Casey - the new head of the pack

Last Friday the Minnesota Timberwolves named Dwane Casey as the teams new head coach. Casey a respected assistant with the Seattle Supersonics had also been rumored to be a leading candidate for the Portland Trailblazer’s head coach opening. Casey’s main tie to the state of Minnesota is through former University of Minnesota Coach Clem Haskins. Casey was one of Haskins assistant coaches at Western Kentucky University.

While hiring a head coach with no previous experience is not new for the Timberwolves, hiring who has no obviously connection to the team is a bit of a step away from tradition. Flip Saunders, the recently departed head coach was a teammate of Timberwolves head honcho Kevin McHale. Previous coach Sidney Lowe was once a player, the franchises’ first head coach, Bill Musselman was familiar with the state as well.

But what does Casey bring to the team that other candidates, such as Lowe and P.J. Carlisimo, did not? At first blush it would seem that Casey brings a youthful energy to a team that needs someone other than Kevin Garnett to be a vocal leader. Asking Garnett to be the emotional cheerleader, leading scorer, top rebounder and best defender will not help the Timberwolves become contenders again. As evidenced by the performances of Tim Duncan and Robert Horry in game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals – stars sometimes need someone else to step up. Horry does all the little things, which allows Duncan to do the bigger things. The beauty is that when Duncan has an off night, the Spurs have enough pieces to still compete. The 2004-2005 Timberwolves did not. Adding a coach with a new philosophy and some new energy might help the team as a whole to find ways to fill in the cracks around Garnett.

Rumors have surfaced that Casey was the mastermind behind the Supersonics success this season. If he can get the Timberwolves roster to buy into his scheme and to execute it with energy and passion, then we will know if Casey was the right choice. If the Timberwolves win 8 of their first 10 games it will be easy to give Casey all the credit. However, the true measure will come if they are still playing with renewed passion and energy in March.

Check out Chris Broussard’s Insider blog about Casey here

Check out Dwane Casey’s bio on NBA.com here