So with the Wolves losers of 13 consecutive games after Monday’s loss to the Clippers, how does he keep his players from feeling they’ve been asked to walk the plank this season until help theoretically arrives next summer with potentially multiple first-round picks and abundant cap space?
“They’re not,” Kahn said. “We should be really clear about that. We’re not the only team in the league that starts this season admittedly with the playoffs not a likelihood, but we are one of the few teams that starts with an opportunity to really build something. …
“I don’t want them to think for one minute that what they’re doing this year is an exercise in waiting or just finishing out a year and getting to the next step. This year is really important for establishing a new culture with hard work and attention to detail.”
“They’re not,” Kahn said. “We should be really clear about that. We’re not the only team in the league that starts this season admittedly with the playoffs not a likelihood, but we are one of the few teams that starts with an opportunity to really build something. …
“I don’t want them to think for one minute that what they’re doing this year is an exercise in waiting or just finishing out a year and getting to the next step. This year is really important for establishing a new culture with hard work and attention to detail.”
That dynamic has not been tested in the season’s first month as Sessions has regularly spelled Flynn off the bench. Coach Kurt Rambis said matchups and circumstances have dictated the current rotation.
Time might produce chemistry, although Sessions and Flynn rarely practice in the same backcourt and Rambis does not seem enthralled with the notion.
“It hasn’t turned into something I’m really excited about,” Rambis said before Monday night’s game against the Clippers. “We’ll keep playing with it and see where it goes.”
Time might produce chemistry, although Sessions and Flynn rarely practice in the same backcourt and Rambis does not seem enthralled with the notion.
“It hasn’t turned into something I’m really excited about,” Rambis said before Monday night’s game against the Clippers. “We’ll keep playing with it and see where it goes.”
Owner Glen Taylor, whose Timberwolves have won one of 13 games, said this morning that he “feels for everybody” associated with the team.
“We knew it would be a hard process of putting a bunch of young guys together with new coaching and a new system and all that, but on the other hand, I was hoping that we would be able to eke out some other wins.
“I see the guys playing some good halves and sometimes good three quarters, but we have had a tendency to just go into almost like a funk where it affects the whole team and they just have a shooting lapse. And, while doing that, there’s probably a defensive lapse and the other team scores a bunch of points and we’re sort of out of the game.”That’s discouraging.”