Dwane Casey fired
Posted on January 23rd, 2007 – 4:05 PMBy Michael Rand
The Wolves coach is out. Randy Wittman will take over, the entire free world is now reporting (except for Timberwolves.com, which as of 4:30 p.m. still had a lead story of “Spotlight on Courtney,” about a member of the dance team.) Our brief thoughts, as we are hardly experts in the ways of the Timberwolves, are that there were all sorts of rumors this was coming before the Wolves got hot a couple weeks ago. The string of overtime wins delayed the inevitable. Was it fair? Probably not. Casey seemed to be improving, i.e. more consistent rotations and an increased understanding of when to use certain players. He’s less of a McHale fall guy than Flip, but that makes two coaches down, and McHale remains — a fact that will leave no shortage of heads unscratched around the Twin Cities. We’ve also long-believed that KG would be traded this season (a gut instinct, nothing more). It seems even more likely now. We’ll leave this thread up for the rest of the day, even if it did obliterate a fascinating post we had ready about McNuggets. Maybe tomorrow. For now, though, your thoughts. Did Casey get a raw deal? Is McHale’s continued presence perplexing, to put it mildly? Is KG outta here? Let’s hear it.
68 Responses to "Dwane Casey fired"
Ridiculous. When will they finally make the decision to fire McHale?
What a shock.
Randy Wittman, long-time McHale bobo, is the new coach?
Duh.
Let the 2nd Sidney Lowe era begin!!!
It’s time we get rid of Matt Millen. I mean Kevin McHale.
crap. firemchale is the greatest site ever!
Wow, this should help the team. . . not!
Two words: fall guy.
As I type this, Dan Barreiro is beyond shrill. He may actually be shrieking. And he’s not wrong.
Personally, and I think I also speak for the majority… I would rather hear about McNuggets. I follow the dollar menu closer than I do the Timberwolves.
Unbelievable. They just hired the man, but it’s Casey’s fault right? Try McHale! Typical Minnesota move, unreal!
PRINT UP THE “FIRE MCHALE” T-SHIRTS
I’d rather read the interview with Courtney. It was a must read
Sell the team, Taylor. You don’t know what you are doing.
I’ve never been a big Casey fan but Glen Taylor needs to get rid of McHale before anyone else. He has single-handedly killed this franchise and KG’s hopes of a title here. Oh and by the way, Mr. Casey and myself were at the same screening of ‘Borat’ at Block E a few months ago, only difference was I didn’t have my 20 something mistress with me.
Wow - the Wolves never seem to fail to make the wrong decision. Casey, with the exception of the Atlanta game, had this team playing far better than they should. McHale has made one dumb decision after another and continues to keep his job! Wake up and smell the coffee Glen - McHale sucks! But, that is Dwayne Casey’s fault as I’m sure it was Dwayne who wanted to sign Marko Jaric for 6 years and $$35 million more than what he is worth all while giving up a first round pick.
Dwayne you are better than this organization and best of luck to a good basketball coach!
How did we expect Casey to win with the team that McHale put together?
McHale once again proves that he doesn’t wear the pants in this family.
Maybe the next Powerball winner can buy the team and fire him, since Taylor doesn’t have the balls to.
Obviously Casey wasnt motivating the players and they lost his respect (the Davis incident). Changes needed to be made if they are gonna make a run. This is a wake up call to the players that management means business, and its THEIR fault that this good coach was fired. Now hopefully they step it up.
Hey it the bobo McHale show. I used to think that McHale wasn’t so bad, I know now that he is a Frankenstein look alike without the brain. Dwane Casey was hopelessly outmatched as a head coach. I feel so bad for KG, he deserves better. And by the way Sidney Lowe is coaching at NC State.
When did Minnesota get an NBA team?
Love the T-shirt idea…I could see it now…people sitting courtside w/the “FIRE MCHALE” on the backs of their shirts…
Case - you’re better than this sorry franchise they call a “team” - good luck w/all your future endeavors!!
Fire McHale. Blow it up, blow it all up. Trade KG, Ricky and any long contracts for as much youth, draft picks and expiring deals as possible. This franchise has yet again left us completely dumbfounded.
Terrible decision by a franchise that is desperate to find true leadership (top-down). McHale has it so good that 2 of the teams 10 GM’s were sent out west to do the firing. Unbelievable!!!
When will the Wolves come up with the “Fire McHale Ticket Offer”? The target center will be sold out nightly.
He “lost the team.”
The team included Ricky Davis! Why would anyone want to “find” this team?
