The waiting is the hardest part
Posted on December 7th, 2008 – 6:56 PMBy Jerry Zgoda
Sunday appears to have come and gone without any major shakeups in the Wolves organization yet, and at least as far as we know.
ESPN.com tonight reported, citing unnamed NBA coaching sources, that GlenTaylor wants McHale to agree to coach the team before Taylor agrees to fire Randy Wittman. That really is, as I posted last night, the only fair, logical next step to this process, isn’t it? That’s assuming, of course, that McHale stays.
The team took the day off from practice and returns tomorrow to prepare for Tuesday’s game against Utah.
Stay tuned.
61 Responses to "The waiting is the hardest part"
McHale and Wittman can go to hell.
Taylor should follow.
Well said Evan.
thats why the Arena will only be 1/3 rd full the rest of the year…who cares..? Mr Taylor better realize the fans are sick & tired of this D league roster,,and will only spend $$ on the Wild!!
Not surprising. Taylor I’m sure spent today weighing the options he has.
Bryan says:
December 7th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Not surprising. Taylor I’m sure spent today weighing the options he has
———-
And thats why Taylor is and always will be the 3rd worst owner in sports behind Al Davis and Ford Jr.
Weighing his options? How about this? Don’t let an incomepetent ex-Celtic ruin the organization for the better part of a decade? Don’t employ a head coach that has failed time and time again?
Taylor’s an idiot and if there’s any consolation in this team being irrelevant, its that his pocketbook is taking a hit.
Hopefully the golddigger he’s married to steals his money in their divorce settlement.
Loved the last two post Jerry. The Wolves den is in flames………Fire the staff, starting with McFail, then Wittless and finally boot McCants crybaby but back to the moon, that dude is a joke!!!!
Eh, I can’t really begrudge Taylor for waiting a few days. If it becomes a week and still nothing, then there’s a problem.
Obviously he’s stuck with McHale for far too long, but firing McHale isn’t just as simple as firing him. Taylor has to have a plan in place first for who’s going to replace him and how the new office dynamic will work. If we fire Wittman, it’s easy to just promote Schicting or make McHale coach the team. But if we fire McHale, who replaces him? There’s no Vice Vice President to name interim VPO, so Taylor has to either pull someone from another department, or set up interviews with people outside the organization. There’s a whole vetting process to plan out. So taking a day or two to make a decision isn’t unreasonable to me. There’s a lot to think through.
Also, while we’re in idle chat mode, anyone tracking what Stephen Curry is doing this year at Davidson? He’s averaging 31 points and 6.4 assists per game. And that’s after not scoring a single point against Loyola. He scored 44 of Davidson’s 72 points last night against NCS. He’s more than doubled his assists while keeping his turnovers the same, he’s getting 3 steals a game, he’s shooting 50%, including 40% from three. And he’s proven without a doubt that he can be a point guard.
I’d keep a close eye on his draft stock.
I’d rather see McHale leave before Wittman, or at the same time. But, at least, if McHale has to coach this collection of inferior talent that he put together, maybe he will figure out that the #1 problem is himself.
knowing our track record the wolves would have curry fall into their laps at 4-5ish and deal him for the guy they really covetted…Tyler you guessed it Hansbrough
should just be a matter of time now
I’ve heard rumors that Taylor has asked McHale to consider coaching until a permanent replacement can be found.
Here is another example of Taylor not realizing what the few remaining fans want. They would like change on a large scale….INCLUDING McHale.
Jerry,
I’m not being sarcastic, but have you noticed any indication that Taylor may be senile?
Ticket sales would increase dramatically if they replaced McHale with a monkey. The Lions of the NBA. Idiots.
just saw it on sportscenter that Wittman is gone.
Actually, this could (with a capital C) be an ingenious move by Taylor if this is what he’s thinking (big if):
Essentially he’ll make McHale his coach of the future, keeping him under his GM contract. Then, he’ll go out and find a legitimate GM and tell McHale to stay on the bench while he gets someone else to run the team. He’ll be backed into a corner, and he’ll eventually keep the coaching gig and realize it is where he was supposed to be in the first place (he did have some success and knows the game, just can’t evaluate talent or crunch numbers).
I can dream right?
wow…WOW:
my (Taylor’s) ingenious master plan is being set into motion…i think
well…looking at it online is that Taylor wants mchale to coach if wittman is fired?? Jerry I really wish we could talk about this on the phone it would make it so much easier for me to post…but I hope Taylor knows what he’s doing…at any rate, Wittman has never been a good fit for this team…really?? i’m a genius…so good of me to state the obvious…come on Taylor S**T or get off the pot!!
With all this speculation going on, Wittman’s got no credibility left. The players know he’s a dead man walking. Whether McHale is the coach or not, Wittman can’t be the coach on Tuesday.
And, doesn’t Taylor see the writing on the wall yet? How many more times does Taylor have to go through the “Oh yeah? Well then YOU coach them” routine before he realizes where the problem truly lies?
McHale needs to be gone, period. He can’t be the coach only. No one credible is going to come in to be the GM or VPBO if McHale is still in the organization.
So Mcfail doesn’t want to take the coaching job because he doesn’t want to get heckled every home game or is it because he is just plain lazy?
