Yet Another MN Coach Gets The AX

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2740436

Struggling Wolves fire Casey, promote Wittman
ESPN.com news services

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves fired coach Dwane Casey on Tuesday, one day after the Wolves lost their fourth game in a row.

Casey lasted less than 1½ seasons in Minnesota in his first head coaching job, unable to solve the Timberwolves' inconsistencies and put them back into the thick of the competitive Western Conference.

"I've been in basketball 29 years, and this is going to be my first time out of basketball," Casey told ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan. "But you understand what you're getting into when you enter this business."

ESPN's Ric Bucher first reported the firing earlier Tuesday.

The Timberwolves looked to be turning the corner at the start of the new year, when they opened 2007 with seven wins in their first eight games.

But it has gone downhill since. The team lost its next four games, including what Casey called "trigger games" in an embarrassing blowout on their home court Jan. 17 at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks and a Jan. 19 double-overtime home loss to the Detroit Pistons. Guard Ricky Davis was seen leaving the court against the Pistons, apparently irritated that he had been benched, and star forward Kevin Garnett was ejected after instigating a fight with the Pistons' Antonio McDyess.

Both players were suspended one game following the incidents -- Davis by the team and Garnett by the league.

"I'm not bitter," Casey told Sheridan. "It's a situation where today we're in the playoffs. I'm proud that I've given them a lot of hard days' work and never shortchanged them."

Casey's firing was confirmed by team spokesman Mike Cristaldi. General manager Jim Stack declined comment and Casey and his agent did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

Assistant coach Randy Wittman will take over as interim coach in a situation similar to 2005, when longtime coach Flip Saunders was fired in midseason and replaced on the bench by vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale.

McHale had no designs on taking over permanently, so he turned to Casey, who spent 14 years as an assistant in Seattle, to take over. Casey was just 33-49 in his first season, one made more difficult by an eight-player trade with Boston at midseason that upset the chemistry of a group that had been together for some time.

The Wolves brought Wittman and longtime assistant Bob Ociepka onto Casey's staff for this season, hoping an influx of experience on the bench would help the first-time head coach with his game management.

While the teams has shown some improvement this season, especially in closing out close games, the inconsistencies on both ends of the floor left them 20-20 following Monday night's 106-91 loss at Utah.

That wasn't good enough for Wolves owner Glen Taylor, who desperately wants his team to return to the form that made it a Western Conference finalist in 2004. He also knows that the Timberwolves have to start winning now to placate Garnett, the former MVP who has made it clear on more than one occasion that he is growing tired of the mediocrity.

But Garnett has most frequently directed his ire toward McHale, who has struggled to surround the superstar with enough talent to compete in the powerful West. Garnett has seldom criticized Casey in his tenure here.

It was McHale, after all, and not Casey who traded veteran Sam Cassell and a No. 1 draft pick to the Clippers for Marko Jaric.

And it was McHale, not Casey, who sacrificed valuable cap room by spending millions on contracts for Jaric, Troy Hudson and Eddie Griffin, all of whom have not panned out in Minnesota.

Nevertheless, Casey's Wolves were flying high just over a week ago after a 94-90 victory at Detroit improved their record to 20-16. But they followed that up with an ugly home loss to Atlanta and a double-overtime loss to the Pistons before starting a five-game road trip with back-to-back blowouts against Phoenix and Utah.

Now it's Wittman's turn. It will be his second try as a head coach, having compiled a 62-102 record in two seasons with Cleveland from 1999-01.

Wittman is plenty familiar with the Timberwolves, having served as an assistant here in three different stints for a total of 10 seasons.

Casey's firing means Saunders, who spent almost 10 seasons at the helm, is the only coach in the franchise's 18 years to last more than two seasons.

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

ESPN Insider views

Chris Sheridan:

Today's dismissal of Dwane Casey appears to me to be a case of "We'd better fire him now while it's still convenient, because it might not be easier to fire him down the road."

The Wolves' current four-game losing streak gave owner Glen Taylor just enough cover to try to justify the change, but this firing had been coming ever since management forced Casey to get rid of trusted assistant Johnny Davis last summer in order to clear the way for Randy Wittman as the ownership-chosen lead assistant.

Taylor even told Wittman he was not being brought in as a coach-in-waiting after Wittman himself sounded the alarm that his own hiring seemed a little fishy, saying he did not want to be viewed as an underminer of Casey by the players, the public or the rest of the staff. Taylor assured him that would not be the case

Well, that ended up being exactly the case, which we believe should affect Taylor's standing as a man of his word.

"I'm not bitter," Casey told me less than 10 minutes after general manager Jim Stack and assistant general manager Fred Hoiberg delivered the news of his firing in person at the team hotel in Portland (team president Kevin McHale then spoke to Casey by phone). "It's a situation where today we're in the playoffs. I'm proud that I've given them a lot of hard days' work and never shortchanged them."

Casey had nothing negative to say about Taylor, whom he thanked for giving him his first pro head coaching opportunity when he chose him over P.J. Carlesimo two years ago. The strongest impression I got from Casey was that he did not understand the timing of the move, the four-game losing streak coming after the team had won 10 of 13.

Casey felt the two losses that sealed his fate were a 17-point home loss to Atlanta last Wednesday and the subsequent overtime loss to the Pistons two nights later in which Kevin Garnett threw a punch at Antonio McDyess. The next game was a 29-point loss at Phoenix in which Garnett was suspended by the NBA and Ricky Davis also had been suspended by Casey for storming off the bench in anger. The final loss for Casey came Tuesday night in Utah to drop the Wolves' record to 20-20.

