Britt Robson/On The Ball posts a recent interview he conducted with Wolves GM Jim Stack.
JS: I wasn’t saying that Love is a great leaper or a great athlete, because we know he is not. But I think when you put him in certain situations–like what Kevin [McHale] is trying to do, which is get him more on the baseline, catching the ball and going to the rim. Whereas when Randy [Wittman] was coaching him, Randy coached Dwight Howard in Orlando, they had this thing called circling under, where as the guard in the high pick-and-roll is coming off, you [the big] try to get in front of your man and create that lane to the bucket. And if the guard can’t turn the corner, you try and hit that big in the lane near the basket, and that is not really Kevin’s game. And Randy was trying to incorporate that and did incorporate that with us. It was the exact opposite of how I thought the kid should be used.
Stan McNeal/SportingNews has a Q&A with Randy Foye.
SN: What’s been the big difference since McHale took over?
Foye: Being more aggressive and confident, and that’s for the team and me. Most of the confidence has come since Kevin McHale took over. He’s always telling us he wants us to play our game and be the players we were drafted to be.
SN: So how much credit does McHale deserve for the team’s recent resurgence?
Foye: I’d say it’s been 50 percent from the players, and 50 percent him.
When it comes to individuals, that’s where McHale has made his biggest mark. His personality — a little too cocky, a bit too glib and awfully casual for the executive suite — serves him well in the locker room and on the bench. Unlike a number of his NBA coaching peers, McHale doesn’t fear or resent the power his players hold, in terms of guaranteed, multimillion-dollar financial commitments. And more than any been-there, done-that connection with these guys, McHale isn’t a careerist in this line of work, with one eye on the standings and the other on his next job somewhere…
There also is a little double-standard in play here: One of the reasons McHale went from Dwane Casey to Wittman in January 2007 was his desire for a firmer hand, someone to challenge and push the players. Now that bad-cop Wittman is gone, McHale has been able to play the good cop, helping them to relax. “It’s just fun the way McHale lets us play,” Foye said recently.
Mostly, though, McHale’s handling of the team — its rotation, its preparation and its temperament — has helped to thaw its performance. He has a couple of distinct advantages on Wittman. First, the players have no court of appeals now, no backs behind which to go, now that they’re playing directly for the guy who drafted, traded for or signed them. Second, the current head coach doesn’t have the VP second-guessing him; there is a single voice.
But McHale also has been able to transfuse his roster with some of the basketball common sense and casual confidence that earned him three NBA championship rings and a Hall of Fame enshrinement. He works games with loose reins (sometimes too loose, sitting on timeouts during the collapse at Dallas), allows the locker room to breathe and has a don’t-BS-a-BS-er rapport with his players.
Stop-N-Pop/Canis Hoopus on predictions and prescriptions for front office/coaching and personnel issues facing the team
Mike Miller has scored just 33 points in six games since returning from his second sprained right ankle, but Wolves coach Kevin McHale said he isn’t concerned that his shooting guard has lost his shooting touch.
“It’ll come back,” McHale said after today’s practice. “I’m not worried about it.”
Miller, who came to Minnesota with a reputation as a knockdown jump shooter, has hit just 10 of 33 shots (30.3 percent) during his slump, but McHale said it’s all part of the game.
Benjamin Polk/City Pages on Tuesday’s loss to Miami.
Whether because of his ankle injuries, or a loss of confidence, or just a strange, sudden outburst of South Dakota reticence, Miller has been unable or unwilling to find his balance and shoot without shame.
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ five-game winning streak came to an end against the Miami Heat on Tuesday, but the heat now seems to be on a Wolves player, Rashard McCants, who has seen his minutes get less and less since Kevin McHale took over, and as the team started winning. When he has gotten on the floor, McCants’ play seems indicative of a player who has taken up residence in the coach’s doghouse: unenthusiastic and unproductive. I do appreciate McHale’s seeming plan of playing whomever he needs to help the team win, no matter who they are. He’s making them earn their minutes, and who in life can ask for anything more?