Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Wittman Debuts As Wolves Coach Tonight In Portland


Randy Wittman makes his debut as the Head Coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight as they attempt to stay above 0.500 in Portland. Portland enters the game with a 17-25 record, while the Wolves are 20-20.

Although there should not be many changes visible tonight after a few short practices, what will be interesting to watch for will be the team’s energy, hustle and heart. A coaching change usually has an immediate effect on a team, whether good or bad, and depending on which reports you choose to believe, most of the players welcomed this change.

After a roller coaster ride of a week, Minnesota will fight to not fall below 0.500, hopefully winning their first game of this five game road trip. With Brandon Roy, who the Wolves drafted this past summer and then traded in order to obtain Randy Foye, the front-runner thus far for Rookie of the Year honors, along with a sometimes dangerous Portland attack, Minnesota will have their work cut out for them.

With this Portland game being the halfway point of the season, the Wolves should have a good idea of who they are as a team, ready to make a strong playoff push. However, they still have no idea of what they are capable of and what their identity is, which led to the firing of Coach Dwane Casey. Hopefully, Randy Wittman is the right man for the job and can make adjustments to playing time, lineups and substitutions along with finding a way to bring this team together to accomplish their goals.

Can he do it? Only time will tell…and that clock starts tonight in Portland.

See you tonight for the Halftime Report as well as thoughts/analysis post game

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