Kahn's Words Damn McHale Further

It doesn't take a basketball genius to figure out that Kevin McHale was largely a failure at running the Timberwolves' basketball operation.

The proof is in the pudding. Yes, the Timberwolves had four 50-win seasons under the guidance of McHale and Flip Saunders, but they also flopped miserably towards the end, combining for just 46 wins in McHale's last two years stealing Glen Taylor's money.

New boss David Kahn made it clear from the start. He had to overhaul the roster and basically start over. The claim was he had a 17-month plan (instead of a five-year plan, I guess) to transform the Timberwolves.

It's a long, arduous process, but one Kahn feels he can make happen.

He won zero people over by drafting a player sixth overall -- Ricky Rubio -- who was a virtual lock to not play for the Timberwolves this season.

However, he continues to stick to his plan as he tries to rebuild the roster. With the team on the verge of tying a franchise record for worst record in a season, Kahn spoke candidly with the Minneapolis Star Tribune about the state of the franchise.

In doing so, Kahn opened up about what he feels is the team's biggest need, discussed the future of big man Al Jefferson (pictured right in happier days), and shows again how bad McHale was at this job.

After 15 victories and 64 losses, Kahn and (head coach Kurt) Rambis have concluded they need a player that Rambis compares from recent games to Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant or Miami's Dwyane Wade and Kahn calls "our Brandon Roy."

What Kahn probably realizes as he makes this all-too-unfortunately-true statement is that the Wolves had a real shot at their Brandon Roy.

They drafted Brandon Roy.

McHale then turned around and traded him for Randy Foye.

Brilliant.

Kahn does have a point. Bad franchises like Minnesota don't just go out and sign free agents to fix the talent problem. No one wants to play for the Timberwolves, given their location and current state.

You have to build a quality team around a star player acquired in the draft. If the Wolves can get some lottery luck, they'll have Evan Turner fall into their lap this year, which would be outstanding. Otherwise, they may have to get creative.

Whether that's a draft-day deal that he is able to arrange, or a big free-agent he can talk into signing, or a trade he can figure out, Kahn will have to do something.

That's where Kahn will be tested. Can he forge ahead with this 17-month plan without finding a face for the basketball team? Probably not. He also can't afford to enter next season without the guy he at least believes can be the face.

But without a little love from the proverbial ping-pong balls, there doesn't appear to be much of a chance of this happening.

Looking back, it makes a fan even more irate at someone like McHale, who ran this franchise into the ground, never built a quality team around Kevin Garnett -- who was killing himself for this team every time he took the floor -- except for one season with Cassell and Sprewell both behaving and playing well, and made some of the poorest trades imaginable.

Dealing Roy for Foye only added to the problem, one that still exists for Kahn, and one that probably isn't going away anytime soon.

All that means is more of the same for Timberwolves fans.

Blackhawks Give in to Bowman Power Play

Sometimes, even organizations that appear to be exceptionally well-run commit exceptional blunders.

It appears to have happened to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Just weeks after a potentially embarrassing flub involving restricted free agent qualifying offers was brought to light, the Blackhawks have fired a guy who might not have been responsible for the blunders at all.

As relayed by FanHouse colleague Adam Gretz, the team has reportedly fired general manager Dale Tallon. The replacement? Assistant general manager Stan Bowman, son of Hall of Fame coach and current senior advisor Scotty Bowman.

(The Blackhawks say Tallon has been "reassigned to Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations", the same position Scotty Bowman currently holds. Something tells me Scotty will have more say.)

My immediate reaction? The Blackhawks brass gave in to the Bowman family power play, aided by the qualifying offer "controversy", which Tallon took full blame for, even though he insisted that the offers were mailed on time.

No, I have nothing to back it up, and I'm sure that many hockey people will step up and insist that Scotty Bowman would never push a guy out of a job. That doesn't matter. Reality is that Scotty Bowman has a voice with Blackhawks brass (John McDonough and Rocky Wirtz). He should have that voice. He's Scotty Bowman, after all. In this case, whether it's right or wrong, Scotty appears to have used that voice to help get his son a valuable promotion.

