I posted a Randy Wittman article.

www.twolvesblog.com/jeremy/minnesota-tim...wittman-a-maybe.html

Great insight. Put me down for a maybe as well. One thing no one can deny is that he had the respect of his players last year. I think it's hard to hide when your players don't respect you. Even when McCants pulled his pouting antics, Wittman had strong words with him and put him in his place. End of story. He was in control. Witt never aired his dirty laundry about McCants to the press either . It was an internal matter and handled accordingly.

Looks good. Gonna be bus ride material for me.

P.S. I hate Wittman... but I'll read it with an open mind.

I don't mind Wittman as the coach right now, simply because we aren't going anywhere with or without him. What I don't like is that there were several quality coaches avaiable last season and heading into this one, and it doesn't look like we moved on them. I guess most good coaches aren't going to want to walk right into the mess of a rebuild we had going and would prefer to wait until things have started to iron themselves out. If the front office did make overtures, but talks never got anywhere because of that, there's not much to complain about. However, I get the feeling that Wittman had unconditional job-security and that other candidates weren't even seriously pursued.

Good article, thanks for posting.

A thought: I'm guessing that Wittman had a deal with McHale going in. The deal would be that he gets guaranteed job security for his first half year and last year, with instructions to run a tryout for the new guys. He therefore did not want to win too many games. First, he wanted to develop players and learn them. Second, he would be a much more impressive coach if he won minimal games last year to make more wins this year that much more impressive.

If true, of course it would not be mentioned in the press. I can find no other answer for the way he handled the team and players last year -- continuing to give Brewer lots of run, keeping maddog and Toine on the bench, giving Bassy room to run (Foye's injury facilitating it), and so on.

If the above resembles reality, then McHales statement about winning 40 games this year would be a subtle needle to Wittman that the dry run is over, and this year is for keeps and Wittman's future.

McHale helped get some good players in here, so he has the right to expect Wittman to perform.

This will be a very interesting season.

Pretty good article overall. I can't really disagree with anything without being nitpicky.

My own personal opinion is that Wittman is simply a terrible coach. It wouldn't matter what team he's coaching, he just seems like a big buffoon. That's just my opinion though. It will be interesting to see what happens this year with him, especially if the Wolves start off slow.

I'm no Phil Jackson but I'd have to agree that Wittman isn't the best coach in the world and I hate to diss coaches. I hate the idea of players turning coach simply because they are dried up and have nothing better to do with their time. This seems to be happening in all sports especially UK Soccer at the moment. Realistically Wittman didn't do or learn very much when he was assisting with the Mavericks the Pacers or down in Orlando and if he did he has yet to show it! Maybe he's going to shock us all! Lets face it a career average of 96-192 doesn't spell winner! Bring back Casey, Casey is more deserving of the job than Wittman. Seems like McHale just down graded when he chose Wittman after Casey.

I do blame Kevin McHale and Glen Taylor for a lot of the problems in Minnesota. The players should also take some of the blame. However, the bulk of the blame rests squarely on Randy Wittman's shoulders.

It's been said that a season spent developing young players can be beneficial for a team but then again how many of these "young players" Jefferson, Foye and Brewer are franchise or even All Star players? The answer None! I think if it were any other sport contract or no contract Wittman would be gone by now!

hniriain wrote:
I'm no Phil Jackson but I'd have to agree that Wittman isn't the best coach in the world and I hate to diss coaches. I hate the idea of players turning coach simply because they are dried up and have nothing better to do with their time. This seems to be happening in all sports especially UK Soccer at the moment. Realistically Wittman didn't do or learn very much when he was assisting with the Mavericks the Pacers or down in Orlando and if he did he has yet to show it! Maybe he's going to shock us all! Lets face it a career average of 96-192 doesn't spell winner! Bring back Casey, Casey is more deserving of the job than Wittman. Seems like McHale just down graded when he chose Wittman after Casey.

I do blame Kevin McHale and Glen Taylor for a lot of the problems in Minnesota. The players should also take some of the blame. However, the bulk of the blame rests squarely on Randy Wittman's shoulders.

It's been said that a season spent developing young players can be beneficial for a team but then again how many of these "young players" Jefferson, Foye and Brewer are franchise or even All Star players? The answer None! I think if it were any other sport contract or no contract Wittman would be gone by now!


Awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way.

I'm officially giving Wittman a chance to redeem himself this season. It won't take long for me to be through with him if he botches the rotation out of the gate.

hniriain wrote:
I'm no Phil Jackson but I'd have to agree that Wittman isn't the best coach in the world and I hate to diss coaches. I hate the idea of players turning coach simply because they are dried up and have nothing better to do with their time. This seems to be happening in all sports especially UK Soccer at the moment. Realistically Wittman didn't do or learn very much when he was assisting with the Mavericks the Pacers or down in Orlando and if he did he has yet to show it! Maybe he's going to shock us all! Lets face it a career average of 96-192 doesn't spell winner! Bring back Casey, Casey is more deserving of the job than Wittman. Seems like McHale just down graded when he chose Wittman after Casey.

I do blame Kevin McHale and Glen Taylor for a lot of the problems in Minnesota. The players should also take some of the blame. However, the bulk of the blame rests squarely on Randy Wittman's shoulders.

It's been said that a season spent developing young players can be beneficial for a team but then again how many of these "young players" Jefferson, Foye and Brewer are franchise or even All Star players? The answer None! I think if it were any other sport contract or no contract Wittman would be gone by now!

I agree with everything you said except Jefferson not being an All-Star and franchise player.

Okay well maybe I was a bit harsh when it came to Jefferson, being ranked 20th in the NBA for points per game defining himself as one of the premier big men in the NBA by being only one of five players to average 20 points and 10 rebounds. His NBA averages are something to be given credit for so I suppose I will have to change my opinion that yes Jefferson does have All Star potential!! BUT WITTMAN STILL SUCKS!