From Don Seeholzer/Pioneer Press:
Desperate for a win after a 4-21 start, the Wolves did what many losing teams do Thursday and held a players-only meeting.
With players forced to attend an NBA-mandated media training session after practice, details were scarce, but the theme seemed to be to hang together and things are bound to get better.
“If we could win one game, we could win six in a row,” Randy Foye said. “But when you lose one, and the way that we lost in the beginning was tough because we were losing by one point or two points. We would be right in the game and then we would lose in the last couple seconds, so that’s tough.”
McHale, 0-6 since taking over as Minnesota’s coach, is 6-foot-10. If history is any indication, that’s not a good size.
The only coach taller than 6-8 ever to win an NBA championship was the 6-10 Russell, and it helped that the player-coach had Russell at center for his two title wins. When Russell, who in some sources is listed at 6-9, was just a coach, he had little success.
For whatever reasons, tall guys, while they sure look good in shorts, don’t do much when they put on suits. Often, they aren’t even given the opportunity to coach.
When McHale took over the Timberwolves, it marked the first time the NBA has had a coach taller than 6-8 since the end of 2004-05, when 6-11 Herb Williams finished a run as New York’s interim coach and McHale competed his previous stint as Minnesota coach. McHale went 19-12 then, quite an accomplishment for a tall man.
For the team to have success, Al Jefferson needs to get the ball down low, in his offensive comfort zone. The thinking is this: Jefferson gets the ball, attracts double-team defense from opponents, which leads to good looks from the outside, especially from three-point range.
Even with a coaching change, that philosophy has not changed.
To the Timberwolves’ credit, the execution has been there. Jefferson is doing his job in the post by taking up space and finding teammates on the perimeter. The open shots, however, are not falling.
Overlooked by some in the Timberwolves trade for Mike Miller is that he turns 29 in February and could be slowing down.
From Sid Hartman:
Former Timberwolves draft pick Chris Richard is playing for the Tulsa 66ers in the NBA D-league. Richard is playing 31.5 minutes per game and averaging 13.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest. Richard was selected with the first pick by the 66ers in the 2008 D-League draft. … Nikola Pekovic, the 22-year-old center the Timberwolves selected with the 31st pick of the 2008 draft, is averaging 12.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game for the Panathinaikos B.C. basketball team out of Greece.
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