New Wolves boss Kahn's credo: Anything goes

In his first month on the job, new Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations David Kahn through his blunt words and first defining action has left the franchise's dwindling, downtrodden fan base intrigued and its players truly atwitter.

Buckle up.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

Kahn pointed the team in a different direction by sending away Kevin McHale, presumably because he concluded the Hall of Fame player and the franchise's architect for the past 14 years cast just too long a shadow.

He has pointedly told season-ticket holders and media members alike that Al Jefferson -- the prized centerpiece of McHale's rebuilding attempt -- is the second-best player on an NBA title contender and Kevin Love is a fourth piece as well as a young talent unlikely to reach All-Star level.

And if you believe the rattle and hum around the league as the NBA draft approaches Thursday night, nobody has been more active working the phones than Kahn, a neophyte basketball boss who apparently is bandying about trade proposals as if he has just drafted a fantasy-league team.

Kahn last week shot down a rumor that he will trade Jefferson and the sixth overall pick to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire, and called Jefferson on Thursday morning to assure him the notion was nonsense.

But the implication is clear.

"The fact is, anything's possible," said Love, whose friends have texted him about rumors he will be traded back to Memphis in a deal for Thursday's second overall pick. "Just that Al's name is even being mentioned. ... He's an All-Star [caliber player].

"It's craziness. I don't know what's going to happen. Everything's up in the air. I'm anxious, a little nervous. I'm just waiting to see what happens."

Kahn will 'be aggressive'

By midnight Thursday, Kahn will have begun what he calls a 16-month process of transforming the Wolves from an outfit unable to sell $5 tickets into one he claims will be aimed toward a 50-victory season, the minimum threshold for success in the competitive Western Conference. McHale and his assistants spent the 23 months since they traded Kevin Garnett to Boston accumulating assets, and now Kahn has been given license to start spending that capital.

Mike Miller, Randy Foye, the expiring contracts of Brian Cardinal and Mark Madsen, perhaps Love -- or even Jefferson -- all could become currency in the process.

League executives elsewhere speculate Kahn is intent on establishing this team as his own with signature moves on draft night that potentially will exchange three first-round picks, expiring contracts and players already on the roster into two top-six picks, the Wolves' own sixth and either Washington's fifth, Oklahoma City's third or Memphis' second that could bring Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet or Spanish guard Ricky Rubio to Minnesota.

"It has nothing to do with me making some sort of splash," Kahn said. "It's the job. We have a team that won 24 games last season, and it's important we're hyperactive in figuring out what options there are for us. It has nothing to do with anything beyond that.

"I hope we're active. I hope that we are doing what I said we would do, and that's be aggressive. I know we've been on the phones a lot, but I don't know how that stacks up against anybody else."

His decision to search for a new coach starting this Friday angered his players and left them anxious and nervous.

His straight-shooting opinions -- uncommon for an NBA executive -- have resonated with season-ticket holders exasperated by the former regime's status quo, but they have at least one player wondering what the purpose is in alienating the locker room and perhaps diminishing the value of Kahn's wares to other league executives. So far, Kahn has talked extensively only with Jefferson. Owner Glen Taylor met with Kahn on Friday and likely encouraged him to communicate better with his players.

"I think about it," Kahn said when asked if he worries how his opinions play with his players. "I also think these young men know the age-old truism, that it's a business. It would be disingenuous to say one thing and act in another. Hopefully, our actions will match our words."

Anticipating many changes

Kahn said his blunt words are neither necessarily his management style nor a conscious attempt to engage a disinterested public.

"It's not manufactured," he said. "I wanted to convey to the season-ticket and sponsorship base that I had some definitive feelings about what we wanted to do, and I felt they wanted to hear them. People can see through that meandering -- playing it both ways -- really easily. I hope they respect the fact I'm willing to state some opinions of the team in a more unvarnished way. I think people prefer that method. Whether that's my style or not, that's the most effective way to communicate to people.

"You don't want to give away state secrets, but I think people appreciate directness. I'd use that word rather than 'blunt.'"

Jefferson used such words as "shocked," "disappointed" and "hurt" to describe his feelings when Kahn decided McHale will not coach the Wolves again.

He also said he ultimately will trust that Kahn will make the right decisions to improve a team to which Jefferson is contractually committed for the next four seasons.

"There's no doubt in my mind there will be more changes coming," Jefferson said. "That's the whole reason he's here. They brought him in because they needed a change. I'm just sitting back, waiting."

Whatever happens Thursday, it will be only the beginning.

"This roster is likely to change a lot over the next 16 months," Kahn said Friday. "We'll add a piece or two or three next week, but it won't be the end of it. I expect to see continual change over the next 16 months. Whatever we do next week, we'll be far from a finished product."

Jerry Zgoda • jzgoda@startribune.com