Post#35 » by shrink » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:23 am
I don't think I'll have time to go through McHale's plusses and minuses in the detail I'd like, but let me point out a few things:
1. He was very constrained by finances. While he was worth every penny, Kevin Garnett had the largest contract in the NBA. At the time, of course, but I believe he had the largest contract ever. Few owners are willing to exceed the lux (though Taylor did it once), so he needed the money spent on the #2 guy to work out.
2. He was constrained by injuries. I believe McHale did his job as GM and put together competitive teams on paper three times. I think KG/Marbury/Googs had potential eventually, KG/Brandon/Szczerbiak, and KG/Cassell/Sprewell. I believe every player listed was a recent or current All Star, for comparison to how good they were compared to the rest of the league. Unfortunately, these teams achieved success during the season, but lost key elements from injury when the play-offs came around. Garnett is great, but if you've sunk your other big chunk of salary into Terrell Brandon, its hard for the rest of the team to have a high enough ceiling to get out of the 1st round. McHale was not responsible for injuries, and I put the responsibility on the players when they acted selfishly and unprofessionally, like Marbury and Cassell. Many considered the KG/Cassell/Sprewell team to be the favorites to win a ring, and that was because of the roster the GM put together.
3. High quality draft picks weren't enriching a team stuck in the middle. After watching the wolves splutter along for many years with mediocre picks (or no picks), it became apparent to me that winning NBA basketball is cyclical. While superstars occasionally exist with late picks, the chance that a team finds two of them is very rare. Wolves fans demanded that the team never rebuild while KG was there, and hoped they'd build a contender around him. Attempts were made, but the Wolves only assets without picks were financial ones, and when they get locked into injured players, no GM can magically heal or create tens of millions in replacement cap space. The accumulation of overpaid players in desperate attempts to find complimentary talent is something McHale must share the blame for.
I believe this demand led to McHale's biggest failures - throwing money at cheap, talented, but flawed players like Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, and the rest of those guys and gambling that they were cheap (in trade value) despite the chance they could ignore their flaws and have a good season next to KG. It was "this is all we can afford to try" vs "not trying" after the Cassell/Sprewell dissension.
4. We've had many discussions on the picks, and I'll just mention a couple things, because I really really hate the Monday Morning quarterbacks. McHale did not draft badly. At times there were players that turned out better on the board, but when he's had lottery picks, he never struck out. My baseball analogy is that while he had only one home run, he didn't strike out -- he hit a lot of singles. People may say, "Well Randy Foye is no Brandon Roy!" and they are correct. However, he's also not a Sheldon Williams or Patrick O'Bryant as well. Ndudi Ebi was the #26th pick. You have less chance to hit a home run, the later the draft goes, and I don't mind swinging for the fences with an Ebi pick, or a McCants once in a while.
5. As a trader, its hard to know how much he was responsible for, and how much came from Stack or others, but as GM, let's make him responsible for the whole enchilada. I think he's done OK. While the Jaric deal failed with everything that season, I agree with cpfsf that KG was dealt at the right time, and for the best package we could get. The MIA trade was terrific (Ricky Davis + Blount for shorter deals and a 1st), as were most of the trades that rid this team of expensive, overpaid, older players. I think his best trade though was dealing the disgruntled Marbury, right before his first big contract, and getting back a different All Star PG as well as a lottery pick.
Anyway, when people say that we needed to get rid of McHale to put this team in a new direction, I think they have a point. He's been the scapegoat for years, and that makes some fans want a pound of flesh. Fair or not, they might not come back if McHale isn't gone. Moreover, for good or bad, it sounds like people (players, staff, Taylor) listen to McHale. I think that his presence would make things tough for Kahn and the team if they wanted to go in a different direction.
I think that when the history of the wolves is written McHale will remain the scapegoat for every bad thing that the team has endured, and meanwhile Garnett will be applauded for every good thing. Reality isn't like this, and its unfair to McHale. However, he's taken all the insults and complaints on his broad shoulders, and always acted with class, representing the Timberwolves and the state of Minnesota. I wish him well.
