Reviewing McHale, Taylor and the Wolves
Posted by enjoygame on Friday, February 6, 2009
Reviewing McHale, Taylor and the Wolves
It’s good that the Minnesota Timberwolves are winning more games than they’re losing, and to not wish Kevin McHale success would be mean and small-minded. However, the realization that 13 years have come and gone since McHale’s accession is mind boggling. To be fair, there were two occasions during those years where we can applaud Glen Taylor owner and Kevin McHale. The first was drafting Kevin Garnett in 1995 when McHale assumed the post of vice-president of basketball operations. Looking at it now, it seems that was a slam dunk of a decision,Shox TL 2 but Garnett did not go until the fifth choice of the draft, so one has to give McHale some credit as a talent evaluator. However, that’s more than 13 years ago. If one stands back and takes a philosophical view — the long view— of the Timberwolves during the McHale era, you might question the Garnett acquisition and his 12 years with the Wolves. I’m not an apologist for McHale, but Garnett had an immense influence on the Timberwolves and their lack of achievement. His signing for $126 million over six years was the largest contract ever awarded in professional sports at that point. In fact, led to a lockout by the owners and eliminated most of the 1998-1999 season. The NBA management finally reached an agreement with the players union that banned future contracts that big. However, Garnett and other players were grandfathered and Garnett a few years down the road eventually signed another Nike Men Air Force 1 Lowmonstrous contract thought to be $20 million a year for five years. The amount of money accruing to Garnett had to be a huge financial drag on the team, and to be fair, the money options left to McHale for other players. Garnett is a tremendous force on a team and pretty much by himself took the Timberwolves to the playoffs year after year. But each year the team, without an effective point guard and a rebounding center, would face a first round playoff exit. The one exception was the year that McHale and Flip Saunders, Timberwolves coach, had good things happen when Sam Cassell, point guard, and Latrell Sprewell, a slashing forward, joined UGG Nightfallforces with Garnett and led the team to Western Conference finals. That fell apart the following year when a squabble over money and injuries limited the effectiveness of Cassell and Sprewell and the Timberwolves reverted to form. McHale in subsequent years was unable to recreate that year’s magic with his draft choices and talent evaluation. He eventually came to the conclusion that with Garnett growing older and the drag of his salary, he had to be traded. I have always wondered that given McHale’s inability to create a truly contending team with Garnett, why he wasn’t fired? Two reasons come to mind: 1. McHale is very loyal. Never in those dozen years did I hear him say anything negative about owner Glen Taylor. I also believe that to be true of Taylor. 2. McHale wasn’t really running the team, Taylor was. Remember when the Timberwolves were punished by the league for its undercover written contract with forward Joe Smith. I don’t Shox CLknow how much Garnett had to do with it. Probably nothing, but I remember that Smith was his close friend and I think management was trying to keep him happy. (Smith really wasn’t that good.) Taylor took the rap. We all thought Taylor was just covering for McHale. Maybe not, maybe Taylor was the dominant one managing the team and McHale was just the front man. We’ll probably never know. I don’t think Taylor or McHale will ever write a tell-all book. In any case it’s good to seeUGG Oliviya the Timberwolves win a few games with its present team, but they still have a ways to go, as witness their recent efforts against Detroit and Los Angeles.
It’s good that the Minnesota Timberwolves are winning more games than they’re losing, and to not wish Kevin McHale success would be mean and small-minded. However, the realization that 13 years have come and gone since McHale’s accession is mind boggling. To be fair, there were two occasions during those years where we can applaud Glen Taylor owner and Kevin McHale. The first was drafting Kevin Garnett in 1995 when McHale assumed the post of vice-president of basketball operations. Looking at it now, it seems that was a slam dunk of a decision,Shox TL 2 but Garnett did not go until the fifth choice of the draft, so one has to give McHale some credit as a talent evaluator. However, that’s more than 13 years ago. If one stands back and takes a philosophical view — the long view— of the Timberwolves during the McHale era, you might question the Garnett acquisition and his 12 years with the Wolves. I’m not an apologist for McHale, but Garnett had an immense influence on the Timberwolves and their lack of achievement. His signing for $126 million over six years was the largest contract ever awarded in professional sports at that point. In fact, led to a lockout by the owners and eliminated most of the 1998-1999 season. The NBA management finally reached an agreement with the players union that banned future contracts that big. However, Garnett and other players were grandfathered and Garnett a few years down the road eventually signed another Nike Men Air Force 1 Lowmonstrous contract thought to be $20 million a year for five years. The amount of money accruing to Garnett had to be a huge financial drag on the team, and to be fair, the money options left to McHale for other players. Garnett is a tremendous force on a team and pretty much by himself took the Timberwolves to the playoffs year after year. But each year the team, without an effective point guard and a rebounding center, would face a first round playoff exit. The one exception was the year that McHale and Flip Saunders, Timberwolves coach, had good things happen when Sam Cassell, point guard, and Latrell Sprewell, a slashing forward, joined UGG Nightfallforces with Garnett and led the team to Western Conference finals. That fell apart the following year when a squabble over money and injuries limited the effectiveness of Cassell and Sprewell and the Timberwolves reverted to form. McHale in subsequent years was unable to recreate that year’s magic with his draft choices and talent evaluation. He eventually came to the conclusion that with Garnett growing older and the drag of his salary, he had to be traded. I have always wondered that given McHale’s inability to create a truly contending team with Garnett, why he wasn’t fired? Two reasons come to mind: 1. McHale is very loyal. Never in those dozen years did I hear him say anything negative about owner Glen Taylor. I also believe that to be true of Taylor. 2. McHale wasn’t really running the team, Taylor was. Remember when the Timberwolves were punished by the league for its undercover written contract with forward Joe Smith. I don’t Shox CLknow how much Garnett had to do with it. Probably nothing, but I remember that Smith was his close friend and I think management was trying to keep him happy. (Smith really wasn’t that good.) Taylor took the rap. We all thought Taylor was just covering for McHale. Maybe not, maybe Taylor was the dominant one managing the team and McHale was just the front man. We’ll probably never know. I don’t think Taylor or McHale will ever write a tell-all book. In any case it’s good to seeUGG Oliviya the Timberwolves win a few games with its present team, but they still have a ways to go, as witness their recent efforts against Detroit and Los Angeles.
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