Empty the Bench

“Hey, why not?”

Kevin McHale Photo Credit: Icon SMI

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune this afternoon, “The Timberwolves fired head coach Randy Wittman this morning and replaced him with Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale, but the big news out of Target Center is that McHale will relinquish his front-office duties to concentrate on coaching.”

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Randy Wittman was relieved of duty as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves today. The Wolves were 4-15 under Wittman this season and 38-105 overall since he was hired. They were also coming off an embarrassing 23-point loss at home to the Clippers, perhaps the worst team in basketball. In fact, it was criminal that Wittman was asked to helm the ship for another go-nowhere campaign – but then again, with Kevin McHale calling the shots decisions of criminal incompetence have become par for the course.

What is surprising, but perhaps should not be, is who McHale named as Wittman’s successor. Borrowing a play out of Isiah Thomas’s book, Big Kev named himself as the next head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Again. You’ll recall that he went 19-12 in the final 31 games of 2004-05 after firing Flip Saunders. In typical McHale fashion there was a complete lack of foresight and planning and no successor had been groomed or considered in the last few seasons. And with typical Glen Taylor frugality on the sidelines, we have to wonder if simply not wanting to pay anyone factored into the decision.

Why Wittman had to go, after the jump…

Wittman had clearly lost the locker room and the respect of his players. He had also lost the respect of Wolves observers with his inability to get execution and maximum effort out of his team each night. It’s hard to tell if the players were consciously not working and playing hard under Wittman or if Wittman was not putting them in a position to succeed. There had been complaints from Wittman that the players were not following the game plan, but who knows if that was because they were incapable, unwilling or the game plan was simply garbage. It was likely a combination of all three. The late-game troubles were certainly a combination of those factors, with some lack of seasoning mixed in.

“If this doesn’t work, it’ll be on me,” McHale said. “The thing I told Glen is that nothing changes with the plan. The plan stays the same. We have a lot of cap room in the future. We have multiple (draft) picks. Nothing’s going to change. The only change is that I’m going to spending all my time coaching.”

The cabal of McHale and Taylor have been running this franchise into the ground with one bad move after another over the last decade. Taylor’s biggest sin has been his stubborn refusal to fire McHale, unquestionably the worst personnel man in professional sports. McHale’s sins have been too numerous to count here (see the Related Reading below), hence the Star Trib’s line, “the big news out of Target Center is that McHale will relinquish his front-office duties to concentrate on coaching.”

Hallelujah.

McHale’s most recent egregious error was trading away the draft rights of O.J. Mayo and some bad contracts for the rights of Kevin Love and the services of Mike Miller this summer. Mayo is looking like a superstar in the making while averaging 21 points, 4.4 boards, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.9 triples on 47% FGs and 87% FTs. Love is looking like a mediocre-at-best big man while averaging 9.2 points, 7.1 boards and 1.2 assists on 42% FGs and 82% FTs. O.J. Mayo is a Rookie of the Year candidate. Kevin Love is not. Stubborn as a mule, and with blinders to match, look for McHale to give Love all the minutes he can handle.

If I were convinced McHale’s days of making front-office decisions were over this column would be twice as long, but it I’m not. This isn’t over just yet. Hey, at least there’s some poetic justice in McHale having to coach this bunch of misfits he’s assembled, right Wolves fans?

The expectations this season weren’t for playoff success, but another season as one of the bottom five teams in the NBA was not in the rebuilding blueprints. Eventually rebuilding needs to show some signs of change, and with the exception of Al Jefferson’s improved peripherals and defense this team has displayed absolutely no improvement. In fact, they’ve regressed.

As Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune said, Wittman has a little too much Bobby Knight in him and that doesn’t play at the NBA level – especially with frustrated but talented youngsters with little or no college experience. Wittman had to go, no question. But if you’re going to fire somebody you might want to have a backup plan other than taking over his job yourself.

It’s fucking typical. If nothing else, you can say the Timberwolves are consistent.

Related Reading:

- Counting Down the Worst Teams in the Western Conference
- Sometimes Love Hurts – Minnesota Timberwolves Season Preview
- Why Kevin McHale Still Doesn’t Get it and Kevin Love Won’t Fit in Minnesota