Casey had to know that he was failing to meet the owner's expectations after Taylor told him and his staff that he felt the team was strong enough to reach the Western Conference finals -- an implied threat so bold that it makes James Dolan's demand for "significant progress" in New York look positively tame by comparison -- especially when Casey would be working two rookies into the rotation of a team that made a major roster overhaul at midseason just a year ago, bringing in Davis and Mark Blount in the Wally Szczerbiak trade. Last time I checked, Casey was actually getting through better than anyone had in a long time to Blount, one of the baddest attitude cases in the entire NBA.

Some around the team felt Casey was further undermined by Taylor when word of the owner's meeting with disgruntled guard Marko Jaric leaked out, but Casey said he felt the "trigger games" were the losses to Atlanta and Detroit. Both were at home in Minneapolis, where Taylor attends the games and calls the shots -- and where he began the season believing his team should be one of the top two in the West.

Well, good luck to Wittman in getting the Wolves to the conference finals. That, apparently, is where the significant progress bar has been set by Taylor.

John Hollinger:

Can anyone remember the last time a coach took a team that was expected to be lottery-bound, had them at .500 and in line for a playoff spot at the halfway point of the season in a very tough conference, and got fired anyway?

I can't, which makes Dwane Casey's dismissal by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday one of the season's more puzzling events.

Minnesota hired the guy only a year and a half ago, and the same exec who hired him then -- team president Kevin McHale -- was the one wielding the hatchet today.

Somebody, anybody, please tell me what this guy did wrong.

Casey kept the Wolves in the top half of the league in Defensive Efficiency all season despite basically having only three big men in his rotation -- Kevin Garnett, the sporadically motivated Mark Blount and rookie Craig Smith, a second-round draft pick.

You can't critique Casey's late-game strategy either: He more than held his own in close games, winning three straight overtime contests earlier this month.

But apparently losing four games in a row -- two of which can directly be pinned on Garnett's ejection against Detroit last Friday and subsequent one-game suspension -- was too much for Minnesota's brass to bear. No matter that the Wolves were 7-5 in January, or that they surprisingly held the West's No. 8 seed heading into Monday's games.

Apparently Minnesota management thinks this is still 2003-04 and they're gunning for the Western Conference title. This would be an absurd notion with almost any other franchise, but the Timberwolves are perhaps the league's most delusional franchise.

From the lofty contract extensions they've handed out to even their most mediocre players, to the way they've axed both Flip Saunders (in February 2005) and now Casey rather than admitting the serial imperfections of the roster, to their current refusal to trade Garnett before his value declines, Minnesota's front office has existed in an alternate state of reality for some time now.

In the early hours after McHale's move, we're still hunting down all the skeletons associated with Casey's firing, but one thing is for certain: There's a good coach walking around today without a job, and he deserved better.

Let's hope Casey lands on his feet with one of the many openings that are expected this summer. And in the meantime, let's hope the Timberwolves can start acting sensible some time before the end of the decade.

[Blue Breeze]

I hate the NBA, but I am a little upset about this firing. Casey really had done nothing but get a team with a dearth of talent to a respectable .500 record and had them chasing a playoff spot. The T-Wolves are one of the poorest run franchises in sports.

[Neutron 14]

I hate the NBA, but I am a little upset about this firing. Casey really had done nothing but get a team with a dearth of talent to a respectable .500 record and had them chasing a playoff spot. The T-Wolves are one of the poorest run franchises in sports.

The ridiculous decision was made when it was between Kevin or Flip. Nothing will suprise me after that one...

[Blue Breeze]

I hate the NBA, but I am a little upset about this firing. Casey really had done nothing but get a team with a dearth of talent to a respectable .500 record and had them chasing a playoff spot. The T-Wolves are one of the poorest run franchises in sports.

The ridiculous decision was made when it was between Kevin or Flip. Nothing will suprise me after that one...

Very true. McHale has 9 lives, he's on par with Matt Millen as far as the worst execs in sports goes.

[schwang17]

I hate the NBA, but I am a little upset about this firing. Casey really had done nothing but get a team with a dearth of talent to a respectable .500 record and had them chasing a playoff spot. The T-Wolves are one of the poorest run franchises in sports.

The ridiculous decision was made when it was between Kevin or Flip. Nothing will suprise me after that one...

Very true. McHale has 9 lives, he's on par with Matt Millen as far as the worst execs in sports goes.

I never liked Casey either, so I really don't care that he's gone. That said, McHale should have been gone years ago. 1st round picks for sub par players, the Joe Smith deal costing us all of those draft picks, Eddie Griffin, Hudson etc. How he still has a job is a complete joke.

[packerboy]

Just another in a long line of strange decisions.

[top_shelf]

RIGHT UP MY ALLY!!!

Well McHale should have been gone before he had the chance to fire Flip. Casey did a decent job, not great, but decent, given the players and the situation at the front office. It least give him the rest of the season to make a playoff push. Right now i think they are sitting 8? Why not wait and see if he gets them "bowling"

To me, it's sickening that McHale still has his job with the T-wolves!

[tomASS]

Hate Basketball but agree McHale has not done the job he was hired to do and has been given ample opportunity to correct the situation.

Wish I could fail that often at work and still have a job