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Raptors hire Dwane Casey as new head coach

dwane case

The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have named Dwane Casey as the club’s new head coach. Casey becomes Toronto’s eighth head coach joining the Raptors from the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. Per team policy, financial terms were not announced. Casey’s contract runs through the 2013-14 season.

“After a lengthy and detailed search for our new head coach, it became very clear that Dwane Casey embodies every aspect of what we defined as an ideal candidate,” said Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo. “Dwane’s 16-plus years in NBA coaching circles working with some tremendous basketball mentors coupled with his proven ability as a defensive architect will serve as a great backdrop for the future approach of this team.”

Casey, 54, has served as a head coach, associate head coach and assistant coach in the NBA 16 of the past 17 years. Twelve of his teams have finished in the top half of the league in fewest average points allowed and 10 have been in the league’s top 15 in lowest opponent field goal percentage. He has coached in two NBA Finals (1996 and 2011) and two NBA All-Star Games (1996 and 1998).

“I am grateful to Bryan Colangelo for this opportunity and excited to come to the Raptors to work with this young team,” said Casey. “My number one goal is to create a defensive identity and an atmosphere of hard play. It is very, very important in the NBA to establish that culture of hard work.”

Casey has been an assistant with the Mavericks for the past three seasons, helping lead Dallas to a 162-84 (.659) mark. The Mavericks won 50 or more games in each of his three seasons with the team. Casey was in charge of a defensive unit that held its opponents to 96.0 points per game (sixth in the NBA) and.450 per cent shooting from the field (eighth in the NBA) this past season.

In the 2011 postseason, Casey’s defense posted series victories over offensive powers the likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Dallas held its playoff opponents to 92.5 points per game and .447 per cent shooting from the floor.

Casey was named head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves on June 17, 2005. He posted a 53-69 mark (.434) in two seasons. He had the club in playoff contention with a 20-20 record when he was replaced January 25, 2007. His 2005-06 squad finished in the Top 10 in fewest average points per game and lowest opponent field goal percentage.

In 2008, Casey traveled throughout Europe, attending Euroleague games and practices while studying various basketball concepts.

Casey began his NBA coaching career in 1994 as an assistant with the Seattle Supersonics. He spent 11 seasons with the Sonics where he served under longtime NBA head coaches George Karl, Paul Westphal and Nate McMillan. He was promoted to associate head coach in November 2000. Nine of his teams in Seattle finished above .500 with five winning 50 or more games.

In 14 seasons as an NBA assistant, Casey’s teams have recorded a 689-427 record (.617) with eight campaigns of 50 or more wins.

Prior to joining the Sonics, Casey spent five years as a head coach in Japan. He also coached Japan’s National Team with basketball legend Pete Newell. In the summer of 1998, Casey coached the team to its first World Championship appearance in 31 years.

From 1985-90 Casey was an assistant under legendary collegiate coach Eddie Sutton at the University of Kentucky. He also served as an assistant under Clem Haskins at Western Kentucky University from 1980-85.

Casey began his coaching career at Kentucky in 1979 as a graduate assistant under Joe B. Hall. While at UK, he recruited and coached eventual NBA players Winston Bennett, Sam Bowie, Rex Chapman, LeRon Ellis, Shawn Kemp, Chris Mills, Dirk Minnifield, Irving Thomas and Melvin Turpin.

Casey played collegiately at Kentucky and helped the Wildcats register a 30-2 record in his junior season and capture the 1978 NCAA Championship. A four-year letterman, Casey was named team captain his senior year and won Kentucky’s all-academic award.

A native of Morganfield, Kentucky, Casey earned a degree in business administration from Kentucky in 1979.

Pau Gasol wants to stay with Lakers

AFP reports:

pau gasol

Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who has been linked to a move to the Minnesota Timberwolves, said Monday he wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers for “as many years as I can”.

The Timberwolves have reportedly been strongly pursuing Gasol to pair with Barcelona guard Ricky Rubio, who will play for the NBA side next season.

“My desire is to stay with the Lakers. I don’t have control over it but I want to stay with the Lakers for as many years as I can to be able to remain eligible for the maximum possible championships,” Gasol told reporters in the northeastern city of Alicante.

