Minnesota Timberwolves President David Kahn thrilled about the 2011-12 season: NBA Update
There has been a lot of excitement in the league ever since the players and the owners have made a tentative deal to finalize the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations David Kahn is one such man.
In a recent press conference, Kahn said;
"I'm looking forward to this with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm, and I hope that's shared by the community as well. It should be a fun year."
Kahn’s reason for excitement wasn’t just the handshake deal between the players and owners, infact he was more thrilled to see how his new roster will come up in the next season. Kahn and company were finally able to land Spanish basketball star Ricky Rubio this season and also have the services of Derrick Williams, the No. 2 draft pick of this year’s NBA draft.
The Timberwolves were also able to find Kurt Rambis’ replacement in the form of Rick Adelman, who will be their head coach as the next season tips-off from this Christmas. However, the Timberwolves still have to finalize a deal with their best player and double-double machine Kevin Love in order to re-sign him.
It has been a busy off season for Minnesota and they have a lot to do in the coming months as well. The reason behind this is the next season will comprise of 66 games instead of regular 82 games, so teams have to play more games in congested time, as lockout had scraped first two months of the 2011-12 season.
Moreover, the free agency will begin from December 9 and training camps will now start from December 12.
However, despite of this hectic schedule ahead, Kahn is positive, as he said,
"I think we're all eager to see how the challenges of playing 66 in such a compressed window may develop or what that means. Once we see the schedule, we should also be able to figure out those first few weeks how intense they will be in terms of that. But with any new situation, no matter what, all the teams that have new staffs in place will be facing those same challenges. In our case, the fact that we have 13 players under contract will be helpful at least."
Having 13 players under contract makes Kahn and Minnesota a relaxed side, as they wouldn’t have to go through “wholesale roster movement”. However, Kahn also mentioned that this doesn’t mean that they are not going to tweak or prune their roster.
The new faces are not just going to be in the Timberwolves roster, but they will also be in the front office of the Minnesota. Assistant General Manager, Tony Ronzone had parted his way with the franchise after mutual understanding and now new head coach Rick Adelman’s son R.J. Adelman will handle this responsibility.
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