The Timberwolves site has a list of the questions and answers from David Kahn’s meeting yesterday with local and national media members to address several topics at the halfway point of the season.
Kahn: Its been great, hasn’t it? Very pleased. I mentioned to Glen Taylor about a month ago. I said I will know that Corey has made it with his shot when he himself doesn’t look surprised when it goes in. Because even then it would go in and you would be looking at Corey’s face and he would be kind of looking like, my god it went in. That look has disappeared. He now thinks its going to go in. I think that he’s had some sort of change in terms of his confidence about what he can do out there. If he can maintain that, he’s going to be a very fine player in this league. He’s been a very fine player for us these last five or six weeks. Very fine player, and that’s part of the reason we have been playing better. But he’s still only 23 himself, I believe, and his whole career is still in front of him. It’s very exciting the way he’s been developing.
“I know that we won’t do something dramatic,” Kahn said, adding: “Firm as firm can be. Absolutely. We will not move one of the big people in the next 10 days. It would be a mistake of epic proportions.”
That means point guards Jonny Flynn and Ramon Sessions, perimeter players Corey Brewer and Ryan Gomes and power forwards Al Jefferson and Kevin Love have the rest of the season to prove their worth and their fit with coach Kurt Rambis’s triangle scheme. First-round draft pick Ricky Rubio is part of that process too, a world away in Spain, but Kahn again ruled out a trade this year.
“We’ve gotten calls on him, of course, but there’s no way I would do anything with him now. Absolutely none,” Kahn said. “He’s still young, and I still think he can be one of the better point guards to play in the game.”
DK: Oh, sure. I saw him in person last Wednesday night in Belgrade, Serbia. We’re monitoring it because I think it’s likely going to be a year and a half before he’s here. I haven’t prioritized it.
BS: So, are you ruling out next season for having him play for the Wolves?
DK: I think it’s highly unlikely because there’s no buyout contained in his contract at the end of the season.
“We definitely need another person, even if they are both here, and I believe they will both be here. As I’ve said continually, I’d be stunned if we did anything with either player before this deadline. We’re not looking to move them. Now, if Ryan Hollins continues to play as well as he has of late, maybe that fills the need. But that’s just a few games, and I don’t mean any offense to Ryan – I’m sure Ryan himself would concur that he needs to do it over a long period of time – but you need to have a lengthy, athletic type of person to complement these kids, and to help complete our front line.”