David Kahn asks Kurt Rambis to prepare a report on changes for next season

The AP reports:

Kurt Rambis has been waiting two months for an answer about his coaching future with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It turns out he had some homework to do before team President David Kahn could make a decision.

Kahn said on Friday that he asked Rambis to write an extensive, detailed report about his team and the changes he would make if he comes back for a third season as head coach. Kahn said he asked Rambis to complete the report in mid-May, and the coach turned it in last weekend, setting up a series of meetings this week.

Kahn and Rambis met for four hours Thursday night and were scheduled to meet for another few hours Friday.

Kahn hired Rambis away from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009, signing him to a four-year contract to start a massive rebuilding project in Minnesota. Rambis has won just 32 games in his first two seasons as coach — with 132 losses — and the Wolves finished last season with a 15-game losing streak that dropped them to the worst record in the NBA.

Timberwolves sign Ricky Rubio

ricky rubio

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed Ricky Rubio, the fifth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, to a multi-year contract. Rubio joins the Wolves following a decorated professional career in Spain that began when he was just 14 years old, the youngest ever to compete in the Spanish ACB League, and culminated with his FC Barcelona Team winning the 2011 ACB Championship earlier this week. Per team policy, terms of the contract offer were not disclosed.

“This is a day our organization and our fans have been eagerly awaiting from the moment we drafted him, and I couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Ricky to Minnesota,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “Ricky’s skill set and feel for the game have made him one of the best young players in Europe for six years now, and at age 20 he’s still a young player with a lot of upside. I expect Ricky to enjoy a long and successful career here in Minnesota.”

Rubio and his FC Barcelona team clinched the 2011 ACB Championship on Tuesday, capping a two-year run in which the team also won two Catalan Cup Tournaments, two Spanish Supercups, two Spanish King’s Cups and the 2010 Euroleague title. Along the way Rubio earned All-ACB honors and was named the league’s Best Point Guard following the 2009-10 season. Rubio was also honored as the MVP of the 2009 Catalan Cup Tournament and won the 2010 Euroleague Rising Star Award as the best player under the age of 22 in Europe. In his two seasons with FC Barcelona, Rubio appeared in 68 regular season games, averaging 5.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.85 steals in 21.6 minutes per game.

Prior to joining FC Barcelona, Rubio played four seasons with DKV Joventut Badalona, where he averaged 7.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 20.3 minutes per game. Rubio won FIBA Europe’s Young Player of the Year award in each of his final three seasons with Joventut, honoring him as the top player in Europe under the age of 22. He was also selected as the ACB Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.

A longtime member of the Spanish National Team, Rubio competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, helping Spain win a silver medal. At age 17, Rubio was the youngest player ever to compete in the gold medal game at the Olympics. Rubio also led his Spanish team to the 2006 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, where he averaged 22.3 points, 12.8 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 6.5 steals per game. Rubio posted two triple-doubles and a quadruple-double during the tournament, including a 51-point, 24-rebound, 12-assist, 7-steal performance in the championship game against Russia.

McHale, Rockets seek lead assistant coach

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports:

kevin mchale

When Red Auerbach, the late Boston legend who drafted Kevin McHale, lit victory cigars on the Celtics’ bench, he had no right-hand man to share the moment. He had no assistant coaches, no player development staff, no one staying up nights studying video.

As stunned as Auerbach might have been had he been told of the career path of McHale, the playful rookie he drafted, he likely would have been amazed at the changes in NBA coaching since he left the bench in 1967.

When McHale signed on as Rockets coach last week, his first order of business was to begin interviews with assistant coaches, with one expected to serve in the lead assistant role that has become popular in the NBA.

“You try to get the right people,” McHale said. “The head coach is a guy who has a lot of irons in the fire. Guys who are looking at things just from an offensive standpoint or defensive standpoint, they can spend a lot of time on that and really concentrate on that. That’s really important, because there are times that you’re going to need someone to just auger in on one thing and help you. I think those models do work.

