Some interesting Wolves-related rumblings from Sam Amick, as reported on his Twitter page:
According to league source, Detroit Pistons director of basketball operations Tony Ronzone will become Minnesota’s assistant GM next month.
Move is unrelated to departure of Fred Hoiberg, the T-Wolves’ former VP of basketball ops who is now head coach at Iowa State
Ronzone seems like a fairly decent hire, however words around the interweb suggest he was the man responsible for passing on Carmelo Anthony in the 2003 draft and drafting our good friend Darko Milicic. Just what we need!
Ronzone was actually featured in TIME magazine. Here is an interesting feature on the alleged new front office member.
As a rule, Ronzone looks for the same things most scouts look for: hand skills, shooting and footwork. “I’m really into watching feet,” he says. “Can they run? Do they have balance?” Unlike most scouts, though, he never takes notes while evaluating players and usually refrains from asking a coach questions until a third or fourth meeting. “The big reason,” he says, “is respect. Some guys go to practices and they focus on one player and scribble a bunch of notes; it comes off arrogant. The Kazakhs feel their club team is as important as the Pistons, and just because we like a player doesn’t mean they’ll give him up. I’ve got to respect their club that has bad rims, bad balls, bad floor. I’ll invite them to Detroit to see one of our practices. Because if I do like one of their guys, we’re going to need their help.”
While I strongly disagree with a few of Kahn’s moves, I have to give him props for bringing in some relatively high profile front office and coaching staff this past offseason. Not to mention Sessions may have been our highest profile free agent signing since, well, ever (sad). I mean, we can be cynical about the Darko thing, but bringing this guy in to see what he can do is very far from a bad thing. Certainly seems much more experienced than Hoiberg, just maybe without the local boy charm.
Thoughts?