The Timberwolves' new head of basketball operations had his scheduled dinner meeting with Kevin McHale on Tuesday night, but the coach's future with the team remains uncertain.
David Kahn, who was hired Friday, confirmed the meeting but otherwise had no comment.
With Kahn scheduled to leave this morning for a three-day NBA draft combine in Chicago, a decision on McHale likely will have to wait until at least next week.
Remeber, Kahn HAS that authority.
over 2 years ago
wyn
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Kahn has the authority to order "appeteasers"
McHale leads when they dance.
by feral on May 27, 2009 9:50 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
I think the best route with McHale..
is to bring him back as big man coach. It allows him to continue to work with our bigs in practice, which he clearly enjoys, allows him to save face, by not being fired, and allows him to avoid travel, which he loathes.
I’ve tought about the same thing, though I don’t think he’d wanna do that just for the “Career dwindling down” kind of thing.
Beater of the early Thabeet drum ... but not so much of the late one
by Wim (Belgium) on May 28, 2009 3:46 AM CDT up reply actions
If this thing drags on...
I’m not going to be happy. They’ve got to get it together. The GM search was so sloppy and embarrassing, they can’t afford that with a coach. My concern is if they let McHale hem and haw for weeks, then he doesn’t come back, will any good coach actually want tihs job?
by Eric in Madison on May 27, 2009 10:42 AM CDT reply actions
I think we are saying the same thing...
It is clear that he doesn’t like the travel, but is not ready to retire. We don’t want a coach who hates his job or doesn’t want to put in the time, which is why I think keeping him as an assistant big man coach makes sense. it also frees us up to pursue legit candidates right now.
I'm not against this theoretically, though I don't know if McHale would do it
but I have a question: What’s with this mania for keeping/bringing back guys from the organization all the time. I mean, instead of firing McHale, he gets made coach. Then, he gets to decide (or not) whether to stay the coach.
Hiring an outside person for the GM job was like freaking giving birth. Seriously. Gotta keep the Mayor around; can’t live without Bobcocks and Stacks.
Then there’s the “Hire Sam Mitchell” brigrade. Not to say he wouldn’t be a good coach, but Jeez, could we look elsewhere? Could we change the culture? It’s OK if McHale isn’t a part of this organization.
The Twins are very similar. They are obsessed with hiring from within. That’s not a bad thing, especially in a successful organization (ahem). But sometimes you need fresh vision to avoid getting stale.
by Eric in Madison on May 27, 2009 11:20 AM CDT up reply actions
I don't disagree with what you are saying...
I only suggest this because Taylor is obviously against firing him, or it would have happened by now, and the players clearly like him as their coach.
Is that so?
Do we really know if the players like McHale as coach? Players say nice things about their coach until they aren’t the coach anymore, at which time they start talking nice about the new coach.
And even if they actually do like McHale, so what? No one on this team has earned the right to pout over a coaching decision. Kahn needs to do the right thing for the organization, not coddle particular players.
Absolutely correct
The leading players on this team are good guys (from what we see and hear). Players rarely throw a coach under the bus, especially ones like Foye, Miller, AlJeff, and Love. Besides, even if they hated him, he’s not gone yet, so it wouldn’t make any sense to bash him.
And I’ll take a 50-win team with coach-hating players over a Lotto-bound Lovefest any day.
Foye is a case in point
Randy Foye, at the end of every training session with a personal trainer I know, goes out of his way to say “Thanks, coach” to her. He’s unfailingly polite.
Wild vs Wolves
I believe that the NHL draft is around the same time as the NBA draft. Both the Wolves and the Wild hired new front office leaders last Friday. The Wolves new guy says there is not enough time to hire new front office people or search for a coach before the draft. Kahn has even suggested that it is not a priority to have a coach before the draft. Meanwhile, the Wild leader is conducting a full blown coaching search and wants to have a coach before the draft.
I love how Kahn says the organization will not be outworked but that it’s just too much work to run a coaching search and prepare for the draft. What a pant load of something,
I hear you
but in basketball (I don’t know hockey as well), talent comes first and then you worry about developing an identity and finding the right coach for that talent. I’m totally on board with Kahn’s laser-like focus on the draft and subsequent free agency. Let’s find out whose aboard the ship talent-wise, then start thinking about what kind of identity we want the team to have, then go out and get a coach that can help re-inforce and nurture that identity. The head coach is the least of my worries this offseason. It’s what we do talent-wise that matters most to me. Then I’ll get worried about getting the right coach for that talent. Of course the McHale situation makes this whole process kind of bass-ackwards.
by Rascal Flatts on May 27, 2009 11:59 AM CDT up reply actions
The difference is
that the Wolves hired a guy who hasn’t been involved in day-to-day personnel stuff for a while. So if he’s going to make the final decision, he’s got to get up to speed on the league and who is in the draft. Fletcher’s been living it, so he doesn’t need to cram for the draft or free agency. I would also argue that hiring a coach is critical for Fletcher if he is serious about taking a run at resigning Gaborik. Having a coach in place who brings a non-Lemaire vibe could be quite useful in that quest.
I don't think Kahn is as out of it as we assumed
Certainly, he hasn’t been following the NBA from a direct position, but (if he’s to be believed) he spent a lot of time in the last year following the Wolves. I’m sure he prepped pretty hard for the presser, but I was impressed by his recounting of a specific series of Wolves games mid-season that he clearly watched intently.
He definitely needs to be working his tail off, but I don’t think he’s walking in blind.
www.canishoopus.com
of course, Fletcher
was the ideal/most desireable hire for the Wild, while Khan was the 4th choice for the Wolves. In fact reading up on the approach the Wild took to hire their new GM, and comparing it to the process used by PG is really frustrating for a T-Wolves fan, the wild hiring process was exceedingly professional and well orginized, and conducted with out any major leaks or embaressments during the process, was started at about the same time as the Wolves and finnished at about the same time as the wolves, even though the Wolves had several more months to prepair then the Wild. Ughh!
Will the Real Thor Please Stand Up ... ?
If we were fans of a hiring process
I would surely be dissapointed that the wolves performed so poorly. Although an effective hiring process can help limit your choices to the best possible candidates and may statistically increase your odds of success, it’s all a roll of the dice.
Kahn was the 4th choice. Fletcher was the 1st choice. That doesn’t mean that Kahn is doomed to failure and Fletcher is going to be in a parade. Ultimately these two franchises will be decided by decisions from these two men, and one year from now when both teams are approaching the 2010 drafts, we will hae a lot more information to judge who got the best guy.
Third choice, probably.
Randy Pfund may have conspicuously had his hat in the ring, but we don’t have any real indication that the team considered him a finalist, let alone ranked him above Kahn.
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