I’ll be curious to see what the results will be of David Kahn’s visit to Spain this week to meet with officials from DKV Joventut and try to negotiate a lower buyout for Ricky Rubio. The reports of a $6M buyout are inaccurate, I’m told by a European scout. It’s quite less, but still substantial and way more than the NBA-restricted $500K max an NBA team can offer. For anyone who thinks Kahn is doing this as a means to make Rubio more tradeable, think again. If Kahn somehow can work this out and bring Rubio to Minnesota this season, No. 6 pick Jonny Flynn (17 points, 7.5 assists per game in the NBA Summer League) would hit the trading block.
Ben at Blazer’s Edge talked to assistant coach Monty Williams about his interview with David Kahn for the Wolves head coaching position.
From Kevin Arnovitz/True Hoop: The Eight Biggest Stories of Summer League
Dysfunctional Organizational Structures Breed Dysfunctional Franchises
What is going on with Minnesota? That was a popular topic of conversation among senior NBA people in Las Vegas. The team still has no coach. Though they had one of the Summer League’s most prolific players in Jonny Flynn, there’s no telling if the system he played in over the ten days will be the one installed by a new coach — whoever that might be. This makes the Summer League evaluation process a lot less useful. Who’s in charge? CEO Rob Moor? General manager David Kahn? Will the new coach be fully empowered to do his job?
When we bumped into new Wolves GM David Kahn in Las Vegas he was leaving the Cox Pavilion with his young son en route to the hotel pool. He joked that his days in Vegas surrounded around three things—coaching search, Rubio, and pool time for the kiddo. He was very cordial and funny and obviously understands the gravity of the two big basketball tasks he’s got at hand.
So far in the Las Vegas Summer League, the Wolves’ Wayne Ellington — the 28th pick in the NBA draft in June from North Carolina — has been a surprise. The guard scored 19 points in the 89-82 victory over Washington on Friday. Ellington then followed that with 17 points against New Orleans on Saturday and 10 points against Chicago on Sunday.
Doug Collins was a guest on Dan Patrick’s show last week. From SI.com:
— Collins said he is not going to coach the Timberwolves and wasn’t in consideration for that. But Collins did say he plans to coach again. He just doesn’t want a rebuilding project.

“I’m 58 years old and I don’t want to have to take a team from 20 wins to 40 wins,” Collins said…


— Collins watch Ricky Rubio during the Olympics and said the only way he’ll thrive is if his team runs. Collins isn’t sure the Timberwolves are built to run.

Collins said he knew the T’Wolves wanted Johnny Flynn. He was surprised his buddy David Kahn took Rubio as well.