Minnesota Timberwolves Fire David Kahn, Hire Flip Saunders as Replacement

The reign of David Kahn in Minnesota has mercifully come to an end. The Minnesota Timberwolves fired Kahn as the team’s president on THursday after the team failed to make it to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year under his rule. Kahn became the team president back in 2009 but failed to improve the team despite adding assets like Ricky Rubio and this year’s free agent class.

“It’s always the owner’s prerogative,” Kahn said to the AP, via ESPN. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to say whether it’s fair or not. I’m very grateful for the opportunity that Glen gave me.”

Kahn failed to get the Timberwolves to the postseason under his rule, and remains one of the most agonizing figures in Minnesota sports in the recent years. While he added Ricky Rubio, once the shine of that move wears off it reveals a bottomless pit of terrible transactions, like overloading the team with small forwards and among others, passing up Stephan Curry in favor of Jonny Flynn.

What Kahn will be most remembered for by Wolves fans is the 2009 NBA Draft. While Kahn will smugly point to his drafting of Ricky Rubio, what he really did was pick Flynn over Curry and trade a pick that turned into Ty Lawson. As has been pointed out numerous time, the Timberwolves almost had a starting lineup of Rubio, Curry, Lawson, Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic.

So you can understand why Wolves fans have been doing Captain Kirk impressions in their sleep for the last four years.

Now that Kahn is gone, the Timberwolves have hired former head coach Flip Saunders to come in and replace him in the front office. There was a large belief that Saunders would be accepting the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota, but that fell through early in the process. The belief was the reason Flip fell through as head coach of the Gophers was that he wanted a high ranking job with the Timberwolves.

At the time, it was looking like current head coach Rick Adelman might step down, but now that he’s said he’s coming back, Saunders would be a front office addition.

The feeling in Minnesota right now is one shared by the Ewoks at the end of Return of the Jedi. There were definitely no statues erected in Kahn’s image, but there is an intense feeling of relief and hope that whoever comes in after Kahn is able to find the one missing piece that makes Minnesota the playoff team it should be.