boutons
02-21-2005, 07:36 AM
Jim Souhan: McHale's method invigorates Wolves
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
February 18, 2005 JIMS0218
Jim Souhan
COLUMNIST
During the Timberwolves' victory Thursday night at Target Center, Kevin McHale saw Cavaliers star LeBron James bend over after drawing a foul, and became the first NBA coach ever to utter this sentence:
"That's the Stanislavsky school of acting."
Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky became famous for teaching "method" acting. McHale, three games into a coaching career he might end by firing himself, is beginning to prove there is a method to what a week ago seemed madness.
Stanislavsky taught actors to trust their instincts more than the script, and McHale is fast becoming the Stanislavsky of the sideline.
The big guy with the limp (McHale, not Stanislavsky) is 2-1 since firing Flip Saunders and donning sportcoats stolen from Frankenstein's closet, and his team (McHale's, not Frank- enstein's) has proved as entertaining as his sideline banter.
Of course, this is one of those stories where the disclaimer is as important as the plot.
Three games is not a significant test of coach or team. Losing to the Bulls and beating New Jersey and Cleveland at home is not coach-of-the-year stuff. If the Wolves had played this hard for Flip, he'd still be employed. And it wasn't long ago that Saunders was presiding over a five-game winning streak that, it turns out, meant nothing.
Still, there was something different about the Wolves the last week, and the positives point to McHale.
In these three games, the Wolves played harder, hustled back on defense more often, and displayed more sense of control and relaxation on offense.
Perhaps most important are these four developments:
• The Wolves look more like a team, in terms of attention span and cohesion and willingness to heed their coach.
• They haven't folded when the other team makes a run.
• The Wolves' big men, playing in McHale's image, have become more active and effective.
• Opposing guards no longer receive gilded invitations to the front of the rim.
Saunders had grown so weary of the Wolves' unintelligent play that his shouts from the sideline took on the tone of a beleaguered parent.
McHale, according to players, has been willing to push them during practices and grant them freedom during games, and his sideline demeanor -- the way he makes eye contact with every player -- has changed the atmosphere of every timeout.
"The NBA is not a coaches' league," McHale said. "It's a players' league. The X's and O's don't mean anything. It's the Jimmies and Joes, those guys in there, You've got to put the guys in position to play."
Saunders didn't get dumber. He's excellent at designing plays and systems, but McHale is right: If the players don't buy into it, don't turn diagrams into dunks, the plays are worth no more than the paper on which they are written.
It's already obvious McHale connects with these players on a more personal level than Saunders did at any time this season.
In the third quarter, LeBron James dished to Drew Gooden on the break. Gooden went in for the slam, and got cleanly rejected by Kevin Garnett.
As the Wolves sprinted downcourt, McHale leaped from the bench -- well, unfolded his creaky knees a little quicker than usual -- and pumped his fist, yelling, "That's what I'm talking about."
McHale likes to say there is no free candy in the lane, and his team is starting to steal sugar.
"Kevin's got us playing beautiful basketball," Garnett said. "Very unselfish basketball ... It's like a breath of fresh air."
Garnett might not mean it this way, but his adoring endorsements of McHale could be interpreted as critiques of Saunders, a coach he always claimed to support, but whose strategies he sometimes subtly questioned this year.
More Garnett on McHale: "McHale understands the NBA game and matchups, and mismatches. ... He has us playing relaxed and confident. ... He's gotten 10 smiles out of me. ... Guys are communicating and talking in the huddle. ... We just want to ride this beautiful cloud."
McHale has little to lose. If this doesn't work, he can go back to his comfy front-office job. And if it works ... he can go back to his comfy front-office job.
For now, however unseemly was his firing of Saunders, it's good to see the big lug limping along the sideline, teasing refs and quoting dead Russian directors.
Jim Souhan is at [email protected].
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
February 18, 2005 JIMS0218
Jim Souhan
COLUMNIST
During the Timberwolves' victory Thursday night at Target Center, Kevin McHale saw Cavaliers star LeBron James bend over after drawing a foul, and became the first NBA coach ever to utter this sentence:
"That's the Stanislavsky school of acting."
Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky became famous for teaching "method" acting. McHale, three games into a coaching career he might end by firing himself, is beginning to prove there is a method to what a week ago seemed madness.
Stanislavsky taught actors to trust their instincts more than the script, and McHale is fast becoming the Stanislavsky of the sideline.
The big guy with the limp (McHale, not Stanislavsky) is 2-1 since firing Flip Saunders and donning sportcoats stolen from Frankenstein's closet, and his team (McHale's, not Frank- enstein's) has proved as entertaining as his sideline banter.
Of course, this is one of those stories where the disclaimer is as important as the plot.
Three games is not a significant test of coach or team. Losing to the Bulls and beating New Jersey and Cleveland at home is not coach-of-the-year stuff. If the Wolves had played this hard for Flip, he'd still be employed. And it wasn't long ago that Saunders was presiding over a five-game winning streak that, it turns out, meant nothing.
Still, there was something different about the Wolves the last week, and the positives point to McHale.
In these three games, the Wolves played harder, hustled back on defense more often, and displayed more sense of control and relaxation on offense.
Perhaps most important are these four developments:
• The Wolves look more like a team, in terms of attention span and cohesion and willingness to heed their coach.
• They haven't folded when the other team makes a run.
• The Wolves' big men, playing in McHale's image, have become more active and effective.
• Opposing guards no longer receive gilded invitations to the front of the rim.
Saunders had grown so weary of the Wolves' unintelligent play that his shouts from the sideline took on the tone of a beleaguered parent.
McHale, according to players, has been willing to push them during practices and grant them freedom during games, and his sideline demeanor -- the way he makes eye contact with every player -- has changed the atmosphere of every timeout.
"The NBA is not a coaches' league," McHale said. "It's a players' league. The X's and O's don't mean anything. It's the Jimmies and Joes, those guys in there, You've got to put the guys in position to play."
Saunders didn't get dumber. He's excellent at designing plays and systems, but McHale is right: If the players don't buy into it, don't turn diagrams into dunks, the plays are worth no more than the paper on which they are written.
It's already obvious McHale connects with these players on a more personal level than Saunders did at any time this season.
In the third quarter, LeBron James dished to Drew Gooden on the break. Gooden went in for the slam, and got cleanly rejected by Kevin Garnett.
As the Wolves sprinted downcourt, McHale leaped from the bench -- well, unfolded his creaky knees a little quicker than usual -- and pumped his fist, yelling, "That's what I'm talking about."
McHale likes to say there is no free candy in the lane, and his team is starting to steal sugar.
"Kevin's got us playing beautiful basketball," Garnett said. "Very unselfish basketball ... It's like a breath of fresh air."
Garnett might not mean it this way, but his adoring endorsements of McHale could be interpreted as critiques of Saunders, a coach he always claimed to support, but whose strategies he sometimes subtly questioned this year.
More Garnett on McHale: "McHale understands the NBA game and matchups, and mismatches. ... He has us playing relaxed and confident. ... He's gotten 10 smiles out of me. ... Guys are communicating and talking in the huddle. ... We just want to ride this beautiful cloud."
McHale has little to lose. If this doesn't work, he can go back to his comfy front-office job. And if it works ... he can go back to his comfy front-office job.
For now, however unseemly was his firing of Saunders, it's good to see the big lug limping along the sideline, teasing refs and quoting dead Russian directors.
Jim Souhan is at [email protected].