I’d say it’s time to blow the team up and start over, but given the stupidity of management, that’s virtually impossible to do. We’re absolutely screwed, and for the next couple of years at least, there’s no way from here but down.
Mr. Casey however a “decent” coach shouldn’t have been a head coach at this level. He made poor decisions in game situations, lacked the “fire” to motivate our “pacified millionaires” and is horrible with matchups, substitutions, playing time etc. I could see this happening when the man was hired by who? Yes McHale, the guy hired a future fall guy and now it’s poor Randy Wittmans turn if Glen Taylor lets it happen.. MCHALE SHOULD HAVE WENT A LOOOOONG TIME AGO….
If KG goes, I go. I love B-Ball, but KG’s my man.
McHale sucks.
Casey, good luck.
So, why is it we still have Childress?
If making the playoffs wasn’t a tenuous proposition before, it sure seems like it now. Even if we had a great coach like a Popovich or Phil Jackson I don’t feel like it’d increase our chances of winning given the personnel we have.
Sally to Dance at All-Star Game. Read Courtney’s thoughts on the Trump/Rosie fued.
Man, the Timberwolves site is more riveting than RandBall…
Why is it the only MN sports team owner willing to spend money (verdicts still out on Wilf) has the most incompetent person distributing it?
Here is my strategy to help my first team.
1) Release Eddie Griffin now!
2) Play Mr. Foye more!
3) Play C. Smith more!
4) Trade KG (sorry Minny fans)
Trade KG and McCants to Boston
for:
Ryan Gomes
Al Jefferson
Theo Ratliff
#1 pick
5) Fire McHale this summer !
So we don’t like what McHale is doing with the team…Who could the wolves get to do any better??? This is Minnesota, we have to be loyal to MN guys (what happen to Flip??) I hope Randy can get these guys together and fix the rotation!! Play Defense and run a play on offense…it doesn’t just happen by itself.
Why bother? Seriously. What is this going to accomplish?
Is Wittman going to add an extra 10+ wins the rest of the way? Of course not. Is the talent level going to get notably better all of a sudden? Of course not. Frankly, I can’t believe this team is 20-20 right now, and Casey has done a decent job to get them there.
As others have said, McHale has to go. How bad of a GM do you have to be to get screwed in a trade with the LA freakin’ Clippers, the epitome of incompetent management in this league for decades?
And that’s what really worries me about the idea of trading KG. Do you really want McHale being the guy who decides what we’ll accept in return for KG–and also to be the guy spending the draft picks we’ll get in the process? Let’s say we get what Philly got for Iverson, which includes 2 first round draft picks. Anyone think that McHale will turn them into something better than his Will Avery and Ndudi Ebi picks?
Every GM in the league must be calling McHale these days to talk about KG. McHale’s about as fresh a fish as there is in the league right now, save perhaps for Isiah Thomas
I just heard on relaible sources that after the State of the Onion address, the town drunk will be applying for the Wolve’s job. He was a cheerleader once and that should help.
Sorry Pooh, the ONLY way you trade the “Big Ticket” (throw in Marko and/or T-Hud and/or Mike “Buster” James)is for lets say:
1. Ben Gordon or Kirk Heinrich
2. Ben Wallace
3. (2) yes (2) first round picks
4. cash and future considerations.
Pooh, we could make you coach then.
Oh and get rid of McHale asap, he’s been the loathing of this franchise since he got here. He is best suited as a fan (a not to informed one at that).
Oh yeah who was the idiot who fired the formidable Flip Saunders?? Oh, I forgot, the fearless VP Of BO
That damned McHale!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flip would have these guys winning I’d bet you and probably have McHale making better decisions.. What a BUST….er……
There goes Casey!!! I guess KG will be next to go!! I am in Minnesota but I will move to city where KG goes!!!
I think stupid Mchale planning to be last in the league and get the first draft pick ” Greg Oden”
What a mess. I love KG, but he’s no longer the KG with great championship potential who you can build around. He looks tired, but probably mostly tired of this endless quagmire that Taylor and McHale have dug themselves into. TRADE KG TO THE BULLS. Could they get Gordon, Thomas and a couple No. 1s? If so, please deal. TONIGHT.
Suggestion:
Boycott T-wolves games at Target Center until Mc-HELL (ooops, Mchale)is fired. Maybe Mr. Taylor will wake up if he sees his dollars dwindling.
What’s the deal??? Why doesn’t Foye start? Mike James is no better than Troy Hudson. McHale is the worst GM of all time, worse than Matt Millen. I hate to love the T’wolves cause they will always be lackluster with Garnett and no one else. Play Randy Foye, and give C. Smith some more damn playing time. It doesn’t take a genious to run a basketball team.
