As much as I enjoy criticizing Kevin McHale, this bit over at Draft Express on a couple pre-draft events caught my eye in a positive light:

As usual, Portsmouth will be competing with the Nike Hoop Summit (which we’ll also be covering) for the attention of NBA executives—but unlike previous years (when it was held in Memphis), it will be more difficult for everyone to try and cover both—which means that some will have a decision to make. Considering that most of the players here are well known and it would be surprising if any first-round prospects emerged, it’s understandable why some will decide to go and see the international prospects playing in the Nike Hoop Summit (particularly Serge Ibaka and Alexis Ajinca), as people’s comfort level with them may not be quite as strong.

Regardless, an unusually strong collection of high level NBA executives and General Managers did make the trek out here, including: Kevin McHale (Minnesota), Larry Bird (Indiana), Bryan Colangelo (Toronto), Danny Ainge (Boston), Daryl Morey (Houston), Rod Thorn (New Jersey), Randy Pfund (Miami) and Dave Babcock (Milwaukee), amongst the GMs, and to name just a handful of executives: Kiki Vandeweghe (New Jersey), Dennis Lindsay (San Antonio), Glen Grunwald (Toronto), Jeff Weltman (Detroit) ,Scott Perry (Seattle), Kenny Williamson (Memphis), Rob Babcock (Minnesota), John Gabriel (Portland), Rex Champan (Denver), Keith Grant (Dallas), Walt Perrin (Utah), John Hammond (Detroit), Dean Cooper (Houston) and probably many more that we did not see or are momentarily forgetting about.

Number one on the GM's spotted at Portsmouth huh? Not bad (Babcock was on the list too). I don't recall having heard about McHale scouting Portsmouth before, so if this is his first time in a while, I salute the man for hitting the beat. Even if he's been there every year and I just didn't hear about it, I'm glad the word is getting out to us fans that he's trying to scout away from his TV this year.

The thing about this article that made me do a double-take, however, was the comment about many people going to the Nike Hoops Summit to check out more unknown Euro-prospects. As you may have read, I recently questioned the Wolves' apparent focus on Europe as "behind the times," but I can't help but ride the pendulum swing the other way and wonder if McHale is missing the boat on not scouting the Nike Summit. Who knows, maybe other Wolves scouts are there.

Maybe McHale's that far ahead of the curve that he's actually two prospect-pool cycles ahead of everyone else by checking out Portsmouth. Maybe...