The Wolves season ended last night. It makes sense that the game will end Kevin McHale’s association with the franchise. This spring just might see another major development: the hiring of a new coach with franchise ties.
There are so many valid reasons for McHale not to return as coach that the logic dwarfs contrary positions. The franchise that’s missed the playoffs for five consecutive seasons has HELP written all over it.
The Wolves need to restructure their basketball operation from the basement to the upper levels. Neither performance nor public perception warrants any other direction.
Coaching has value in the NBA but talent more so. For about 15 years McHale and others in the front office have frequently disappointed with personnel decisions. Pick your decade including years ago when the Wolves under-valued Chauncey Billups and couldn’t convince him to stay here, or the improper contract procedure charged by the NBA over Joe Smith and ultimately a penalty that cost the team five first round draft choices. More recently missteps have included these draft night blunders: trading future Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy for Randy Foye, and giving up Mario Chalmers, among this year’s best rookies, for cash and two 2009 second round draft picks in a 2008 deal with Miami.
McHale impressed years ago when he drafted Kevin Garnett as a teenager out of high school. But picking high schooler Ndu Ebi in 2003 on the first round was as bitter as the Garnett choice was sweet.
McHale impressed again in December when he left his executive position to replace Randy Wittman as coach. In January the team was among the hottest in the NBA and McHale deserved credit for instilling confidence and enthusiasm in his players. Not so impressive, though, has the performance of McHale and the players been since star center Al Jefferson was injured, with a record of 7-27 since February 4.
Owner Glen Taylor has promised a new basketball decision maker in the front office. Presumably that executive will have the authority to employ the coach of his choice. It seems improbable that the new hire would want to retain McHale, a person with such a long history of power, success and failure with the franchise.
Why, too, would McHale want to continue with the organization? Taylor is on record multiple times saying McHale will not return to the front office. McHale dislikes traveling and the 51-year-old looks like he’s aging faster than he should.
The one-time Hibbing schoolboy star whose Gophers jersey is memorialized at Williams Arena won three NBA titles with Boston and is officially included among the league’s 50 greatest players. Now he walks with a noticeable limp (he courageously played for Boston with a broken foot) and his reputation has been bruised for years in his home state. He should recognize it’s time to move on.