Busy morning.

On Kevin McHale:

Already heard strong reaction to the idea of McHale returning to the Wolves. He's too smart and accomplished to ignore, and his stay with the Wolves was too problematic to forget. I'd say this would be one of those times when the interview is as important as the resume.

Does he want to come in as an advisor? Does he want to be the next GM? Does he have fire in his belly to build a champion or would this be an early-retirement job?

On Sam Mitchell's Hack-a-Whiteside

Was impressed again with Mitchell's handling of his young team last night in Miami, and his willingness to intentionally foul in the fourth quarter helped his team win.

So good on Sam. Bad on the NBA. Basketball should be the most fluid and entertaining of sports. Rewarding intentional fouls is silly. Noone pays front-row ticket prices to watch great athletes get fouled and go to the free-throw line. If it's apparent that a foul is intentional, the penalty should be two shots and possession. You should have to play basketball to win a basketball game.

On the North Dakota nickname:

This issue won't be resolved until the team closest to the heart of our democracy changes it slur of a name.

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The new You Betcha Basketball and MalePatternPurple shows are up at MalePatternPodcasts.com. The former features Associated Press Wolves writer Jon Krawczynski, the latter Viking Update publisher Tim Yotter. On the way the rest of the week: ESPN Wisconsin writer and host Jason Wilde on the Packers, Roy Smalley on baseball and Michael Russo on the Wild - that show will be 4 p.m. Saturday at Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub with live questions and giveaways. Please stop by.

@Souhanstrib