Such sentiment leaves many people wondering why the Wolves decided to draft two players who play the same position. Kahn wasn’t hesitant to address this as well as a couple of the other players the Wolves strongly considered selecting last June.
“I felt then, as I feel now, (drafting Rubio) was the best thing for us to do in terms of our long-term future,” Kahn asserted. “The only other choice that could have been made, I felt, at that moment… well, there were two others. We could have done Stephen Curry, and we were considering DeMar DeRozan. Stephen, as you know, was also a point guard, so there was sort of the same issue there. DeMar is a wing who I think has a lot of talent and a really bright future, but at the end of the day I really felt that for our future Rubio was the best pick. And I knew that he probably wasn’t going to come right away. I was told that morning that it was going to be at least a year. Even with the wait, we thought it was the best thing for us to do. I surely do feel the same way today.”
If that stance doesn’t change and no trade develops to lift Blount from the Wolves’ payroll before the February deadline, that’s when a buyout will be considered. Kahn granted permission to Blount’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, to explore trade possibilities back in September before training camp started.
“I thought he looked good,” Jefferson said of Kevin Love, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes. “He rebounded the ball real well. He shot the ball well. You couldn’t have asked for a better comeback. I thought he’d play that much because he was too hungry, too glad to be back.”