“You’ve seen it done in a lot of ways, but I think the league is trending more toward that model. I do like that model.”

NBA heads to 2011 offseason of uncertainty

The AP reports:

“It’s an odd position, when the game is the best it’s ever been, when the ratings are the highest they’ve ever been, when the excitement is the greatest it’s ever (been),” Players Association attorney Jeffrey Kessler said last week. “It’s sort of odd to see the owners say we’re going to destroy this game unless you change this whole system. Players just want to play.”

Nobody can predict when they’ll get that chance again. When the Dallas Mavericks finished off the Miami Heat on Sunday night in Game 6, it sent the NBA into a most uncertain offseason.

Owners and players are nowhere close on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires June 30. Without a new deal, players say they have been told by the owners they will be locked out.

The NBA was reduced to a 50-game season by a work stoppage in 1998-99, and the loss of games is a threat now. Citing leaguewide losses of about $300 million this season, the league hasn’t budged on its desire for significant changes to the financial structure, ranging from reductions in the length of contracts and the amount of guarantees, to an overhaul of the salary cap system that would prevent teams from being able to exceed it, as they can now under certain exceptions.

And Stern said the record TV ratings and all the other positive attention the league has received doesn’t make him any more motivated to get this settled, since he’d want to do it anyway.

“I don’t need any external prod to want to be able to make a deal,” he said…

The sides are scheduled to meet twice this week and say they hope for frequent discussions before the end of the month. Should those fail, the NBA could follow the NFL’s labor situation right into the court system, which both sides say they want to avoid. So although a work stoppage in July wouldn’t seem to have much effect since games aren’t going on, Stern insists “we very much feel the weight of the deadline.”

Maya Moore makes WNBA debut

The AP reports:

Candace Parker showed the Los Angeles Sparks just what they were missing during her long injury absence.

In her first game in nearly a year, Parker had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the Sparks beat the Minnesota Lynx 82-74 on Friday night in the opener of the WNBA’s 15th season…

maya moore

The nationally televised game marked the debut of highly touted WNBA rookie Maya Moore, who led the Lynx with 21 points and
added four rebounds and four assists.

Moore led Connecticut to consecutive NCAA championships (2009-10), became the seventh women’s player to score over 3,000 career points, and was the No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA draft.

She had six points in the final five minutes, including three free throws that tied the game at 73, and scored her team’s first basket with a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on the right wing.

“I was a little anxious, but I was excited to play,” Moore said. “It was just exciting when the game started and you start making the first couple of shots, get into a rhythm, and you realize this is still basketball.”

Ricky Rubio agrees to terms with Timberwolves

The AP reports:

ricky rubio

Ricky Rubio is coming to Minnesota.

The Spanish point guard has agreed to join the Timberwolves next season, ending a two-year negotiation with the team that had a few stops and starts.

A person with knowledge of the agreement confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday night that Rubio will play in the NBA next season. The person requested anonymity because neither Rubio nor the Timberwolves planned to make an official announcement while he continues to play for Regal Barcelona in the Euroleague playoffs.

The Timberwolves drafted Rubio fifth overall two years ago despite a buyout of his Spanish contract that topped $6 million. The enormity of the buyout caused Rubio to stay overseas rather than immediately come to the NBA, and there was talk that the precocious teenager did not want to play in Minnesota.

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Cavs talking trade for 2nd overall pick

Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine reports:

The Cavaliers are in discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons about a three-team trade that would give Cleveland the top two picks of next month’s NBA draft.

The Cavaliers would use the picks to select Duke point guard Kyrie Irving and Arizona forward Derrick Williams, the sources said.

In the trade being discussed, Cleveland would absorb Detroit’s Rip Hamilton into the $14.6 million trade exception it received in last summer’s LeBron James sign-and-trade with Miami, while also receiving the Pistons’ No. 8 pick. The Cavaliers would then send that pick, along with their fourth pick, to Minnesota for the Timberwolves’ second pick.

Cleveland would then buy Hamilton out of the two years, $25 million remaining on his contract, leaving the veteran shooting guard free to sign with another club as a free agent. Chicago would be one of the likeliest destinations.

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