Casey Fired, All-Stars & Injuries

- On 1/23 the Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Dwane Casey and replaced him with lead assistant Randy Wittman on an interim basis. While the timing of this move is a little surprising, this change had been widely rumored ever since last summer. That’s when management (i.e. Vice President Kevin McHale) forced Casey to get rid of trusted lead assistant Johnny Davis so Wittman could step in as the ownership (i.e. Owner Glen Taylor) appointed lead assistant.

At the time Taylor assured the media, players, Casey and even Wittman himself that Randy was not being brought in as a coach-in-waiting. Well, that just goes to show you that owners are no more trustworthy then the coaches, executives and players they employ.

My question is, what exactly did Dwane do wrong?

Sure, Casey was 53-69 (a 43.4% winning percentage) during his 1 ½ season in charge, but was he really supposed to be doing that much better with those players? Apparently he was, as word leaked out afterward that Taylor had told Dwane and his staff that he felt his team was strong enough to reach the Western Conference Finals.

Huh?

The last time I checked the Wolves start Mike James, Ricky Davis and Mark Blount. A trio that is not exactly known for their defense, work ethic or how they share the ball on offense. That’s not even mentioning such non-defenders as Marko Jaric and Randy Foye playing prominent roles off the bench. In spite of having five defensive liabilities in his main rotation, Casey still managed to have Minne in the top half (15) of the league in opponent’s field goal percentage through forty games.

That’s a pure reflection on his coaching ability people.

Dwane was canned after a four game losing streak where the Wolves lost to Atlanta at home (by 17), Detroit at home in 2OT (by 6), in Phoenix (by 29, with both Kevin Garnett & Davis suspended) and in Utah (by 15).

Look at that list.

Ok, the loss to the Hawks was bad, but it came on the heels of Minne winning 10 of 13 games to get themselves up to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

The rest of those losses aren’t that bad when you factor in that KG was ejected with 5:18 to go in the 4th quarter against the Pistons, that KG and Ricky were not available at all versus the Suns and that the Jazz loss came on the second night of a back-to-back & was the Wolves third game in four days.

Again, can I ask what Casey was doing wrong? I mean, the guy was hovering around the top of my Coach of the Year ballot when he got axed for cripes sake.

I guess a case could be made that Dwane was losing his team when Davis left the bench and walked into the locker room during the 3rd quarter of the double OT loss to Detroit. But really, that’s Ricky Davis we’re talking about there. Other then that, I hadn’t read of any other player discord in Minne.

Anyway, what makes Wittman so much better that McHale and Taylor had to make the switch with 42 games still to play? In short, I’m not sure. Both coaches are defense first, no non-sense, disciplinarian type of guys.

Randy was 62-102 (a 37.8% winning percentage) in the two full seasons he ran the show in Cleveland. Some say he got a raw deal, others say his abrasive style caused him to lose the locker room. Whatever the reason, he’s 2-4 running the Wolves so far.

I don’t want to hear about them breaking Phoenix’s 17 game winning streak either. The reason I say that is because Minne shot 59% from the filed as team that night. I doubt they’ll do that even one more time this season.

Making Wittman wear the “interim” tag, when everybody and their mother knows he was hand picked for the job, is yet another indication of what a terrible organization the Wolves really are. I’m not going to run down all of McHale’s bone headed moves, but here are some of his greatest hits.

> Trading Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury on draft day 1996. (Forgot about that one, huh?) His first two draft picks could have been KG and Ray-Ray. WOW!

> KG’s six year $126 million contract extension, which indirectly caused the first work stoppage in NBA history and forced the league to institute “maximum contracts”.

> Trading Marbury for Terrell Brandon. This signaled the beginning of the end.

> The secret “arrangetment” with Joe Smith (of all people) that ended up costing the franchise three first round draft picks (was lowered from five originally). This, more then anything else, has killed KG’s career.

> Picking Ndudi Ebi at #26 in the 2003 draft with Leandro Barbosa (#28) and Josh Howard (#29) still on the board.

> Trading Sam Cassell and a first round pick for Marko Jaric.

> And last but not least, the contracts given to such luminaries as: Terrell Brandon. Rasho Nesterovic, Michael Olowokandi, Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, Mark Madsen, Marko Jaric, Eddie Griffin and Mike James.

Much like Ed Snider with Billy King in Philadelphia, Glen Taylor has watched Kevin McHale make mistake after mistake after mistake, but still never fires him. This is why I say Minne is a joke of a franchise. Sometimes it’s not the players or coach, but upper management and ownership that are really the problem.

- It’s All-Star time again, so of course the debate over who got snubbed is running hot and heavy at the moment. Here’s my take on all things All-Star related.

(Note: the participants in the Shooting Stars, Slam Dunk and Three-Point Shootout have yet to be named.)

