The Wolves play at Washington tonight (6:00 CST, FSN Plus), where former Minnesota coach Randy Wittman has his team off to a more-than-disappointing 2-7 start. Wizards players and fans (and coaches, I suppose) expected this to be the first winning season of the John Wall (or Post Gilbert Arenas, if you prefer) Era. They finished last season strong, they have star talent surrounded by competent role fillers, and they even made a short-term move to trade for Marcin Gortat after Emeka Okafor got hurt.
But the wins haven’t followed, Randy Wittman’s seat is burning hot, and the Wizards are holding players only meetings. I’ve sat through what I thought was Wittman’s Last Stand; his last ever game coaching the Timberwolves. It was a cold, quiet night in Downtown Minneapolis and the only thing breaking the sound of Baron Davis three-point swishes was a steady supply of “FIE-YER WITT-MAN!” from various pockets of Target Center seats. (The few that were filled.)
It’s not a pretty place for a franchise to be. We’ve been there.
The good news for Wizards fans: It can only get better from here. (Well, unless your next key move is to hire David Kahn to handle personnel decisions.)
It goes without saying that the Wolves view this as a winnable game; much more so than tomorrow’s matchup at home versus a rested, title-contending Clippers team. I don’t cheer for people to get fired from their jobs, but in the case of Wittman’s Wizards, that team should definitely be playing better than it is, and Wittman’s history suggests he’s doing more harm than good.
Enjoy the game.
Punch-Drunk Wolves 
Hey, what’s Geprge Karl up to these days? Oh, no reason, just curious I guess…
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There are a few talented rosters with coaches about to be canned. I wonder which of the accomplished unemployed might pounce on those jobs now versus wait until the offseason.
My bias after both playing and coaching basketball is that we coaches probably do slightly more harm than good when given quality talent. Randy Wittman played for Bob Knight. Enough said. Most pros resent control. Basketball is a game of reactions which allows less time to think.