OK.  I started writing a post to respond to the David Kahn hiring.  After a while, the post basically grew to the length of War & Peace.  Instead of crushing an existing post, I thought a new Fan Shot would be more appropriate.  Against all of my better judgment, I am astonishigly not horrified by the Kahn hiring.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!KAHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I had to do that at least once…

While I hate that we are in the position we are in, I always love transitional franchise moments like this.  These are the rare times when a professional sports organization actually gives you a small window into it’s soul.  During the status quo, all you ever get is the following:

·         Coach A is doing a great job (Coach A gets fired 2 weeks later)

·         Our GM has us in a good position for the future (translation: we’re 12-42, we’ve been in the Lottery for 12 consecutive years, and we have cap space no decent free agent would ever consider)

·         We have a good, young, developing nucleus of players (which means our players haven’t performed or developed, so we’ll refer to them as “young” and “developing” instead of saying they suck)

Hiring a new GM or Coach is the only time we get some “true”  insight into the organizational opinion.  They try to sell us so hard on the fact that “New Hire A” is the second coming of Jesus, they inevitably end up giving us the definitive post-mortem indictment on the previous regime.  The choice itself also is usually an indication of what the owner felt was wrong.  The new people hired are usually a fascinating psychological profile simply based on the way they present themselves.  I checked out a transcript from the Kahn presser today, and here’s what I’m extrapolating:

1 - Papa Glen in his opening remarks: “I think that this is really an important step in our future at a time when we're growing our team, developing a plan for the future and to bring the right person on at the right time was a very important decision for us and I'm pleased with the decision that we made

-My take: “Growing as a team”…”Developing a plan for the future?”   I thought we were developing our team for the future since we traded KG two years ago?  Tells me what he thinks of the progress of McHale’s development plan.  Funny thing is, I feel McHale’s last couple years have been competent.  It’s the 10 before that where we got screwed.

2 - David Kahn in his opening remarks: “I had ownership of some D-League teams and it was last summer when we sold our Tulsa team to Oklahoma City I began to consider to come back in this type of vain.  I've been around the NBA my whole adult life, 24 years either in it or in the periphery of it.”

-My take: As someone that has interviewed people, I find they usually try to establish their bona fides in areas where they are weakest.  It’s fascinating really.  They want you to know their weaknesses are OK rather than selling you on how powerful their strengths are, which I find baffling.  Kahn is clearly trying to address being out of the game for so long in his opening statement, which tells me that he is worried about that.

3 - Kahn is asked: What's Kevin McHale's status with you?  DK: "I had the over-under on that question at seven seconds, so you just got the under.  Thank you, you owe me Glen.”

-My take: Hilarious!  Everything I’ve read indicated Kahn was a soulless, dick of a boss to work for.  This comment alone indicates he at least has a sense of humor.  IMHO, a self-deprecating sense of humor indicates you are free thinker and comfortable with uncertainty and criticism…big plusses!

4 - Kahn is asked: Do you consider yourself a personnel guy or a finance guy?"  DK: "It's impossible to bifurcate those in today's NBA, you've got to have both.”

-My take: Anyone that can accurately use the term “bifurcate” in an NBA prress conference is clearly bright.  I fancy myself as a bit of a grammar “richard” that enjoys using big words to get people thinking.  People that possess this skill are rarely fake intellegentsia (see how I did that just now?), and most often are better at what they do than others.

5- DK: “There's a tendency in our league to think that there's only one way to do things.”

-My take: I love hearing this.  Every organization I have ever worked for was inherently resistant to change because it makes things difficult bureaucratically.  Having an open mind to doing things in a new way is welcome.  I should point out, this comment was made in the context of keeping McHale as coach.  Kahn seems comfortable going into the draft without a coach, if necessary.  I am fine with this because I think we should choose a coach based on our talent and how we want to play.  Very few coaches are capable of adjusting to their rosters these days.

6 - Papa Glen gets grilled about rejection:  

GT: Let me say it to you this way now, that is false. I don't know how stronger to say that. That is just inaccurate, false, I know those statements did not come from those candidates, because it was never talked about, and I know it didn't come from anyone who did the interviews, so I don't know where that came from. I can tell you that David responding here is what every candidate was told, basically I'll say it in smaller words: that if you're coming here, you want success. If you want success, you're going to have to have control over your own future.

-My take: WHAT???  Seriously, what did you just say?  I was with you through  the 2nd sentence…after that, it turned into pure gibberish.  Are you going senile?

A few other thoughts:

-Glen’s  diatribe on the hiring process was pathetic.  He was clearly trying to save face for himself, and failed miserably.  Note to Papa Glen: if you don’t want people to think you got rejected by multiple people, don’t make it Point# 1 in your Presser.  I took Public/Presentational Speaking about 10 years ago in college, and starting your pitch on what it’s NOT about is the dumbest thing you can do.

-Even in print only, Glen came across as addled and irascible.  Dude, you are trying to convince anyone you can that your team is worth spending $$$ on…don’t be a bitter dick in high visibility situations like this.

Bottom Line:

David Kahn strikes me as guy with a really unimpressive resume, but he killed at the interview.  Personally, in a general business sense, I put a lot more stock in an interview anyway.  In my experience, the resume gives you 1/3 of the hiring picture (does he claim he can do the job?), and the interview gives you the other 2/3 (Is the resume total bullshit? AND How would he fit into our culture?).   Every job I’ve ever gotten was the result of a good interview and an “embellished” resume.  So far DK’s words are all spot on (which is a revelation to this team), we’ll see if his actions follow.  I’m way less depressed now than I was 2 days ago, and I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for now…