Comment thread on the Glen Taylor interview

• So, lemme get this straight, Elgin Baylor won executive of the year last year after LA has been clammoring for his head since the mid-nineties - and we want to get rid of McHale? KMac assembled a team that would have WASTED Detroit and LA if Sam had stayed healthy (KG and Sam were sweet together). When I moved here, all anyone could talk about was how great Gugs and Starbury were. MacHale can find talent (even when it's not there). I'm not saying he's perfect but, Flip ain't Red Aurbach either. Flip has proven that he can make a mediocre team a playoff team and make a championship squad a loser. How could he get so taken last year? He took a cohesive championship group and mid-season they clearly had lost their defensive identity and lacked the glue that took them to the Promised Land. Personnaly, I'm glad I don't have to watch him stretch out his neck everytime Wally gets beat off the dribble. Say what you want about this group, but I'll tell you one thing, Taylor hit the nail on the head when he pointed out how a change at the GM level would mean a wholesale change in the organization and the end of the KG era. I'll take my chances with the TICKET! Oh and btw, the worker bees who think all-knowing brains = money, um, pay attention, you've heard it before - The A students work for the B students, while the C students OWN THE COMPANY. Oh and btw2, he's a freaking billionaire. he must be doing SOMETHING right! z

• Hey Moroni, wanna know why Taylor is rich & you work in a cubicle? The answer is in the interview, worker drone. when he has an idea, he tries it, evaluates how it's going, then adjusts. It's a continual process. One of the great myths of those laboring away for a corporation is that you have to be qualified before you can try something. No way, dude! Anyone with the balls to try would never wait to get their bona fides! They jump right in and figure it out as they go along. That's entrepreneurship, Moroni. Good luck in that cube.

• I just want to say Thank You K.G. for putting up with all the b.s. in the locker room and in the office! Much Respect! It show's alot about your charater that you haven't left MN. (n a trade) a long time ago! We'll all have to wait and see and without a Big Man & a Guard its going to be tough making the play offs. Thank God we got rid of F*)&)! Candy! Glen needs a lot of help and he should of got Jordan when he had the chance for G.M.... Go Wolves! Not a fare weather fan!

• I'm really surprised people view Taylor's frankness as a positive. The man admittedly had no plan when he bought the franchise, knows nothing about hoops, and had no backup plan for McHale when it was clear he should have been fired. I appreciate Taylor's honesty, I just think he has proven to be an idiot.

• I also have to say wow!! Geoff - I was waiting for someone to comment on how Taylor's "frank" comments will affect team morale. While he may not have totally and openly blasted certain players (like Brown v. Marbury) it doesn't take a rocket scientist to read between the lines what his thoughts are on Thud, EG and Blount. Hopefully none of them reads it (unlikely) or that they take it as a challenge to prove him wrong. Great interview Britt! Let the season begin!!

• hey LEVI... just out of curiosity, why exactly are you exicted about hoiberg as possible new GM? aside from being a good player, not great but good, and being kind of local (iowa)... what exactly has he done to exite you as a GM? [i follow the team from a distance, so i'm asking because maybe i missed some local scoop]

• Geoff and Moroni must have read a different interview than I. He comes accross as a loyal and smart owenr to me. I have forgiven everything. I even love Mchale. Come on? Feel the love. The wolves are going alll the way, baby. AIn't no stopping them. Glen will be hoisting that trophy come June, you wait and see. KG, Mac, Glen Taylor, they'll be the toast of the town. It's all going to turn around this year, just wait and see. Go Wolves!!!! No, really, there are many reasons to be pessimistic, but I've always hoped for the best for KG. I hope he wants to be here and I hope the people around him are doing their best to make sure he wants to stay here. From the interview, I think Taylor and Kevin M are doing their best and that's all I want to hear. Owners and GM work within limits. Often times success is only a matter of luck. Failure--bad luck. There have been some mistakes and Taylor explains them and he owns up to 'em.

• Brit, great job once again covering the Wolves. I think we should all scrape a few dollars together and buy you a lap dance at the Skyway sometime. As Wolves fans, we are fortunate to have an owner as committed and contemplative as Taylor, who appears involved in the day-to-day orders of business, and a GM as gritty as McHale, who has built a championship caliber club around KG on three separate occasions with minimal options. Astutely, they understand that this team�s best chance to quickly reach the upper echelon of the Western Conference is to tweak a group that has under produced and impel this blue collar bunch to meet their potential. On paper, the Wolves possess as much ability and depth as any team in the west with the exception of Dallas and maybe San Antonio. Sure they are weak up front. Sure they have too many tweeners. Sure they have only one healthy superstar and a supporting cast of write offs. But those words could also accurately describe the Phoenix Suns. Yet, they manage to win about 60 games each year and progress deep into the playoffs. What makes Phoenix so successful? They run the ball. They push tempo. They have an identity; something the Wolves have coherently lacked for two years now. Two years that happens to coincide with a period of coaching turmoil. Get the 06-07 Wolves a defining style and watch them ascend the standings. Because, success for this team or any in the NBA for that matter, is quite simple and it�s better than the alternative. Fire McHale. Commit the team to years of turbulence. Watch KG win titles for another metropolis.

