From Charlie Walters at Pioneer Press:


- Does that sound like someone that is worried about being fired? Not to me it doesn't...

I don't care what the motivation for the future is, this is way too nonnchalant for a head coach of a 3-20 team.

I'd be very surprised if Wittman got canned until after the 2008-09 season. Then he'll only have one year left on his deal. At that point the team will have gotten a chance to acquire picks from his sucktitude and McHale will have had time to make trades/signings. He'll then \"step down\" and get a cushy job with the team. He's part of the boys club and his job is safe. You know this was the plan all along.

DeROK wrote:

I hate this plan. I hate our Front Office. You and Old Logo both have valid points.

I have been attending Wolves game since before they won even their initial victory as a franchise (& I was at that game, too). I love pro basketball and waited a long time for it to return to Minnesota. But losing so often takes a psychic toll on the fan and the fan will adjust for his/her own self-preservation/peace of mind. If the coach displays no sense of urgency and even local scribes think losing is okay (see the Jim Souhan article in the Strib today), why should the fans care either? I believe Glen Taylor when he says that people have been telling him that this year's team is more interesting than last year's. I feel that way, too. Still, there is absolutely no consistency or building of identity. If they don't truly want to improve, why should we want to watch? Its a real indictment of Wittman. McHale has said before that it is difficult to improve in the NBA when you are stuck in the middle. Well, we're not in the middle anymore. We may be on our way down to legendary status. There have been plenty of cellar-dwelling teams that have been unable to move up despite having years and years of great draft positions. The Wolves own record of building via the draft is woeful, save for KG. I don't know if we long-suffering fans can hold our breath that long. I went to so many losing games back in the late eighties and nineties with the Wolves. This team has way too much talent to be actually worse than those teams were. And I don't feel the league is anywhere near as loaded top-to-bottom as it was then. There are many mediocre teams. People who love basketball will find alternatives where they can go see competition with the hope their team might win one at least once in a while, be it the local high school or college team. Watch how things play out for the Wolves if Tubby Smith has even a little success this year. This has started out as truly the Winter of Our Discontent.

DeRok, you probably are dead on. After he 'steps down' he will get a nice job with a nice leather chair, cigars, and plenty of ugly sweaters....

It occurred to me that the reason Wittman isn't going anywhere soon is that there is no way Glen Taylor would approve of paying for THREE Head Coaches this season.

He's still paying Duane Casey through this season.

He'd have to pay Wittman through this season and the next two.

He'd have to pay the new coach.


Unfortunately, a coaching change is not gonna happen anytime soon.

I don't get to see matches, so I go on what I read and hear. And what I read is there is no plan.

No rhyme or reason to rotations, starting assignments and substitutions. No cohesion.

And what I find disturbing watching my boxscore tick over is that so often we are in the game or on top of the game - I think specifically of the visit to the Clippers recently and the match against the Spurs a while back - and then there is collapse of epic proportions. Rarely do we receive a four quarter stuffing

Now this strikes me as mental to some degree, but also tactical. Wittman doesn't seems to be helpless to turn these situations around or else get the players in a position to do so themselves. If he can't do it, the club has to move on.

Is that a fair assessment?

AusWolf wrote:
Absolutely. That assessment is dead on, IMO...

College Wolf wrote:
Ugh. I forgot about stupid Casey's contract. That definitely means that we're doomed to DimWitt at least until the end of Casey's contract. But, I don't think that Taylor will want to pay 2 coaches for 3 more seasons, either, so this will definitely take a while...............