FanHouse KevinMchale

Tuesday night's NBA TV show, hosted by Ahmad Rashad and featuring Chris Webber and Gary Payton, wasn't as good as the TNT version with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley in terms of pure basketball analysis. But in terms of pure comedy, that Tuesday show was solid gold.

And now, it's over.

Kevin McHale has been hired to replace Gary Payton in the studio, and while I think McHale will do just fine as an analyst, there's no way he'll have the same chemistry with Webber that Payton did. With the show obviously looking to get a little more serious, here's a reminder of some of the antics that made it so much fun to watch.

There's no official confirmation yet, but as you can see above, Kevin Love seems to have let the cat out of the bag on Twitter: Kevin McHale, who led the Timberwolves to a 20-43 record after Randy Wittman's dismissal, is apparently no longer a candidate to resume coaching in 2009-10 and beyond.

(Update: GM David Kahn made the official announcement today.)

Among the myriad NBA head coach executions this decade, Dwane Casey's ceremonial beheading still bothers me the most. So it's good to hear, by way of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that Casey (currently a Rick Carlisle assistant in Dallas) is the first candidate to get a second interview for the open 76ers job.

Few remember the post-Cassell/Sprewell Timberwolves teams fondly, but they really weren't that bad. In 2004-05, Flip Saunders' last season at the helm, the Wolves finished one game out of the eighth seed. That summer, Kevin McHale traded Sam Cassell for Marko Jaric and Latrell Sprewell decided $7 million a year wasn't enough cash for his services.

Blazers "capologist" Tom Penn became the third top candidate to leave Minnesota at the altar today. According to Ric Bucher, Penn took a better title, a bigger paycheck and a hearty backslap from Paul Allen to stay in Home Sweet PDX. The Wolves' search continues anew. Mascot Crunch is currently testing Shelden Williams' spelling skills.

To be brutally honest, these last two snubs in Minneapolis have been downright insulting. Randy Pfund will end up as an assistant general manager, assistant coach or lead scout somewhere when he likely could have had Minnesota's top job. Penn is one of numerous cooks in Kevin Pritchard's kitchen -- and this is a young Kevin Pritchard, who isn't likely going anywhere any time soon. Penn would rather stay there than deal with Glen Taylor and (potentially) Kevin McHale. (Publicly, Penn cites the comfort level with the Blazers. I didn't hear anything about a comfort level until Portland put on a "full court press," though.)

News this week that Randy Pfund, the former Heat GM who publicly announced his interest in the Timberwolves job, had withdrawn his name from consideration drew raised eyebrows at the least. Pfund, after all, has few front office prospects -- the market is just dry for personnel bosses right now. And just weeks ago he really pushed for consideration in Minnesota. What gives?

Marc Stein of ESPN.com has a clue. And that clue's name is Kevin McHale.

Back in December, Kevin McHale had a decision made for him. Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor fired coach Randy Wittman, and told McHale to get down to the bench to guide the team he had assembled as vice president of basketball operations.

It was an unkind blow for McHale, who had been in on the franchise's highs and lows as the team's top decision-maker for the previous 13 seasons. At the time, most figured McHale would ride out the rest of 2008-09 season, then move on.

Now, McHale's got a decision to make.

Since moving out of the front office and into the head coaching role back on December 8, Kevin McHale has done a fantastic job of turning the Timberwolves around. Glen Taylor (the team's owner) has been so pleased, in fact, that he wants McHale to return as the head coach next season.

McHale has yet to decide if he'll indeed remain the team's coach, but what is clear is that his former position of running the team is no longer available.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Brian Scalabrine: "It's not going to be a difficult negotiation,'' he said. "I'll just go to Danny and say, 'I don't want to go anywhere else. Please re-sign me.' If he says yes, that'd be great. If he says no, that's when I'll probably have to start begging." -- HoopsHype

* Kevin McHale on Al Jefferson: "He'll make a lot of them," McHale said. "You miss a couple early in your career when you should have gotten them, and you make some later in your career when you have no business making it and your reputation gets you there. It'll all equal out for him." -- Star-Tribune

When assistant coaches have to pick just nine rookies and nine sophomores for the Rookie Challenge to be played on All-Star Friday, it's likely that a good player or two will be left out. Big names (Greg Oden) earn deference, bit players on good teams (Rudy Fernandez) get a bump in recognition, and sometimes the snubs and their associates feel a little spurned.

Maybe the most biting comments came from Kevin McHale, who coaches a fairly high-performing lottery pick in Kevin Love. For his part, Love called the vote "bulls---" and said it inspired a 17-point, 10-rebound performance against the Pistons. McHale, donning the attitude of a CIA interrogator, started asking questions.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "Several players may have a different look by the time the Pacers play Houston on Friday. Mike Dunleavy was able to convince most of his teammates to grow mustaches. The players involved have until practice Thursday to have their mustaches or to have their beards shaved." -- Indianapolis Star, via Both Teams Played Hard.