That's what you see in the photo at left.
Since the T-Wolves never won more than 29 games before Kevin McHale began running the show, I guess he technically deserves credit for bringing the Wolves out of the abyss and into respectability.
But even that requires giving him a big benefit of the doubt.
If you caught any of the Wolves 107-87 loss to Memphis on Wednesday night, you saw a bad team hitting bottom.
The Wolves have two impact players, one of whom (Szczerbiak) is still overrated, a couple of wild cards (Eddie Griffin and Rashad McCants) and a bunch of guys whose trading cards aren't worth a nickel.
Back when the CBA was a credible league, most of today's T-Wolf roster would've fit in perfectly.
Flip Saunders, I probably don't need to point out, has like a 95-1 record with Detroit. Or something like that.
I like McHale, but enough is enough. He's gotta go. He's the problem.
Pluses on McHale's resume include drafting Kevin Garnett, drafting Wally Szczerbiak, drafting Ray Allen (who he traded for Stephon Marbury) and, well, that's about it.
He also drafted Paul Grant, William Avery, Ndudi Ebi and Rashad McCants.
The devastating Joe Smith fiasco happened on his watch, though owner Glen Taylor also deserves a lot of blame there, too.
I won't blame McHale for trading Marbury for Terrell Brandon, because he didn't have any choice. He got what he could there.
But he did choose Brandon over both Bobby Jackson (6th man of the year) and Chauncey Billups (NBA Finals MVP). These are probably the two biggest black eyes on his record.
I liked the additions of Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell at the time, and I don't think you can blame McHale for them flaming out as fast as they had caught fire.
But when McHale fired Flip last year, he was essentially choosing Sam and Spree over Flip. The Wolves were losing last year because Flip lost those two players. While it seemed at least somewhat logical at the time, it's apparent now what a grave mistake that was, given that Sam and Spree were both shown the door the minute the season ended.
Fired the coach in favor of two players who only spent two more months with the club. Ouch.
I was perfectly willing to give Dwane Casey a chance as the Wolves coach. He seems like a classy, intelligent guy who has worked hard for his shot at a job.
But at the moment he appears to be overwhelmed by the job, and perhaps not creative enough to find ways to cure his teams ills.
He hasn't been able to reach Olowokandi, he doesn't seem to know what to make of Marko Jaric, the 6-foot-7 point guard, and he seems to be pulling the B.S. about Trenton Hassell being the next Ron Artest.
As much as he has failed as a GM, McHale wasn't a bad coach last year (19-12). At this point it looks like the team might have been better off if he'd kept the job.
But assembling the roster over the past few years has been a disaster. McHale's only successful draft picks were no brainers. Anyone would've taken Garnett or Allen or Szczerbiak.
Nowadays, the NBA draft is more like the baseball draft. You draft teenagers based on them being able to develop and help your team in a couple years.
If you look at the NBA scoring leaders right now, you'll see a bunch of unfamiliar names.
Guys that we all knew to nothing about on the day they were drafted, but are quietly becoming the next generation of the league's superstars.
That's because the other teams have figured it out. You have to scout. You have to look hard. And you have to develop those players once you get them.
Every year you look at the draft and say, 'There's nobody good out there, the draft is a waste, etc.' That is proving to be untrue. The impact players are still out there - they're just not as obvious as they once were. Some teams are finding them. The Wolves are not.
They also continue to fail in getting the most out of Garnett. Most scouts still say that from a total package standpoint, Garnett is the best player in the league. He can literally do it all.
Or can he?
Why can't he score more than 22 points a game?
Did anyone even realize that Garnett is currently leading the NBA in FG%?
Here's an idea: If your best player is the best shooter in the league, maybe he should shoot more.
I'm tired of hearing about how well Garnett 'distributes the ball' and 'gets his teammates involved.'
His teammates suck.
They need to be less involved.
Look at Kobe. He knows his teammates suck. Some nights he works to make them better. Other nights, when he realizes they're not getting it done, he takes over and scores 81.
I'm not saying KG can score 81 a game, but there should be more nights where he makes like Kobe and says, 'To hell with you jokers, I'm taking us home.'
Instead the Wolves continue to struggle. Struggle to win games and struggle to find an identity.
They're hard to watch.
Trading KG is not the answer. Firing McHale, and possibly Casey with him, is.
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