say goodbye to the rockets

[mrklean]

Mchale is the new coach there

[PierBridge]

That should help them immensely. I kind of figured he was going to land a job after listening to him on TBS. He's just a solid basketball mind from an X's and o's standpoint.

I do understand most of you will never ever forgive him for some decisions he has made on 18 year kids that nobody could possibly know how they would pan out in the NBA. I know you'll blame him for KG's salary which crippled the team and our bad luck "wink, wink" in the lottery. Also I'm sure our current state deficit will be blamed on Mchale too.

In all serious he's just solid basketball dude top to bottom who really understands the game.

[Scott M]

Pier, when I get back from my holiday weekend, this is the first thread that needs a reply on my to-do list. I'll leave it at that.

[ozzie]

Mchale is a good coach and that is what the Rockets are hiring him to do coach not be the GM. I think he will suceed as the players that played for him liked him and played hard for him. Good Luck Mr. Mchale!!!

[PierBridge]

da_chise31 for the record you are one of the few people on HSO sports forums who I am actually afraid of and a bit intimidated by..

Particularly when it comes to hoops!!!!

But I do stand by my post and this is no troll sir!

[Scott K]

I think McHale will be a good coach someday, with the right GM, and a little more experience/ aka Backbone. He needs to stop letting the players walk all over him. I think he has a great basketball mind, and would be a great coach if he just grew a pair, and forced his players to run his scheme. It would also help him to have more then 1 good player on the team to coach.

[mrklean]

after seeing what he did as a GM here he needs to prove me wrong as a coach

[Scott M]

Pier, I don't know if I should laugh or cry...

McHale became GM in Minny in 1995.

Draft history:

1995: Drafts Garnett (he should have quit at this point while ahead)

1996: Drafts Ray Allen but trades him for Marbury, an ego check for these guys coming out of college would have revealed a lot about both

1997: Drafts Paul Grant (Hometown defensive guard Bobby Jackson available)

1998: Drafts Rasho Nesterovic (High Schoolers Rashard Lewis and Al Harrington available)

1999: Drafts Wally Szczerbiak and Will Avery (Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Andre Miller, Ron Artest, James Posey, Andrei Kirilenko, and Corey Magette were all available)

2000: NO PICK - JOE SMITH FIASCO HE WASN'T FIRED OVER

2001: NO PICK - JOE SMITH FIASCO HE WASN'T FIRED OVER

2002: NO PICK - JOE SMITH FIASCO HE WASN'T FIRED OVER

2003: Draft Ndudi Ebi (Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard, and Mo Williams available

2004: NO PICK - JOE SMITH FIASCO HE WASN'T FIRED OVER

2005: Drafts Rashad McCants (Danny Granger, Hakim Warrick, Nate Robinson, Davis Lee, Ronny Turiaf, Monta Ellis, Lou Williams, and Andray Blatche available)

2006: Drafts Brandon Roy and trades him for Randy Foye and petty cash(Rajon Rondo, Paul Millsap, and Brandon freaking Roy available)

2007: Drafts Corey Brewer (Joakim Noah, Spencer Hawes, Thaddeus Young, Rodney Stuckey, Rudy Fernandez, Aaron Brooks, and Marc Gasol available)

2008: Drafts O.J. Mayo but immediately trades him for Kevin Love (Wow, he begins and ends with a great pick, and leaves a turd sandwich in the middle

Transactions of consequence:

In 1997, McHale resigns Garnett to a record contract which leads to a lockout the following year as player salaries get out of control. The deal hampers the Wolves ability to court other free agents for years. Starbury and Googs, the other prominent players of the time, want to be compensated, but with nothing in the tank, the Wolves can't acquiesce, so Googs walks and Starbury is traded for 50 cents on the dollar for Terrell Brandon.

In 2000, McHale is caught signing Joe Smith under the table. The Timberwolves lose 4 first round draft choices. The country club continues and everyone keeps their job. Years later as Garnett falls short in his attempt to get to the Finals and the average age of the roster is one of the oldest in the NBA, the lack of draft picks and new talent is one of the root problems why the Timberwolves run fell as short as it did.

In 2005, McHale trades Sam Cassell and an unprotected first-round draft pick for Marko Jaric and Lionel Chalmers. This draft choice is still owed. Later in the year, he fires coach Flip Saunders. Saunders was someone that for the most part took a battered roster and got it into the playoffs for several consecutive years.

In 2007, after creating a mess and knowing all the Wolves could achieve was more years of mediocrity, McHale blows it up. Garnett is traded to Boston, where he joins Ray Allen (originally drafted by the Wolves) and other young talent (some that was available to the Wolves like Perkins and Rondo) and immediately wins an NBA title. Also in 2007, Dwane Casey is fired midseason when the Wolves at that point would have qualified for postseason play. The team struggles to a last place division finish under Randy Wittman. Casey goes on to be a well regarded, defensive minded coach with the Dallas Mavericks (at this time leading Game 1 of the 2011 NBA Finals)

*************************************

I know you're fond of saying that the NBA draft is a crapshoot, but each year there are winners and losers, and statistically, a monkey throwing darts could have done better than McHale drafting from 1996-2007. Your job, as a GM in the NBA, is to evaluate talent and spend the owner's money wisely. He did neither task well. Does he understand X's and O's? I believe so, he did a decent job on the bench in his career and was well spoken on NBA TV. But as a GM he was never around, was hard to reach, and complained about the travel. How do you go from aloof to engaged in similar job duties in just a couple years? It'll be hard for me to see him totally committed to it. A coach must also be a talent evaluator, to know what he can get from guys. Can McHale really see what he's holding in Houston? He's going to have to juggle minutes. He's lucky he doesn't have to do any player personnel decisions anymore because Daryl Morey is one of the best. He's supposed to be a good motivator and talent developer, but I'm not sure he was totally into talent development as a GM. Looking at all the 4's and 5's that came and went in Minnesota without improving sort of shows that. Maybe he will be as a coach. He might have a decent record considering the terrible talent he had to work with (remember those were HIS players so he was 100% accountable for the lack of talent), but expectations will be higher in Houston with some of their pieces. We'll see how he does...I'm not sold yet.

[mrklean]

haha great post

[SledNeck]

McHale could be the worst evaluator of talent in the history of sports

[PierBridge]

Yeah KG was a terrible pick alright!

[highlife4me]

I think Mchale was hired to ruin sports entertainment in MN. He started with the Wolves and the rest - Vikes, Wild, and our beloved Twins have followed.

[curtistodd]

awesome post da-chise! I agree %100. It would be nice to add a giant list of all the failure draft picks the wolves made from 88-89 to 94. Its all been terrible. Mchale was terrible, and the guys before him mustve been pretty bad as well.