casey still follows wolves Dwane Casey, dismissed as Timberwolves coach Jan. 23, when the team had a 20-20 record this season, was in Minneapolis on Thursday preparing to sell his townhouse before heading for his home in Seattle today. As always, Casey was classy. He said he watches the Wolves, who have fallen to five games under .500 (26-31) since his departure, whenever he gets the chance. "I feel for them because they haven't been able to get that consistency together," Casey said. "Bottom line, that group hasn't been together for a long time. Randy Foye just got there in October, Craig Smith just got there in October, and a lot of these teams that are winning have been together for three, four years. "Then you've got Ricky (Davis), who's only been there since last year, and Mark Blount, too. You need time together." Casey was asked if the Wolves are playing any differently under his successor, Randy Wittman. "I think the style's the same offensively," he said. "They're still a good basketball team. It's just the consistency of bringing the same focus each night. It's something that only time can take care of; it's time together. More than anything else, they need time to jell." Casey said he believes the Wolves can still be a playoff team. Minnesota was in eighth place, good for the last Western Conference playoff spot, when he was fired. Before Thursday's games, the Wolves trailed the Los Angeles Clippers by two games for the eighth and final spot. "There are about three or four teams bunched together, and anybody having a hot week has a chance to make the playoffs in that eighth spot," he said. "They have a shot, just like New Orleans and the Clippers." Casey won't second-guess the Wolves' decision to dismiss him. "It was Glen's prerogative and Kevin's decision that it was me that was the problem,'' Casey said of team owner Glen Taylor and vice president Kevin McHale. "And that's part of the NBA; I can't get upset over that. It's not for me to judge. I just appreciate the opportunity to be a NBA coach, and hopefully I'll get another shot at it somewhere down the road. "I worked my behind off. I'm not bitter, I'm not upset, I'm not sitting here thinking about Kevin and Glen and the decision they made. I wish them nothing but the best, the team and the organization. "I'm above that and beyond that. Life goes on." Casey, who will collect about $3.5 million for the remainder of his contract, said firing is part of the business. "You know when you sign, it's the coach's responsibility, whether it works, doesn't work, right, wrong, fair, unfair, it falls on him, and that's the way it is all across the NBA," he said. Meanwhile, Casey, 50, won't pursue another NBA job this season. He has accepted an invitation to instruct at a coaches clinic in Italy in June. "I know I have a lot of basketball left in me," he said. --

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