Kevin McHale is leaving Minnesota's front office to coach the wayward team he assembled, returning to the sideline after Randy Wittman failed to turn around the rebuilding franchise.

McHale stepped down as Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations yesterday, a position he has held since 1995, to become the coach after owner Glen Taylor fired Wittman.

The job is not an interim one. McHale said he "plans on being here" for the long term, and general manager Jim Stack and assistant GMs Fred Hoiberg and Rob Babcock will take over his executive duties for the remainder of the season.

Now it's up to McHale to breathe some life into the 4-15 Timberwolves.

"It just looks like the guys are very beaten down," McHale said. "They've only played 19 games this season. They have 63 games left. It's no time to be beaten down. There's still time to rally and get going."

ELSEWHERE

Bulls: Rookie guard Derrick Rose needed 10 stitches to close a gash in his left forearm after he said he rolled onto a knife while eating an apple in bed.

Rose missed yesterday's practice but said he planned to play tonight against the New York Knicks unless doctors held him out.

"It was a silly incident," Rose said. "I was cutting up some food, and I laid on a knife getting lazy in bed. I went to get a bottle of water, came back, forgot the knife was there, then sat down and sliced my arm."