FanHouse Dwane Casey

Matt Steinmetz, Gary Washburn and Matt Watson empty out their notebooks from the NBA's Summer League in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS -- For anyone out there who thinks summer league is nothing but a well-attended pick-up game, Raptors rookie DeMar DeRozan has some news for you: The competition is better than Division I hoops and better than he faced at USC. "You're playing against professional athletes," DeRozan said. "Guys are 24, 25 years old and some have been in the league. It's a much, much better game." ...

Among the myriad NBA head coach executions this decade, Dwane Casey's ceremonial beheading still bothers me the most. So it's good to hear, by way of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that Casey (currently a Rick Carlisle assistant in Dallas) is the first candidate to get a second interview for the open 76ers job.

Few remember the post-Cassell/Sprewell Timberwolves teams fondly, but they really weren't that bad. In 2004-05, Flip Saunders' last season at the helm, the Wolves finished one game out of the eighth seed. That summer, Kevin McHale traded Sam Cassell for Marko Jaric and Latrell Sprewell decided $7 million a year wasn't enough cash for his services.

When it rains, it pours; and then you find out you have a leak and your roof guy is taking offers from the house down the street.

Tom Thibodeau has been an integral part of the Boston resurgence. Thibodeau is considered a defensive genius, and the Celtics' defense has been dominant, even in the face of aging superstars and injuries. Doc Rivers is great at finding cool phrases and inpsiring his team to play hard all the time, but if you want defensive Xs and Os, it's Thibodeau that may be the man behind the curtain.

After the Celtics got worked over Sunday night in Game 7 by the Magic, they probably weren't expecting more bad news this soon.

Well, while it's not catastrophic (that was the Garnett injury), it's still raining.

Yesterday my colleague Tom Ziller asked the not-so-hypothetical question, "Whatever happened to Doug Collins?" For a few brief seconds it looked like he was a lock to be hired by the Bulls, and yet instead of getting a deal done the team has continued to drag their heels by giving the likes of Dwane Casey and Chuck Person second interviews.

So what gives? Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times explains:

General manager John Paxson was unavailable for comment and remained waiting for the OK from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to hire Doug Collins. Reinsdorf is said to be upset that the news of Collins' imminent hiring was leaked last week to media, which is why he has revisited the decision.

Really? If that's the case, wow, Reinsdorf seriously needs to get over himself. If he's confident enough to make a multi-year offer, he shouldn't be so worried about the news getting out a few days before he wanted.

But while the Bulls are still talking to candidates, the Daily Herald reports that the Bulls "have not shown much interest" in interviewing recently disposed Pistons Flip Saunders (much to the chagrin of local bloggers). The Star-Tribune muses that Flip might take a year off from coaching to serve as a television analyst. Considering he'll still collect $5.4 million owed from the Pistons, there's no reason for him not to jump back into the business.

The Bulls are taking their time with this whole "finding a coach" thing, interviewing just about anyone with a shred of interest in the job. According to Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times, John Paxson has already talked with ...deep breath ... Lakers assistants Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis, current Jazz assistant Tyrone Corbin and former T'Wolves coach Dwane Casey -- and that's just this week!

Paxson was also scheduled to meet with Jeff Hornacek today and Kings assistant Chuck Person sometime this weekend, as well as John Lucas and Eric Snow sometime in the yet to be determined future. And, of course, don't forget about Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau, who won't get permission from his current employer until Boston completes their playoff run.

Oh, and remember Avery Johnson? Forget what you heard about him giving Chicago the cold shoulder. Now that the Bulls have the No. 1 pick, he's had a change of heart and was expected to talk to Paxson today.

Count 'em up: that's 10 names, and that doesn't include Mark Jackson, who already interviewed, nor Pistons assistants Terry Porter and Michael Curry, who have been suggested as candidates in the past. Do you notice a recurring theme with all these names? With the exception of Thibodeau and Casey, they're all former players, which makes you wonder if a career coach who never had the chance to rub elbows with Paxson as a player stands much of a chance.

Dwane Casey started the year as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Through 40 games, Casey had the 'Wolves at 20-20, a .500 record. That's not too shabby considering the lack of polished basketball players surrounding Kevin Garnett.

So Randy Wittman steps in and takes over for Casey, and he's 4-7. And already, 'Wolves owner Glen Taylor has decided that Wittman will return as head coach next season.

20-20 record ... fired.

4-7 record ... job security.

Can't fault that reasoning.

This isn't about Wittman's 4-7 record... you can't judge a guy 11 games into his career. He might be a great coach, and it looks like, at least in some ways, the team is responding to him. More than anything else, this is about Dwane Casey and how he got the shaft. A 20-20 record is probably above where the 'Wolves talent indicates they should be.

It just seems like, for some reason, Glen Taylor had it in for Casey, and was in love with Wittman. From the second he hired him as an assistant, he was itching for an opportunity to insert him as a head coach, and he will clearly have more leeway than Casey did. That's pretty much already guaranteed.

Fantastic management up there in Minnesota. Just go ahead and kill yourself, Kevin Garnett. It's not going to get any better.