As Lee Harvey-Oswald once said “I’m just a patzy.”
MaHale HAS TO GO!!!!!
It’s tough to be a T-Wolves fan after this. I think Casey is an excellent coach. He did a great job and has nothing to feel bad about. Mchale has got to be the worst GM ever in the history of basketball. I hope KG demands a trade. He deserves a title and he won’t ever get one here.
Casey was a bum. McHale has made his fair share of boneheaded mistakes as well, but one of them included ever hiring this guy. He can’t coach and will never be anymore than an assistant coach!
Its been rumored since the NBA season began that McHale planned to fire Casey in January and replace him with his cronie, Randy Whittman. He just needed to have an excuse. So, the Timberwolves lose three straight games to first place teams (Detroit, Phoenix, and Utah), including two with some of the best records in the NBA on the road, and McHale has his opening. I don’t know what is worse….the Vikings with no one in charge, or the Wolves with McHale in charge! I think we need some new team owners who have a clue.
I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with A-Train, but if Casey is a bum and one of the mistakes McHale has made was hiring this guy then that is one more reason to blame McHale for this mess and one more reason that it is long-past time to get rid of him.
Coach Casey knows the game and had the team playing well, but he needs players who can help KG to compete. Thanks for your decency and effort Coach Casey.
Done. Tired of this crap. McEmbarassment, play just go fishing and let’s get on with this.
So would Taylor run his other business like this.
KG, Davis and a few hot hands make this team, so why the uproar over a coach leaving when many people in this “blog” want him to leave anyway ? Coaches are given way too mucgh credit. Some excellent coaches deserve that credit, but most are jouneymen trying and often failing to do their job. So, why piss and moan that Casey is leaving. Casey had his swings and struck out. No biggee. Maybe McHale is next but seriously the ‘Wolves have never set the league on fire, and losing Casey and McHale both won’t improve their chances. I suggest paint ball leagues. The Twin Cities is pretty good at that.
I’m sorry folks, but even though I don’t agree with some of the moves that McHale has made, I’m in favor of this one. Coach Casey, with all due respect, was in over his head with this almost from the start. I went to a lot of games and have never seen such erratic playcalling and such bizarre player substitutions. He lost the team a long time ago. I can’t imagine KG in anything but a T-Wolves uniform, and I hope that someone will give him some kind of reason to stick around.
Again, Skycam, you may be right. Casey may have been over his head. But then McHale screwed up by hiring him just like McHale screwed up all the draft picks and McHale screwed up all the trades - the announcement out of T-Wolves camp tonight should have come from Glen Taylor and it should have been “Casey is fired, McHale is fired and I am putting the team up for bid on eBay in hopes that someone with a dollar and a clue can fix this abomination of a mess that I’ve made over the last decade and change.”
Then there might have been a sense that at least there is hope for this team at some point in the near future.
Lets face it. We have two very bad owners in Wilf with the Vikings, and Taylor with the Vikings. These are the guys that deserve ALL OF THE BLAME for their teams falures since they chose the likes of Childress and McHale. I never thought I would see the day when Carl Pohlad looks good as an owner. At least he hires qualified people to run the Twins, unlike Wilf and Taylor.
Agreed Telli, but I can’t help give them some credit for at least realizing that what they had wasn’t working. They need a coach that will come in and command instant respect. Did you see Casey’s comments afterward? “I’m proud of what we accomplished. We’re a playoff team.” For crying out loud…you have (in my opinion) the best player in the league, two promising young rookies and several solid veteran players, and you’re PROUD TO BE A 500 TEAM? Give me a break! Let’s get a coach in here with some loftier goals!
How long do we have to put up with McIdiot’s and Taylor’s decisions. Joe Smith’s illegal contract, Paul Grant, Rick Rickert, Michael Olawakandi, the lost of first round draft picks, Flip’s firing, Ndi Ebi, Bobby Jackson, Chauncey Billups,Casey’s firing, Tyrrel Brandon, Felton Spencer, Luc Longley, Michael Williams,KGs contract, trading Wally, JR Rider, Christian Laetener, and many other bonehead decisions.
I don’t think there is a coach alive who would compete for a championship with Troy Hudson, Marko Jaric, Eddie Griffith, Trenton Hassel, Mad dog, James, and Reed on their roster. Casey is supposed to compete with the Spurs, Mavs, Suns, Jazz, and the Lakers! Most of these guys would not make another roster in the NBA, but yet we find a way to overpay average players and handicap a good coach. What has Whitman done anyway? He was fired as a head coach in Cleveland his first time out winning only a 1/3 of his games. What a joke! Fire Mchale, Babcock, Stack, and have Taylor sell the team. We need a new infusion of talent, leadership, and a new vision for this organization.
