Casey Fired

The Wonder Chimp · 01-23-2007, 06:21 PM

Struggling Timberwolves fire head coach CaseyESPN.com news services

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Dwane Casey was fired Tuesday, ESPN's Ric Bucher reported, halfway into another season mired in mediocrity.

Assistant coach Randy Wittman will take over the head coaching duties.

The Timberwolves are 20-20 and currently in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Casey was hired by the Timberwolves on June 17, 2005. Longtime coach Flip Saunders was fired during the 2004-05 season and vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale filled in for the remainder of that season.

Minnesota was 33-49 last year in Casey's first season.

Wittman spent a total of nine seasons with Minnesota, also serving as an assistant coach from 1994-95 to 1998-99. He served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for two seasons, compiling a 62-102 record (.378) from 1999-2001. Prior to his first stint in Minnesota, Wittman spent one season each as an assistant coach with Indiana (1992-93) and Dallas (1993-94).

Ric Bucher joined ESPN in January 1999 as a San Francisco-based senior writer covering professional basketball for ESPN The Magazine, and as an NBA reporter for SportsCenter and NBA 2Night. Bucher also contributes to ESPN.com.

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Maybe KG will go next...

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 01-23-2007, 06:23 PM

Yea I was shocked about this as they are the 8th seed right not at a 20-20 record, not the brightest record, but much higher than most people thought...It was reported that he was fired because the team was "inconsistant"...

JP · 01-24-2007, 01:00 PM

A lot of people are saying that it wasn't Dwayne Casey's fault that he was "relieved of his duties," but I believe that can't be true. Sure, McHale has hurt this team, but he's been hurting it for a long time! With a good coach the Wolve were able to go to the WCF in '04. Casey had no idea how to run an offense. The Timberwolves' turnovers are out of control and their defense has been sporadic at best. If Dwayne Casey wasn't able to get them to play defense (which is supposed to be his trademark), then what could he get them to do? Maybe it's a case of him being too good of a guy. I think they'll be better off with Wittman.

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 01-24-2007, 07:43 PM

Yea I do believe Wittman will do good for them until they find another coach, but I think they got rid of him a bit too early, to at least the end of the season and see how they fared this well would have been good enough for me...

dave · 01-31-2007, 12:01 PM

I don't think it matters.

Casey Fired

This is a discussion on Casey Fired within the North American Sports forums, part of the Sports Forums category; Struggling Timberwolves fire head coach CaseyESPN.com news services Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Dwane Casey was fired Tuesday, ESPN's Ric Bucher ...