I’m good with the nine man rosters for the Rookie Challenge, with one exception. On the Sophomore squad I’d replace Raymond Felton with Ryan Gomes. While Felton has been doing a fine job in Charlotte, Gomes has become a consistent threat offensively while still providing all the little things he normally does in Boston.

If you are not totally psyched for this year’s Skills Challenge, then you just don’t like the NBA. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Steve Nash and Dwyane Wade make up the entire field. You’ve got to be kidding me with those names.

On to the main event now. I’m going to list the team as I think it should be while noting if the fans or coaches voted them in or if they should be a Commissioner’s choice as an injury replacement.

EAST – Starters

Gilbert Arenas – good job by the fans here.

Dwyane Wade – chalk another one up for the fans.

LeBron James – the fans keep it going.

Chris Bosh – and the fans go four for five in the East!

Dwight Howard – picked by the coaches, but obviously should be starting over Shaquille O’Neal (who should not even be on the team at all).

I read an interesting way to *fix* the fan voting recently. Let the people vote for whoever they want because the ballots are created before the season starts. Then, before the votes are tabulated, you remove any player from consideration that has appeared in less then half of his team’s games. Works for me.

Reserves

Jason Kidd – good job coaches.

Michael Redd – not on the team, but he should be. As are the rules, if you want someone on, someone else has to go. So see ya Vince Carter.

Caron Butler – deserved to be here, and the coaches recognized.

Jermaine O’Neal – another nice call by the coaches.

Emeka Okafor – not on the team, but is certainly more deserving then Shaq.

Chauncey Billups – as the leader of one of the better clubs in the East, he deserved it, and the coaches gave it to him.

Joe Johnson – he gets penalized for being on a bad team, but I’d like to see if Richard Hamilton could shoot 48.3% from the floor as the #1 scoring option on the Hawks. I doubt very seriously that Rip could, which is why he gets the boot.

WEST – Starters

Steve Nash – the coaches voted him in, but there’s no way he shouldn’t be starting. Stupid fans.

Kobe Bryant – the fans did their job here.

Kevin Garnett – nicely done fans.

Dirk Nowitzki – probably should have been voted in ahead of KG, but I’m not going to be too hard on the fans here. Look for coach Mike D’Antoni to name Dirk a starter over his own player (Nash) as Yao’s replacement.

Tim Duncan – voted in by the fans, and deservedly so. Should have no problem sliding over to center on the All-Star team since he plays there most of the time anyway.

Reserves

Tony Parker – Mr. Longoria got the nod from the coaches, and just ekes out the spot over Deron Williams for me.

Tracy McGrady – voted a starter by the fans, but certainly deserves a spot on the team.

Shawn Marion – the coaches understand his value.

Elton Brand – I guess he’s too steady and unspectacular for even the coaches to vote for. He’s my injury replacement for Carlos Boozer.

Marcus Camby – My injury replacement for Yao Ming. Are you paying attention here David Stern?

(For the record, both Yao & Booz should have been on the team in my opinion. So the fans and coaches did their respective jobs here too.)

Josh Howard – How the coaches voted for Allen Iverson over Josh I’ll never know. Just look at Dallas’ record compared to Denver’s. ‘Nuff said. So long AI.

Amare Stoudemire – the feel good story of the season has been quietly rounding into form all while putting up great numbers. There’s no way the coaches wanted to possibly piss him off by leaving him off their ballot.

So there you have it. My apologies to Ray Allen, Deron Williams & Memo Okur in the West and Eddy Curry in the East, but there just wasn’t enough space for everyone.

And no, Carmelo Anthony shouldn’t be on the team as I see it. My rationale being he cost his club too many wins while he was suspended, and I’m not about to reward him with his first All-Star berth for that.

- I’m sure many of you out there have to be wondering why I spend so much time reporting on injuries. Well, first off, I’m not one of those people that refuses to use injuries as an excuse. Why? Because injuries are one of the only legitimate excuses out there in my opinion. If you lose an important player, and don’t have the depth to replace him, your team isn’t going to be as good. It’s not rocket surgery or brain science.

That said, here’s another round of star players that are set to miss significant time as we motor on into the second half of the season.

1. Carlos Boozer (1/27 hairline fracture in the head of his left fibula, out 4-5 weeks)
Make no mistake about it, this is a major blow to the Jazz. Not only was Booz leading Utah scoring (22.1 ppg), rebounding (11.8 rpg) and shooting (56.9%), but he is their only consistent low post scoring threat as well.

It will be up to Memo Okur to establish a low post presence for the Jazz now. Can he? Yes, but Okur likes to hang out on the perimeter more then he likes to bang down low. Andrei Kirilenko is also going to have to step up his game both on the boards and by putting the ball in the basket. Can he? Honestly, I’m not sure anymore. It’s put-up-or-shut-up time for AK-47 now. Additionally, look for Paul Millsap to make his push for Rookie of the Year with all the extra minutes he'll gets in Boozer’s absence.

