Before naming David Kahn as the new President of Basketball Operations prior to Memorial Day Weekend, the Minnesota Timberwolves sought out some expert opinions from Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh.
Both worked with Kahn in different capacities during his nine-year stint with the Indiana Pacers from 1995-2004. Kahn, who was named the Pacers’ General Manager on July 15, 1998, had several successes and failures as the Pacers’ GM, but Bird and Walsh proved to be valuable allies as Kahn pursued the Minnesota job. Walsh praised Kahn as being the catalyst for bringing the Pacers to Conseco Fieldhouse. Wolves' Editor Jonah Ballow reported that former Pacers GM/President Walsh said:
David helped me as much as anyone that I worked with during my time in Indiana, and his work with Conseco [Fieldhouse] made it the best building in the league. David has a wealth of experience and will do a great job in Minnesota. He's very capable of capitalizing on the position the Timberwolves franchise is in and taking that team to the next level."
During Kahn’s tenure with the Pacers he held the positions of General Manager for four seasons, Assistant to the President for one season and Vice President and Assistant General Manager for two years. From 1998-2002 he oversaw both the business and basketball sides of the organization; represented the Pacers on the NBA's Competition Committee; and helped the team moved into Conseco Fieldhouse in 1999.
Kahn’s first two years with the team were two of the most successful in team history when the Pacers captured the best record in the Eastern Conference and made its only NBA Finals trip in 2000. Kahn’s first move as GM for the Pacers was the free agent signing of Sam "Big Smooth" Perkins. He also engineered a new contract for Reggie Miller, pulled off the blockbuster trade of Jalen Rose and Travis Best for Brad Miller and Ron Artest, traded for Jermaine O’Neal, traded for Jeff Foster on draft night and helped bring back Bird as President of Basketball Relations in 2003. Bird said that Kahn, who accumulated a 279-171 with the Pacers, will do well in Minnesota.
"I'm very happy for David,” Bird said. “He's a very intelligent guy and knows the ins and outs of this league as well as anyone. He has all the tools to get the job done in Minnesota."
Despite his success, Kahn also delivered several duds during his time at the helm in Indiana: he traded Antonio Davis, who could have pushed the Pacers over the Lakers in 2000, for the draft rights to Jonathan Bender; hired Isiah Thomas as head coach, drafted David Harrison; and acquired Jamaal Tinsley in a draft-day deal.
The deal for Tinsley was his biggest blunder. The Pacers traded away their 2003 draft pick (which turned out to be Boris Diaw in one of the deepest drafts in NBA history) for Tinsley, who is now banned from being near the team. Tinsley was taken with the 27th pick, one pick ahead of All-Star Tony Parker and three picks ahead of All-Star Gilbert Arenas. In a 2007 interview with bizofbasketball.com, Kahn noted that he was proud of his Tinsley trade:
I was most proud of draft-night deals I engineered for Jeff Foster and Jamaal Tinsley, two players who remain with the team today, not because they were our best players but because of the pressure surrounding both deals."
More background on Kahn: In the mid-80s, Kahn was a sportswriter and columnist for the Portland Oregonian out of UCLA. He decided to then landed a position with a law firm in New York after earning a degree from NYU School of Law. He spent the past five years out of the NBA, becoming part-owner of several NBADL teams.
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