I’m not here to defend Dwane Casey. But the timing of this thing isn’t right. Four days ago Casey was your leading candidate for January coach of the month. And in the next two days, his Wolves will play at Portland and Seattle, where Casey got his starts in coaching. I would have given him at least those two games. If he wins those or goes 1-1, he deserved to keep the job. If he goes 0-2, see ya later. … Then again, maybe McHale and the Wolves didn’t want to give him the chance to win and keep his job. Maybe they’ve wanted to fire him for weeks now and were waiting for a little losing streak to do so.
Quote: Rwarner21 says: It doesn’t take a genius to run a basketball team.”
Apparently it doesn’t take a genius to coach one, either. You said it yourself - why isn’t Foye starting? Also, why earlier in the season with the Wolves down 5 with 3:00 to play was KG sitting for the rest of the game? What happened to the days when playing time was based on performance and not paychecks?
I can understand the uproar over management’s transgressions with our team, and there have been plenty. But let’s not forget that they also brought in a group of players that got them to the conference finals and got the team some credibility and respect leaguewide!
Be mad at them for what the team is today, and yes, it’s time for some fresh faces in the front office. But this was the right decision at the right time. Dwane Casey may be the right coach for some team, just not this one.
I feel terrible for Duane Casey. He wasn’t the one who made the series of brutal trades that has flushed the team down the toilet. Fire McHale. Not Casey. That stinks.
Unwritten rule in the NBA,either have a past(Celtics),a present(Mavericks) or a future(Magic). you just get the feeling Glen Taylor is content to come to the target center and watch the Kobe’s,Wade’s and mcGrady’s of this world.
ps:it hurts to see Josh Howard being tipped for An All-Star spot, the guy Mchale chose Ndi Ebi over.
I’m from England and only really got interested in basketball when visiting Minneapolis last year. I could probably do a better job than Mchale! How is this guy still in the job after the Joe Smith contract debacle? Just because you were a good player on a winning team, doesn’t mean you can run a team
If the team doesn’t get it together, and soon, NOBODY will care who the coach is.
glen, just fire me. i made some of the most dumbest moves in minnesota sports history.
cant you see i messed up this whole franchise?
cant you see KG never winning a championship because all the mess i caused?
look, i know sooner or later people are gonna start waering “fire kevin mchale” t-shirts at games; can you fire me before this happens? can you save me from the humiliation?
just fire me.
please?
better yet, let me trade kg first (and get nothing in return so i can damage this organization for another 5-7 years)…
then fire me.
…
Closed circuit to Glen Taylor-
Can I come work for you at Taylor Corp?
The job security you offer to local, bumbling, idiots is very attractive. By the way, on top of a $3mil/year salary- I’ll need a new house, car, plane, boat, and I can only work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 2pm. Oh yeah, I’ll also require a golf membership to every course in town! Did I mention I’m a local guy? I’m from here Glen- I’m one of us! Who else can you find that’s better?
Skycam — I think you are delusional regarding the level of talent here. Foye is going to be a good player. Craig Smith is a nice 9th or 10th man. But solid veterans? Blount is playing the best basketball of his career. Do you expect that to continue? Ricky Davis has largely been terrible. Mike James has been underwhelming. Marko Jaric was signed to be our point guard. How did that work out? Mark Madsen? Sheesh.
The current regime has in its 12 years, built a team that has gotten past the first round of the playoffs exactly once. 10 Western Conference teams have performed better than we have over that time period. Is that acceptable to you?
Or shall we live off of the fuzzy memories of the valiant 2004 run to the Conference Finals indefinitely? I always get misty when I see that one lonely Midwest Division champions banner hanging from the rafters at Target Center. Where have you gone, Latrell Sprewell?
Casey is a coach- not a magician!!! Give him something to work with– like AI or Webber– we pass up all the opportunities! Casey didn’t stand a chance… too bad!
Delusional, Sean? If you had bothered to read my post you would have noticed that I said SEVERAL, not across the board. Davis terrible? Kind of harsh, don’t you think? I guess it’s fashionable to jump on the bandwagon when you see virtually every post demands McHale’s head on a platter.
where can I get a “We like Randy” Foye tshirt that I saw courtside on t.v. I live in NYC, anyone help?
vintage power transformers
Not listed here, but as seen on tv, he also has an vintage power transformers materializer, as descried in the group on super-science.
How much does it cost links on your blog (Blogroll)?
Voglio aggiungere il tuo blog in un forum
