Wolves: McHale back in hot seat

The Timberwolves have come full circle, but Kevin McHale has decided not to break the chain.

McHale, the team's vice president of basketball operations, held a news conference Thursday, after his team finished 32-50 and out of the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

The big news wasn't that McHale was coming back; owner Glen Taylor has made it clear McHale could return if he wanted to. "Glen asked me if I'd do it and I said, 'Yeah,' " McHale said. "Do I deserve a chance? I don't know. I guess we'll find out."

Nor was it news that McHale wants coach Randy Wittman to return, despite a 12-30 record after taking over for Dwane Casey; Wittman has McHale's backing, so that follows. It's not even news that McHale doesn't want to trade Kevin Garnett, who can opt out of his contract after next season; McHale wants to try one more time to build around Garnett.

The news was McHale essentially admitting that, more than a decade after assuming control of the team, the Wolves today are much the same as the Christian Laettner, J.R. Rider-bunch he inherited, warts and all, years ago. And that will be difficult to change.

"Unfortunately, it reminds me of the team I took over," McHale said. "Dysfunctional locker room, a bunch of stuff. You know what? You have to turn it around and make it better."

Now there's a challenge -- changing despite a roster of underachieving, well-paid players who could prove difficult to move.

"We've had a bad season," McHale said. "There is no other way you can say it. And again, it starts with me. We did not have the team on the floor. It's got to perform better. And I'm responsible for putting that team on the floor. ... It's been a bad year, and I did a bad job."

So, how to fix it? By adding both physical ability and mental toughness. The wish list:

• Get bigger. McHale said a wholesale roster redo is not realistic, with 12 players signed to guaranteed contracts and little salary cap space. Still, McHale said he has talked to teams about potential trades. McHale said he wants to break the logjam at the small forward/shooting guard position and add size to his front line. Given the paucity of defensive-minded centers, that probably means adding size at forward.

"We don't protect the paint," McHale said. "And that's why we have to get bigger." And that brings us to:

• Get smarter. Or at least less selfish. McHale bemoaned the team's tendency to revert to me-first play when things got tough, especially at the end of games. "We have to have guys who are willing to go out there and do some more sacrificing for each other," McHale said. "When things go [badly], which happens in almost every game at some point, we don't have a lot of guys out there making plays for each other. We have too many guys saying, 'Hey, I'm going to try to do this on my own.' ... That's not the kind of basketball we want to play."

McHale said he wants players who play together and who handle the pressure of crunch time well. In a way, this is his crunch time. McHale admitted to frustration but said he didn't want to walk away with the team in this state.

The play of rookies Randy Foye and Craig Smith encouraged McHale, and he believes in Rashad McCants' potential. That's a nucleus. In Foye, he sees the kind of player who stays cool when the heat is on.

Still, the team needs more. The Wolves are guaranteed a top-10 draft choice, but McHale said he cannot assume that player will make a significant contribution as a rookie.

Bottom line?

"We have to try to put together a product on the floor that's a lot more competitive and a lot more pleasing to watch," McHale said. "I mean, there were times out there where I thought we were very hard to watch. You'd be watching the game and I'd be like, 'Ugh, that's bad.' "

Kent Youngblood • kyoungblood@startribune.com