Castrol's "Think with your dipstick, Jimmy!" ad campaign - one that rivals Nike's MVPs (Most Valuable Puppets) for most entertaining on television at the moment - has apparently caught the attention of Wolves forward Kevin Love.
From his Twitter account late Tuesday night: Think with ur dipstick jimmy!!!
Love is not alone in coming up with clever/funny takes in 140 characters or less. As a follower also of ESPN's Bill Simmons, Shaquille O'Neal, and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, I'm entertained - in limited fashion - on a daily basis.
Love, besides being witty, also, at least very early on Wednesday morning, can create news.
A tweet from Love at approximately 12:15 am Wednesday morning: Today is a sad day...Kevin McHale will NOT be back as head coach next season.
The skeptic in me thought, "This is a joke. Love is pulling a fast one. This can't be true." A text message back and forth with Love came next and he validated that he spoke with McHale.
Finally, a tweet from Love at approximately 1:15 am Wednesday morning: P.S.I am not a breaking news guy...I had no idea no one knew..I'll tellthem I stayed at a holiday inn express last night. Always works....I'm telling you, he's Artie Lange-like.
Official confirmation should come later today, but the more I see from new president of basketball operations David Kahn, the more I like.
Coaching in the NBA is far more than being an X's and O's master - it's about being able to massage egos. You also need to have great people skills, areas in which it can be argued that McHale had some success in.
But when down two, with .7 seconds left, the coach needs to have the ability to diagram the right play. The coach also needs to properly manage minutes and get his guys to give superior effort, whether it's a Game 7, or a late March contest when you're out of playoff contention.
I'm not convinced McHale was even average in those areas. There were plenty of games from early February on when playing hard wasn't on the minds of most players. Assistants Jerry Sichting and Dean Cooper took care of the play calling and defensive alignments.
Separating the failures of McHale the general manager and the public relations nightmare his return would've been - his return as the coach made no sense, and it's nice to see that apparently Kahn feels the same way.
The comeback of, "He should be back because everyone likes him" never was one I understood. In 17 months, seven new players, minimum, will be on this team. Kahn is prepared to make major changes.
It does seem odd that Bill Laimbeer suddenly resigned his post as coach of the WNBA's Detroit Shock just days ago. It's too weird a coincidence.
Laimbeer has never coached outside of the WNBA, so he isn't atop my list - Sam Mitchell is (reasons laid out in a previous blog entry).
McHale will hopefully look great on TNT's Inside the NBA set next season, sitting to the right of Charles Barkley. He would make a wonderful studio analyst.
As a Wolves observer with a vested interest, tonight is a good night. The saying, "Nothing good happens after midnight" isn't always true.