Struggling Wolves fire Casey, promote Wittman
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2740436
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.
John Hollinger: Delusional Wolves
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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?• Read more from
Hollinger.
"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.