Is that so Scotty can run the team through his kid? Only time will tell.

This is the second awkwardly-timed firing by the Blackhawks in less than a year. They canned coach Denis Savard four games into what would become a highly-successful 2008-2009 season. His biggest crime? Daring to lose road games against the Rangers and Capitals.

Tallon was hardly perfect in the GM role. He signed huge deals for defenseman Brian Campbell and goalie Cristobal "Ole!" Huet, and he signed 30-year-old Marian Hossa to a 12-year contract.

He also drafted Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, and a host of other young stars on this Chicago team. Not only that, but he engineered brilliant one-sided trades for Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg.

Not exactly the picture of incompetence, and not the resume of a guy you'd think just lost his GM job.

The Bowmans -- namely Stan -- will be under the microscope now. Tallon has been a longtime figure in this organization, as a player, broadcaster, and now executive. If Stan Bowman can't step in and continue the building of a championship contender in the Second City, the two-handed shove of Tallon will look all the worse in the end.

Melvin Pissed at Braun

Seems like the Milwaukee Brewers have some turmoil heading into the last week before baseball's All-Star break.

As noted in this space Monday, Brewers slugger Ryan Braun was a tad miffed that the team got clubbed like baby seals by their division rivals, the Chicago Cubs. Chicago won three of the four games, scored 19 runs in those three wins (17 of the runs came over the first and last games of the set), and generally stomped a mudhole in the then-first place Brewers.

Instead of an intelligent, well-reasoned, behind-closed-doors response from Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin, we were treated to this.

“It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I’m not happy about it,” Melvin said. “To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off.”

... “We all work every day from 9 a.m. to midnight, and basically 12 months a year,” said Melvin, referring to his baseball staff. “I’ll be glad to have Ryan help if he wants to. I’ll give him a badge and he can be my deputy.

“I don’t know his motivation for saying it. It demoralizes the people in the organization at a time when we should be pulling together. It puts a bad taste in our mouths. That’s a pretty strong statement.

“I understand that maybe he thinks it’s taking a leadership role. I don’t know if he’s trying to tell me I’m not doing my job. We need to stick together as an organization. We’re all trying to win."

Melvin said it wasn’t appropriate for Braun to make unflattering comparisons between the Brewers’ starting rotation and Chicago’s, even with two spots in flux since the losses of Bush and Parra.

“I think he made a fundamental mistake,” said Melvin. “I didn’t hear our pitchers complaining when we lost a 1-0 game (to New York last week) or the 2-1 game in 10 innings in Chicago.

"They didn’t say the hitters weren’t doing their job. He’s hitting in front of one of the best hitters (Prince Fielder) in the game.”

Aargh. Great. We're the Yankees now.

I get that Melvin doesn't like the perception that he got called out. But he didn't get called out.

Braun made it clear in his rant that the offense needed to be better, and the pitching needed to be better. He also went out of his way to not throw anyone under the bus -- even Melvin -- by acknowledging that it was not easy to make a trade with this market right now.

This wasn't about Braun trying to assert himself as the leader. It was about Braun saying what no one else in the clubhouse has the clout to say at this point. Braun, having signed a monster contract last year, has enough cred in the organization that his words will ring with many people, probably even Melvin.

Ultimately, it was about Braun being frustrated because his team just lost three of four games -- largely because of bad pitching -- to a team that had spent the entire month of June not hitting and not scoring runs.

It's one thing for a young superstar to speak out of turn (though I don't feel this is a case of that, I'll give Melvin the benefit of the doubt). It's another for an experienced executive to open his trap and make himself sound like a babbling idiot.

If he believes Braun's beef was best handled in a one-on-one meeting, this was no way to express that feeling. Instead, Melvin has only invited more criticism of his work, which has hardly been impeccable.

I'm not on the "fire ___" bandwagon, because I still think the Brewers got rid of the right guy -- albeit two years late -- last year. Melvin has to be careful, though, because he is and always will be a helluva lot more expendable than Ryan Braun.