• I agree with the poster near the top. How the hell is Glen Taylor so stupid, basically admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing with McHale? It boggles, BOGGLES, the mind. Too bad they can't fire the owner. This was a damn good interview though. You think it'll get any national play? Also, mah fellas, do you think all the frank things said in this article will affect team morale this year? I don't have the interview in front of me, but Taylor took some hard nosed stances on THUD, EG and Blunt to name a few. Any thoughts on that? You think the team is reading this, while KG takes them out for pancakes at Embers, and slowly coming unglued by the shit talking of their owner?

• Yep. Wow. So much has been made of all the "front-office problems" the Wolves have had, but I personally don't like discussing it. I just can't bring it to myself to jump to conclusions without good information, and so much of what has previously been written on the whole McHaleFlipTaylor saga just seems so...I don't know? speculative? hollow? devoid of fact? Anyway, great interview. I hold Taylor in much higher esteem for being honest about what's going on with the organization, and especially for admitting that there are things that he won't talk about (rather than sidestepping questions). Having an owner who is capable of admitting mistakes, who is honest with players, and who is hopefully capable of learning from mistakes is important to me as a fan. Very candid interview. Great work Britt.

• Big boomy reverb on the "Wow" comment. Reading the whole article, thinking about all the stuff that happened with Flip, Cassell & Sprewell, Olowokandi and of course, Szczerbiak puts some light on the whole dysfuntionality that was happening "backstage" if you will. It must have been pretty ugly. It's interesting that McHale took responsibility for the situation(s) that lead Flip to say "I quit". It's clear that McHale, for various reasons, was not up to the task of being a GM that can "git-r-done". You could only call it poor management. And since Taylor has now made it clear that he brought Kevin in, it seems to me that McHale's long tenure is due more to Glen being unwilling to admit his error than McHale's knowledge of where the bodies are buried (or is there something bigger than the Joe Smith fiasco lying around in a vault somewhere?). I also got the impression (again) that the main reason that Billups left was nothing more than Flip being simply unwilling to designate him as the primary point guard when Chauncey asked. I don't think that comprises "chasing Billups to Detroit". And I read reports of how Billups told his Detroit teammates that they were going to like Flip. Well, most everyone but Ben Wallace did, I guess. Still, the good news was that maybe we'll get to enjoy Fred Hoiberg as GM in the not to distant future.

• I like Glen Taylor. Sure, the wolves have made their share of mistakes. And honesty certainly is not incompatible with success, but at least Taylor and Mchale have been pretty damn honest. They have this philosophy that they should be very honest with the players. Perhaps they think that this will help them attract players and be known as a quality organization. You can see evidence of this with -telling Chauncey he might not start (even though telling him this makes him bolt to Detroit) -Keeping their word on Hudson's contract even though they didn't have to -Joe Smith contract, though illegal, was all about letting the player know they would keep their word on a new contract Perhaps management should be more ruthless. I am not sure. But it could be worse. We could have a shady, dishonest, and losing organization, instead of just a losing organization.

• Glen Taylor proves once again that you don't have to be smart to be rich. I can't get over some of the things he tells Robson in this interview. He admits he had no idea what he was doing when he hired McHale. Can you imagine hiring such an important position, and the applicant is essentially like, "Yeah, I mean, I sort of have better stuff to do, and by the way, I would have no idea what I'm doing," then hiring that applicant? Are you kidding? Taylor basically admits he would have had no idea who else to hire if not McHale. Wouldn't you research that sort of thing before you bought an NBA team? And then owning the team ten years while watching your GM make horrible decision after horrible decision, and not developing any sort of backup plan. Wow, how did this guy make so much money? I am amazed. The other thing that really gets me is when he talks about Hudson's contract. OK, so the league won't approve your injury clause, the contract is then void. Renogotiate with that in mind. To give Hudson the same contract without the injury clause is inexplicable. Taylor says it's because he's good on his word, well, the contract changed with no injury clause, it's not your word anymore. Then, the talk about the Boston trade gets me again. So you don't want Kandi, fine. An expiring contract is a valuable asset, not an asset you trade for a contract that you now admitedly don't like (Blount's contract). Again, that's amazing. The number one pick thing wasn't even explained. I am in shock.

• Again Britt is the best writer on the Wolves in town. Interesting that Glenn Taylor would say if KMc hadn't moved Wally, it would have been "dangerous." That's a big statement, without the details, makes my imagination wonder what kind of crazy prima donna was Wally? Sounds like Flip wasn't the humble over achiever at the end, he was in the beginning. Ironic that it was Flip that drove Billups away, then they wind up together in Detroit. It almost makes me want Detroit bumped off by the Bulls this year in the playoffs. Of course was it Charlie Walters that said, Chauncey was on the only person in Minnesota that thought Terrell BRandon would ever come back? Andy

• I've read a few Taylor interviews this year with hard ball questions like, "what's the most fun part of owning a basketball team?" But this one was actually insightful, and even makes me hate Mchale a little less which I didn't think was possible. Good work!

• All I can come up with is "wow!"

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