Today there are a lot of souls in this town who in their next lives probably hope to have a boss like Glen Taylor. Angry fans and skeptical media aside, Kevin McHale told reporters and a local TV audience yesterday he is returning as the basketball boss of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Shaky personnel moves, fired coaches, bottom feeding finishes in the standings and three straight misses at the playoffs aren’t enough for either Taylor or McHale to make a change. Taylor is loyal to McHale and has confidence in him, even though the Wolves finished with their worst regular season record since 1996. And it’s not just team performance that is under performing because Taylor told Sports Headliners recently that the franchise will probably lose money this season.
The team’s marketers are doing all they can to add and retain season ticket holders. A team spokesman said the Wolves have sold 611 of the new $20 lower level season tickets. A year ago yesterday new season ticket sales were at 37, he said. The Wolves sold about 7,000 season tickets last season and hope to sell 7,000 to 8,000 for 2007-08.
The Wolves are a tough sell right now. A lot of season ticket holders are down on the team while others in the public are either so mad or apathetic they don’t want to talk Wolves.
In a Target Center hallway yesterday, away from the media who had questioned his competency, McHale told Sports Headliners the news conference wasn’t emotionally difficult for him. What’s been so painful, he said, is watching his team lose so many games in a season that began with playoff hopes (final record: 32-50).
“I did a bad job.” That was among McHale’s opening sentences at the news conference. Throughout the session with reporters he offered no excuses, gave no spin and didn’t blame others in the front office. Describing the season as a “disaster” and admitting the Wolves have experienced “three consecutive bad seasons,” McHale was blunt in his self-assessment.
He and Taylor have talked about a time when there should be a change but they’ve decided it’s not now. “Do I deserve (another) chance?” McHale asked. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”
McHale and Taylor have worked together for more than 10 years. He saw the Wolves improve during his first several years including consecutive playoff appearances from 1997-2004. The 2004 team made the Western Conference finals.
“I just don’t want to walk away when the team is in this stage,” McHale said. “I would much rather walk away when the team in on better footing. …It has not worked out great here. Some of the things we tried to do here in patch working did not work. …”
Taylor said last month the franchise drifted from its team oriented plan to more of a quick fix approach of if “we can get just one more player it will probably get us over the hump.”
McHale said he is returning because he likes challenges. He has a mega challenge with the Wolves who don’t have enough size, players who don’t play well together, too many major guaranteed contracts and too few No. 1 draft choices in the years ahead.