Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | June 17, 2005
Today,
Dwane Casey gets the last laugh.
During the summer of 1994, I remember watching a segment on SportsCenter detailing how the Seattle SuperSonics had responded to their First Round loss to the Denver Nuggets the previous spring. The segment touched on the Sonics hiring Casey, and implied he'd been hired in large part because of his relationship with star Shawn Kemp, whom he had recruited to Kentucky.
Back then, nobody realized that Casey would 11 years later become the coach of a team only a year removed from the Western Conference Finals, that he would be entrusted with the prime years of 2003-04 MVP Kevin Garnett's career.
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"We’ll miss him and we all wish him continued success in Minnesota."
Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty
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Casey's departure to take over as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves means the Sonics are losing an asset. Casey was one of the NBA's most respected assistant coaches, regularly voted by league GMs one of the top assistants in the league and prized for his work ethic and his ability to dissect opposing offenses. Casey's diverse skills and experience will be difficult for the Sonics to replace.
"By naming Dwane Casey as their new head coach, the Minnesota Timberwolves have acquired one of the NBA’s most talented, loyal and respected assistants to lead their club," said Sonics President and CEO Wally Walker in a statement. "There are a host of reasons why Dwane was with the Sonics for 11 years, longer than all but one NBA head coach during that time, but they all boil down to one main thing: he’s a good man. We’ll miss him and we all wish him continued success in Minnesota."
At the same time, however, this is a happy day because Casey's chance to become a head coach was long overdue.
Casey has come close to becoming a head coach before, including in Seattle. As the story has it, when Walker fired Paul Westphal in November 2000, he called assistants Casey and Nate McMillan into his office and asked them who should take over on an interim basis. Both answered the other, but Walker went with McMillan, giving Casey the title of associate head coach. In the four and a half years since then, McMillan has developed into one of the league's most respected coaches. That could have been difficult to deal with for some people, but it was never an issue with Casey.
Twice, Casey was a finalist for the Toronto Raptors head coaching position. In 2003, he was beaten out by Kevin O'Neill. When O'Neill was fired after only one season, Casey was again beaten out, this time by Sam Mitchell. Again, it is Casey who has the last laugh, as he takes over a more talented Minnesota Timberwolves team.
As much as he might have wanted a chance to be a head coach, Casey swallowed his pride and soldiered on with the Sonics, saying his mere presence as a finalist was a testament to the entire Sonics coaching staff.
That, like so many other things, is testament to Casey's character. There isn't a nicer guy to be found in the NBA. When I first interviewed him as an intern for a feature on his experience in Japan, Casey wanted to know some background on me. A couple of months later, he followed up by asking how I was doing in my classes. In this business, it's the little things like that which stand out.
Casey's generosity with his time and immense knowledge of the game of basketball has helped everyone who covered the Sonics during his time in Seattle.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have made a great choice in hiring Casey. Now I join Walker and the entire Sonics organization in wishing him the best of luck in his new position.
