Thanks to an emailer for passing this on. The following from an ESPN interview with Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn, via Clutchfans.net:
Once we took Rubio, we knew for a fact that unless he was taken in the top two picks that year that he couldn’t come for at least a year, maybe two because of the buyout. So we knew we had no point guard on the roster, and if you recall in that free agent class, we had as the number one point guard, Ramon Sessions. And I was very worried that Ramon was going to cost a lot of money, because several teams were sniffing around Ramon already. Also, we didn’t have any tradable assets. Al Jefferson was coming off an ACL, Corey Brewer was coming off an ACL, Kevin (Love) I didn’t want to trade — he was just coming off his first year. We had a very, very thin team. So I just felt very strongly that night that we had to come out of the first round with a point guard. We loved Jonny Flynn. And I loved Jonny Flynn, I want to be very clear about that. And it’s my pick, I own it, I’m accountable for it. Our staff loved Jonny Flynn. We had him over Rubio on the board. I especially liked his leadership capabilities. Jonny has a lot of that — it’s like pouring out of him. But one of those things I think we suppressed that first year were those very same leadership capabilities, because we made him play a style of play that he wasn’t conducive to him, and it made him feel very insecure about who he was as a player.
I don’t know what to make of Flynn. (I do know what to make of the Rockets’ stockpiling of former lottery pick failures.) ESPN reports had the team shopping him almost immediately after the acquisition. But Houston had attempted to acquire the point guard even last season. Does Morey see hidden value here or not?
