Casey out, Wittman in as T-Wolves coach

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Kevin McHale thought long and hard about firing Dwane Casey on several occasions this season. <br/><br/>Every time he was about to pull the trigger, the Minnesota Timberwolves would

Wednesday, January 24th 2007, 8:35 am

By: News On 6

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Kevin McHale thought long and hard about firing Dwane Casey on several occasions this season.

Every time he was about to pull the trigger, the Minnesota Timberwolves would reel off several victories in a row, leading McHale to believe that they were on the right track.

After the latest roller coaster ride _ a 7-1 start to 2007 followed by four straight losses _ McHale decided he could wait no longer.

Minnesota's basketball boss called Casey on Tuesday afternoon while the team was in Portland, Ore., and delivered the news.

Casey is out. Assistant Randy Wittman is in.

``Every time you thought, 'I just don't know how this is going to go,' we'd turn around and win three or four in a row,'' McHale said. ``With 42 games left to go, we wanted to make sure Randy had the time to get things going.''

Classy and soft-spoken, Casey was given just 1 1/2 seasons in his first head coaching job. He went 33-49 in his first year, a season made more difficult by an eight-player trade in midseason that upset team chemistry.

After a 106-91 loss to Utah on Monday night, the Timberwolves were 20-20 and in eighth place in the competitive Western Conference.

``Case is a tremendous guy,'' McHale said. ``I couldn't find a negative thing to say about him.''

That didn't stop McHale from turning to a longtime acquaintance to try and instill the consistency in effort and playing style that Casey never could.

Wittman has spent nearly 10 seasons as an assistant in Minnesota during three different stints, including the last 31 games of the 2004-05 season under McHale, who took over after firing longtime coach Flip Saunders.

McHale said he was asked to take the job again this time, presumably by owner Glen Taylor, but declined. He said having Wittman already on staff, who was brought on as an assistant from Orlando before the season to help Casey with Xs and Os and game management, made it easier to fire Casey.

Wittman has been a head coach before. He went 62-102 at the helm of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1999-2001.

``We all feel part of the problem, and we all are,'' Wittman said after practice Tuesday in Portland, Ore. ``Now we have to rectify why is it. I'm going to try to figure that out.''

Casey and Taylor did not return phone messages left by The Associated Press.

Ultimately it's the players who have to perform better, McHale said. The ups and downs have been too drastic this season for the former Boston Celtics great who epitomized hard work.

``I've seen us play and beat some of the best teams in the league and I've seen us play and lose to some of the worst teams in the league,'' McHale said. ``I just don't know.''

A perfect example came last week, when the Wolves started the week with an impressive victory at Detroit, then followed it up with an ugly 105-88 loss at home to lowly Atlanta.

Those kinds of swings were commonplace in Casey's tenure, and now it's up to Wittman to try and smooth out that erratic play.

``The coach can only do so much,'' swingman Ricky Davis said. ``A lot of it had to do with our not being together.''

The Timberwolves are seven games behind Utah in the Northwest Division, but if the season ended Tuesday, they would make the playoffs in the eighth and final spot.

That's not enough for Taylor, who knows the Timberwolves have to show much more improvement to placate star Kevin Garnett, who is growing increasingly impatient with the mediocrity.

Garnett said everybody in basketball knows the coach ``is the captain of the boat. Now Randy has the chance to voice his opinion, and he did that today.''

The changes started Tuesday, and more might be on the way.

McHale said he is looking at some trades to even out the team's guard-heavy roster and bring a boost to the frontcourt.

``We don't want to be the eighth seed,'' McHale said. ``I think we're better than the eighth seed.''