumed they were attempting to win with Brian Cardinal.  It was dumb they thought that, but those two guys were so influential even today when fans look back on period most believe they drafted and started five point guards, never mention injuries, or all the shit that went down around that team, because they were so programmed to hate everything about them.

Even drafting guys, and moving on from them after their rookie contract was a fairly new concept.  The idea was the same as Hinkie where you take a stab at a lot of guys, and collect pieces.  I def have problems with the whole asset collecting thing, but it blows my mind OKC did it three years before, and are doing it again now, and it's an accepted norm.