McHale spent two seasons working on Wolves telecasts before taking over the day-to-day basketball operations for the team in May 1995. A top-notch quote during his playing days with the Boston Celtics, McHale proved not only to be knowledge but also brought humor to the broadcasts, earning him rave reviews.
He said he felt it would have been “difficult” to place McHale in the middle of changes that will come in remaking a roster McHale had assembled…
Wolves president of basketball operations David Kahn, while declining to give any specific reasons for that decision, acknowledged the widespread fan disenchantment.
“It’s obvious, right?” he said. “We need to turn it around.”
At the same time, Kahn bent over backward to be respectful to McHale, praising him as “a great man” and “a very special person.”
McHale, of course, had everything to do with that from his perch in the front office (as much as any one man can) and very little to do with it from his two brief stints as coach. I’ve written it before in several places: McHale as coach was pretty good, well beyond his work as team exec. He connected with his players, challenged them, never feared them. He had an intuitive feel for games that you’d expect from a Hall of Fame player, yet didn’t overvalue talent or underrate hard work. He appeared passionate about the teaching, the practices, the development.
However if you analyze the situation, it might have been hard for them to work together because McHale had once held Kahn’s job.
Asked if he would like to coach again if the opportunity presented itself, I was surprised when McHale responded: “We’ll see if something comes up.”
“I’ll be honest, one candidate that probably is flying under the radar in Minnesota is Brian Shaw, who is one of the top assistants for the Lakers right now and has a great basketball mind,” Madsen said…
Like Jefferson, Madsen said he was surprised and disappointed by the news that McHale won’t return.
So was forward Rodney Carney, who is headed to unrestricted free agency.
“It actually disheartens me,” he said. “Mac gave me my chance. I got over here after being traded, and the first coach (Randy Wittman) didn’t really give me a chance. When Mac came in, he believed in me and gave me that chance to show what I can do. I wish he was coming back.”
The level of angst over this decision among the assembled media was comical, when you consider the blasts we would have aimed at Kahn if he had chosen to retain the gentleman most responsible for the Wolves’ dreadful condition.
The defenders of McHale insist that his basketball savvy came to the fore as a coach.
Based on what — that he encouraged his players to push the ball on offense and allowed them to wave at opponents on defense? All members of this team’s fan base (aka Timberwolves Phone Booth) probably would agree that McHale was a better coach than Randy Wittman, and he was a better coach than he was a boss of basketball operations.
Impressive as those two items might be on McHale’s résumé, Kahn is entitled to have a higher standard in selecting an NBA head coach.
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