Sean, i think between you, me and Brian we could take better care of this team than the current barn full of morons…
this team needs change…needs it quickly and needs it badly as if that’s not an understatement
i don’t think McHale has enough sweaters to coach 60games
wW - I can be your european scout 
that works…me sure to comb through spain, germany and italy
be = me
draft stuff
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftWatch-081204
hey I know some spanish, that could work
what is everyone’s thoughts on a megadeal with Charlotte to do this
We get: Wallace and Felton
They get: Collins, McCants, Boston Pick
I don’t know why Charlotte would do that deal.
And, I’m not real high on Wallace, given his history of concussions. He’s one hard fall from being out of the league and he’s still got a lot of money and time left on his deal.
There has been rumblings of Collins and McCants for Wallace; Wallace if he stays healthy is a solid scorer and makes a reasonable 8-10 mill on his deal over the next few years. They are also considering trading Felton (from what I can gather) because they have a young guy that he is essentially blocking. A first rounder is what they’d want for him I’d guess, maybe throw in an expiring contract like Booth.
i like the deal…gets rid of mccants who seems to be kind of a virus right now…other than that, i’m not high on felton…wallace is a great player if he can stay healthy
wW - Felton is no star, but he is a solid PG and has shown to be very effective. We need a true PG that can score on occassion (he does get 10+) as well as pass well (about 7 assists a game, and regularly eclipses 10). He also plays good Defense and his contract ends in 2010.
and i suppose w/ dj augustine sitting behind him…they are ready to move him…i don’t know… seems the wolves would then have the opposite problem…too many points…and put the wolves back in the same position it’s been in…crowded back court
The deal (as shown above) is essentially Wallace and Felton for the Boston pick. No way that happens.
not necessarily - we could throw in Ollie to help groom Augustine and have it so Felton would start, Telfair backs up, and Foye becomes a combo guard.
nope…that would be way too smart for McHale to pull off…even though…he has proven to make a couple okay moves recently
Sean - as opposed too…(nothing) for Wallace as the rumors have been portrayed? they could use a big man and a 2 (McCants might do better on a team that could use his scoring - as frustrating as he is) plus they’d dump salary and would be able to get younger with the pick (if it makes you happy, we could offer one of the others we have instead - moves up a few spots).
since the bobcats are the lowest scoring team in the nba this year, acquiring mccants makes sense to them
and Wallace’s head - we have access to the (2nd) best hospital in the nation (Mayo is a 90 minute drive away). I am sure we can figure it out
The Bobcats aren’t going to resign Collins, so his purpose would only be for salary matching. McCants may do better there, but he’s also facing free agency.
Why do you think the Bobcats want to get younger? They’re already young, and they hired Larry Brown as a coach. That’s a sign that you’re not on a long-term plan. The Bobcats want to get better now.
larry brown has turned into the town bicycle…everybody gets a ride and his genious and coaching ability has been drowned out by his failures in his last three coaching tenures.
they also shave off 13-14 mill in salary cap money next year to use on a stud free agent. having 2 first rounders (their own being pretty high I’d reckon) and money to spend next year makes them dangerous.
dangerous = how can they “F” it up
lol…and sad
unless you’re talking about the bobcats
thats who im talking about wW 
(the wolves take on salary here, not shave it off).
figured as much
Last three coaching tenures? Didn’t he win a title with the Pistons?
Pistons
Knicks
Bobcats
Those are his last three coaching jobs.
your thoughts on the trade jama?
med
I think Wallace is an above average player but I wouldn’t take on his contract. I actually think this is going to be McHale’s last year involved with the Wolves. I hope they clean hosue and bring in a new GM who runs the whole show. In that scenario I would prefer that the new GM/VP of BBO have as much flexibility as possible. Trading for Wallace would drastically cut the cap space the Wolves are going to have over the next couple of seasons.
Now if you could throw Cardinals contract into the trade I think you have to pull the trigger, otherwise I would rather trade for a PG or C. I don’t think an athletic wing is the biggest need at this point.
2pm press conference according kfan
Witt officially gone…McHale steps in…
On KFAN:
=== Wittman gets the axe in Minnesota; McHale to take over ===
Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired head
coach Randy Wittman and replaced him with vice president of basketball
operations Kevin McHale.
Details to follow.
12/08 11:49:07 ET
deja vu
One down one to go. Jerry is also reporting this.
Bring back Flip!!!!
Taylor is very smart. In finding ways to make people actually go to games he has come up with the perfect ploy. McHale now has to sit on the bench and the entire attendance can spend 3 hours using him as a verbal dunk tank target.
It will be so much fun to hear organize chants like “Brandon Roy…clap,clap,clap…O.J. Mayo…clap, clap, clap…”
I might even fork over a buck or two to join in the derision. It’s the only thing that would make me go down to that freak show.
Every night for the rest of the season, all game long. McHale should have just resigned since it is about to get VERY ugly in Target Center. They might have to pull the sound from the broadcasts so as not to violate FCC standards.
This organization gets more dysfunctional by the day.
“McHale will step down from his front-office duties to concentrate on coaching.”
Is the GM responsible for anything on this team? Show Kevin the door and someone give Flip a call already.
Kevin McHale is not the GM and has not been the GM of this team all season. He is the VP of Basketball Operations. Jim Stack in the GM.
Bring back Flip!!
new thread…just saying…
Apparently, McHale has stepped down as VPBO and will now be head coach only.
