From Marc Stein/ESPN:
Having watched over the years how McHale interacts with players — with respect coming back his way thanks to those three titles with the Celtics — I believe he enjoys the coaching and teaching part of the game much more than you’d think. That’s in spite of his lack of traditional coaching experience, which was hard to miss when the Mavs quickly sliced a 29-point deficit to nine points in a span of about six minutes, during which McHale made zero substitutions and settled for just one timeout.
The sense I get, though, is that McHale’s well-chronicled aversion to travel is even more acute than he talks about. So even if the Wolves make a marked improvement during the second half of season, I’m struggling to picture McHale coaching this team beyond April.
Which brings us back to the big questions that owner Glen Taylor brushed off when Wittman was fired on Dec. 8: Will McHale be allowed to return to his front-office gig at season’s end? Or will McHale and Taylor finally part ways for good if the Wolves don’t pick it up dramatically?
If it’s the latter, I still expect McHale to walk away with some sort of special adviser title because of McHale’s longstanding association with Taylor and because Minnesota has been making decisions by committee for some time. We repeat: McHale is always likely to have Taylor’s ear to some degree.
Learning curve: Not usually at a loss for words, Minnesota coach Kevin McHale was a bit hesitant Saturday when asked how it’s been going since he moved down from the front office to the bench to replace the fired Randy Wittman in early December
“It has had its moments,” McHale said while seated outside Minnesota’s locker room. “It’s been difficult just getting yourself up to speed with what the players know and trying not to confuse them. It’s been, um, it’s been an interesting three weeks.”
From Brokenteeth at Canis Hoopus: Foye in perspective or (Randy and the curious case of Gary Payton.)
After a brutal December, the Wolves finally get a favorable schedule where they should — should — be able to win some games. Their first visit to Memphis is a rematch of Monday’s overtime game. Former Wolf Scott Brooks brings the transplanted Thunder to Minnesota for the first time on Wednesday.
When I left the Target Center Friday night after the Wolves defeated the Golden State Warriors, I acknowledged a palpable difference in the team and in the locker room. For the first time this season, I was almost expecting the team to win in Chicago because of the different vibe from the players. Fighting with myself throughout the day, I figured they couldn’t possibly win two in a row–and four of their last six–could they?
But you can enlist a little more protection. Miller had kept his ankles tightly wrapped with tape, like most NBA players, “but I still turned it a couple of times,” he said, including the reinjury on Dec. 20 that cost him the past five games. So for the foreseeable future, Miller is going to wear a stiff brace on his ankle in hopes of staying on the floor.
The ankle, which caused Miller to miss nine games overall in December, is still sore, the nine-year veteran said, but “good enough to play on. … I want to try and make an impact enough that we can win some games.”
Not much from the Minnesota side, either, except I had a nice chat with former Tolono, Illinois standout Brian Cardinal. I know he gets a lot of crap for having such a huge contract, but he’s really a nice guy and something of a hero in the central part of the state.
From C.J./Star Tribune:
Perezhilton.com reports that animal lover Khloe Kardashian has been petting a Timberwolf.
“The youngest of the Kardashian trio is seeing Minnesota Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants. And E! online is confirming the happy news about the love birds, adding that her big sis Kim Kardashian introduced them,” reads Perez.
A Timberwolves insider confirmed Friday that Khloe has attended a couple of games here.
Jerry Zgoda/Star Tribune on former Timberwolves player Scott Roth.
From Contra Costa Times:
It all adds up to some resentment from the Timberwolves faithful, who seem to have a naturally pessimistic view about their sports teams. The small-budget Twins have let big-name free agents sign with other organizations, and today’s NFL Wildcard game between the Vikings and Philadelphia still had 3,100 unsold seats as of Friday night.
“Any time you can win, that’s all we worry about around here right now,” said Timberwolves forward Mike Miller, who had seven points and five rebounds in his team’s win over the Warriors. “We got another one there. We’re happy about that and moving on to Chicago (Saturday).”
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