Deadspin: kevin mchale

The Great Kevin McHale Experiment Is Over In Minnesota

Dashiell Bennett — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:45:00 EDT

After 15 seasons running the Timberwolves, Kevin McHale's services will no longer be needed. (According only to Kevin Love's Twitter? Jeebus.) Man, just eight or nine more years and I think he would have had it. [Pioneer Press; SportsBank]

Kevin McHale: Global Warming Denialist?

Tommy Craggs — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:05:42 EDT

"25 years ago it was Global Cooling and they were telling us we were going to freeze to death....so when they tell you all about global warming don't worry about it." [Mad Dog Blog]

McHale Has Isolated Reason For T-Wolves Suckitude

DAULERIO — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:15:16 EST

"There’s just so many bloggers; everybody’s got an opinion. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. Sometimes that starts forming the opinion of people in front offices, too, and owner. It’s been kind of a crazy year so far.” [The Wire via SPP]

Kevin McHale To Take A More Active Role In The Failure Of The Timberwolves

Dashiell Bennett — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:30:00 EST

The Minnesota Timberwolves are 4-15, which is not the worst record in their division, but it's far from the best. Obviously, Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale will not tolerate such underachievement, so he has rightly fired head coach Randy Wittman and replaced him with the only man fit to order this team around the floor—himself.

That's right. Kevin McHale apparently got tired of Matt Millen taking all his "worst GM in history" thunder, and now that Millen is out of the picture, he's seizing the opportunity to take Minnesota's futility to hilarious new heights. McHale actually ran the show once before, playing out the string after firing Flip Saunders towards the end of '05 and acquitted himself well, with a 19-12 record. Of course, that team still had Kevin Garnett and was not (quite as) laughably bad as this one.

“Kevin has assembled the players on this team, and believes in their talent and skill level,” [Timberwolves owner Glen] Taylor said. “It is my expectation that Kevin will be able to get the most out of our team and our players in his new role as head coach.”

This is the 14th season that McHale has had his job. Fourteen. From one Lions fan to the Minny faithful, I can only say, "This too shall pass. It's got to, right?"

Timberwolves fire coach Randy Wittman; Kevin McHale takes over coaching duties [Inside Hoops]
Timberwolves fire coach Randy Wittman [AP]
Create-a-caption: Ballin' on a prayer [Ball Don't Lie]
Timberwolves Game Recap (Brandon): So this is how the Randy Wittman era ends [Star-Tribune]

Kevin McHale Is The Best General Manager In The History Of Sports

mjdeadspin — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:00:00 EST

Forbes came up with a system to rank all of the general managers currently working in sports. Kevin McHale ranks first. Forbes needs a new system.

I like the concept... this could have been an interesting list. But when you can't get past the first line without thinking, "Okay, this is not to be taken seriously," it sort of takes the fun away. The ranking encompass the major American professional sports, and also the NHL. One of the major criteria is the improvement in winning percentage over the previous GM, so on this list, it behooves you to take over for a real jackass.

The Wolves were an expansion team in 89/90, predictably were terrible for a few years. McHale, shown above recruiting talent to put next to Kevin Garnett, took over the Wolves job six years after they came into existence, drafted Garnett, and then took the next 11 years off. Kevin Garnett's opinion was evidently not a major factor in the ranking process.

The Sixers Billy King ranks third on the list, another bizarre selection. But that's not to say that Forbes got everything wrong. The Colts' Bill Polian, the Bulls John Paxson, the Pistons' Joe Dumars, and the Patriots' Scott Pioli all rank in the top 20, and Matt Millen of the Detroit Lions ranks 96th out of a possible 98. That seems about right.

Best General Managers In Sports [Forbes]