When 1999 Hall of Fame inductee and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Vice President of Basketball Operation Kevin McHale fired Randy Wittman  on December 8th, and took over the head coaching duties, the players did not initially respond to him.  They lost their first eight games and they went 2-10 the remainder of the month.

Things were much different in the month of January, as the Timbewolves ripped off five consecutive wins en route to a 10-4 record for the month, including 5-1 on the road.  McHale and  the Timberwolves were struggling to play consistently in February, when Al Jefferson, who was in the midst of a career year, tore his ACL in a game at New Orleans.  As challenging as the losing month of December was with Jefferson, Coach McHale faces an even larger challenge now.

Prior to the the game against the Washington Wizards, Coach McHale talked to the media about Al Jefferson’s injury, the fears involved with having surgery, possible pre-trade deadline moves, and Bill Russell’s influence on him.

Reporter: Did you get a look at Kevin Ollie today?
Kevin McHale: Yeah, he said he feels really good, but all these guy tell me that, so I don’t know.  I take all that with a grain of salt.  Everybody says they feel good.  But I think he’s going to see Dr. Fischer (orthopedic surgeon in Minnesota) when we get off this trip and hopefully he’ll be cleared to start practicing and start participating which will be great for us.  It’s funny (because) I was just telling somebody today, watching him in shootaround, he calls out sets, and says, “You’re gonna go here, you’re gonna go there” (pause) just someone out there who knows what the other team is doing before they do helps.

Reporter: Is this one of the stranger, maybe the strangest times since you’ve been in the league with the trade deadline coming up?  You’re seeing trades that aren’t really based on what the deal is, but on money, like Tyson Chandler…
KM (interrupting): Oh, you’ll see more of that.  Wait, Tyson Chandler got moved today?

Reporter: He was traded for [Chris] Wilcox and [Joe] Smith and draft picks (the trade was later rescinded after Chandler failed his physical).
KM: Wow. Yeah, well you’ll see more of that. I guarantee that.  Economics is going to become a big part of this game and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there aren’t major changes in the landscape as far a the NBA goes towards the next collective bargaining agreement.

Reporter: Is Al [Jefferson] supposed to have surgery tomorrow (Wednesday, February 18th)?
KM: Yeah on Wednesday, in fact I’m glad you reminded me, I gotta’ shoot Al a text tonight saying we’re all thinking about him and praying for him.  He’s a little bit nervous about his first surgery.  I remember my first surgery, man I was scared to death going into that.  Your body has always been something that you just used and you never thought too much about because it never fell apart on you.  All of a sudden something happens and its shocking and you’re like, “Oh no!”  So we gotta’ get Al some support tonight.

Reporter: Do you have advice for him in the days after?
KM: Nah, I’m leaving that to Corey Brewer. He had the same surgery a couple of months ago so he can help him out…But like I said, for my first surgery, I was nervous.  That night I was in the hospital like oh my goodness. It just all sounded foreign.

Reporter: How old were you?
KM: 28 or 29, maybe?  Old enough that it was still scary, I’ll tell you that much.  Every time I went under the knife, unfortunately I had a few more. I  never liked them.

Reporter: Do you have a timetable (for Al Jefferson’s return)?
KM: No, we’re not getting any timetables.  Al’s on the six-to-eight month plan, I don’t think that’s going to change tomorrow.  I mean, they might find something else in there, but I doubt it, it seems to me that it was a pretty clean ACL tear.  And they are going to do the same surgery they did for Brew (Corey Brewer), take part of the patella tendon.  That’s the gold standard of that surgery nowadays, so that’s what we’re going to do.

Rashad Mobley: Can you talk a little about Bill Russell given that he just had a birthday, and an NBA Finals award named after him?  What was his influence on you?
KM: I think Bill’s the all-time winner.  I think Bill is a great guy. I’ve enjoyed Bill Russell since I was first introduced to him back in 1980, and he’s just been part of the whole Celtics lore.  When I was out there, everybody aspired to win and follow in the footsteps that Bill, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Bob Cousy, [John] Havlicek, [Tommy] Heinsohn and all those guys.  They all paved the path, and that’s a very hard path to follow, but it was something we aspired to.

RM: Is there any advice he ever gave to you personally?
KM: Well you know Bill is one of those guys who says its all about the team and how good you make it.  That’s it.

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