Utah will need a lot to go right if they are going to maintain the fourth best record overall while Carlos is out. The most likely scenario I see is that the Jazz stay comfortably ahead in the Northwest Division (which nets them the 4th seed in the playoffs), but fall to the sixth best record in the West, hence costing them home court in the first round.

2. Antawn Jamison (1/30 sprained left knee, out 3-6 weeks)
Another devastating blow to a club. There is just no replacing all that Tawn brings to the table for the Wizards. Jamison is second on Washington in both rebounding (7.9 rpg) & 3-point shooting (39.6%) as well as being third in scoring (19.3 ppg), steals (1.2 spg) and blocks (.66 bpg) alike.

The return of Darius Songaila should help some, but the Wiz are bound to slip a few notches in the East, and maybe even lose the Southeast Division lead. Unless, of course, Gilbert Arenas really does prove to be the MVP that some are touting him as.

If Washington goes into a serious tailspin while Tawn is out, the GA for MVP talk better come to quick halt. Because if Kobe Bryant can keep the Lakers afloat without Lamar Odom for six weeks, GA should be able to do the same. Right?

3. Richard Jefferson (1/22 right ankle surgery, out up to 2 months)
RJ probably should have opted for this surgery much earlier since he had really been hurting since day one of this season. If he had done that, he’d probably be back in the groove and 100% healthy by now.

That said, the Nets were a very up & down team before he went under the knife, and now it’s just more of the same with less margin for error. For New Jersey to win consistently right now they’ll need Vince Carter and Jason Kidd to play GREAT every single night. And Since that is rather unlikely, my suggestion to coach Lawrence Frank is to slow down the tempo and focus on playing defense. That’s right, I’m actually advocating playing ugly. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

4. Grant Hill (1/31 sprained MCL right knee, out 2-3 weeks)
Trevor Ariza (1/10 sprained MCL right knee, out 6-8 weeks)
First off, the difference in their injuries is that Hill’s is a grade one sprain, while Ariza’s is a grade two. Trevor has always been a quality defender, but his offense/confidence was really starting to flourish before he got hurt. Why Larry Brown thought Ariza couldn’t play is beyond me. The kid is super athletic, long and plays the game the right way to my eyes.

Anyway, losing Grant for any period of time is tough on the Magic. Hill is without question their veteran leader and calming influence on the court. Grant is also the guy Orlando runs their offense through when they need a bucket down the stretch (he’ll either make the pass that leads to a score or take the shot himself).

It will be up to Jameer Nelson to step into the leadership role, but I don’t see a real go-to-guy anywhere else on their roster. Nelson is not someone that can create his shot at will, Hedo Turkoglu is not a pressure player and Dwight Howard is just not there yet. It’s going to be especially tough on the Magic because their defensive style dictates that they will play a lot of close games. I’m sure this experience will be good for such a young squad in the long run though. Heck, it might even build some character.

5. Kurt Thomas (1/15 partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, out 4-6 weeks)
Yeah, the Suns have really missed Thomas, going 8-1 since he got hurt. This is more of a big picture injury though. What I mean by that is coach Mike D’Antoni only played eight guys regular minutes before Kurt went down. (Why he does that, I haven’t a clue?) So when Thomas started missing games, rather then plugging someone into his minutes, D’Antoni just shortened his rotation to seven instead.

To me this seems very short sighted and borderline idiotic. Phoenix is good, everyone knows that, so why place such a heavy burden on the top six guys (sorry James Jones)? What would playing nine to ten guys cost them, like 3-4 games in the standings maybe? They’d still be running away with the Pacific Division.

(This has nothing to with an injury, but I have to get it off my chest. People love to say how the Suns were a Raja Bell injury away from playing in the Finals last year. Oh yeah? I seem to remember that *with* a healthy Bell they almost lost to the Lakers in round one, and should have lost to the Clippers in round two. I’m just saying, the “what if” game works both ways Phoenix fans.)

Anyway, the Suns are going to need Kurt’s defense, toughness and rebounding come playoff time. They might spin it that they don’t, but trust me, when the games slow down Thomas will be very valuable.

6. Jason Richardson (12/30 broken right hand, out up to 2 months)
J-Rich is hoping to be back in action after the All-Star break on 2/21 when Golden State hosts Memphis. His return will make the Warriors an even more dangerous offensive club. The thing about that is, how much more scoring do they really need?

In the 15 games Jason has missed GS has averaged 105 points per game. So what, his return bumps that up to 110 if they’re lucky? If Richardson were the leader of their defense, that would be one thing, but he’s not. The Warriors give up 107.2 ppg right now (worst in the NBA), so all J-Rich’s arrival does is create a large chemistry problem at the swing positions. Coach Don Nelson might be creative, but keeping Jason, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes all satisfied is not going to happen.