Inside the NBA | New Year, New Wolves: Minnesota turning things around under McHale

    When you trade the best player in the history of your franchise for what amounts to prospects, there's no doubt that your team is going to need to rebuild. It's never an easy task to sell an uncertain future to fans, and that is what Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor gambled on when he traded Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics last year.
    Historically, it seems to take a few years for a team to find its stride, but less than two years after the KG trade, Minnesota is already beginning to show signs of turning things around.
    The young Timberwolves have caught fire in 2009, more than doubling their win total from earlier in the season and giving fans in the Twin Cities some hope. Minnesota and the San Antonio Spurs are the two teams in the Western Conference that have played the best basketball record-wise in 2009 with only two losses each, and while the latter are making their annual second-half push, the Wolves are just beginning to show their share of promise.
    In early December, coach Randy Wittman was fired and Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale was installed behind the bench. McHale has been much maligned in his 13-year stint in the front office, with such notorious moves as engineering a secret agreement to sign veteran Joe Smith and drafting immortal busts William Avery and Ndudi Ebi. The team responded to their new coach with eight straight losses, but McHale has shown that he might be better-suited to leading from the bench than from the front office.
    In nine games in January, the Wolves have gone from six to 13 wins, and even with those coming against subpar competition, there has still been a noticeable improvement. The key to their streak has been finding consistent options on offense to complement Al Jefferson, the holdover centerpiece of the Garnett trade and an All-Star candidate. Big Al has scored in double figures in all but two games this year and is averaging a double-double with 22.2 points and 10.6 rebounds a game. He is flourishing as the go-to guy in Minnesota's offense, and he has shown he can be a player around which a team can build. Much of Jefferson's improvement can be tied to his work with McHale, a Hall of Fame player in his own days with the Celtics, who has taught his young big man an array of post moves.
    Jefferson's help as of late has mainly come from Randy Foye, the third-year guard who before this season was known more for being traded for Portland Trailblazers All-Star Brandon Roy than for his playing ability. Instead of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, McHale has played Foye off the ball and allowed him to come off screens and drive more to the hole. With an open offense, Foye has finally showed the form that made him a top-10 draft pick. He has averaged 20.4 points in January, and if he can find ways to score regularly, he will be the backcourt leader the team needs to pair with Jefferson. Minnesota is certainly a different team when Foye is playing well, and he has shown the confidence to take big shots down the stretch for his team as of late.
    Nonetheless, this is still a flawed team, and its biggest problem is lack of size. Jefferson has been playing out of position at center, and though his post moves are advanced enough on the offensive end, the team's defense suffers with him there. Kevin Love, the fifth pick in last June's draft, has played his best ball of the season in January. But even while averaging 11 points and more than 10 rebounds lately, he still gives Minnesota a small front line when paired with Jefferson. Ryan Gomes and Craig Smith, two undersized forwards who take up the rest of the minutes in the frontcourt, are serviceable role players but do not give the team any additional size on the floor.
    The new leaders in the front office, general manager Jim Stack and assistant GM Fred Hoiberg, will be responsible for finishing McHale's rebuilding project. The first move they could make is trying to turn veteran swingman Mike Miller, who has been the one player struggling as of late and is having the worst shooting season of his career. The Timberwolves could also have as many as four first-round picks in next year's draft thanks to past trades, giving them more chances to find one more impact player that could make them playoff contenders.
    Coupled with these assets, Minnesota will have over $20 million worth of contracts expiring after next season. While the likes of LeBron James or Chris Bosh might not be willing to come to Minnesota, that is a lot of money that could go to paying a couple of above-average players.
    Wolves fans probably are not getting too hyped up over wins against teams like the Memphis Grizzlies or Oklahoma City Thunder, but there is a lot to like about this team. The outlook for Minnesota is not clear. Immediate questions that the team will have to face are whether McHale will stay on to coach in a job he did not want and if Sebastian Telfair can be the answer at point guard. Regardless, this team is showing that even without the Big Ticket, there is still a reason to follow basketball
in Minnesota.