MINNEAPOLIS -- Jimmy Rodgers, his team staggering with a 6-23 record and the front office convinced he could not extract the most from his players, was fired Monday as coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sidney Lowe, his 32-year-old assistant, was named interim coach, with his first game to come Wednesday night at home against San Antonio.
'We were not making progress and needed a different voice to go in another direction,' General Manager Jack McCloskey said at a news conference.
Only the Dallas Mavericks, 2-26, have a worse record than the Timberwolves, who have suffered not only from poor play but from bickering between star rookie Christian Laettner and his teammates. The situation was compounded by Rodgers' seeming detachment and unwillingness to motivate his players.
'It's something I wanted to avoid,' McCloskey said of the firing. 'But after talking to Jimmy, it was obvious that he felt he wasn't getting what he wanted across to the team. This gave me a chance to reflect over the weekend. I met with him and told him we were going to make a change.
'It was difficult for me to do because of who Jimmy Rodgers is. He's a wonderful individual, a very special guy, a good friend, and it's very, very difficult to do that with someone you're so closely involved with.'
Rodgers, 49, was in his second season with Minnesota, having coached the club to a 15-67 season last year. He had a 94-70 record in two seasons as coach of the Boston Celtics, where he was an assistant for eight years.
His hold on the Timberwolves' job weakened when the team went 1-12 in December and started January at 1-4. Rodgers is the second NBA coach dismissed this year, following Jerry Tarkanian at San Antonio Dec. 18.
Lowe played for five NBA clubs, including the Timberwolves in their first season in 1989-90. The former North Carolina State star later became Minnesota's assistant coach and television analyst. Jim Brewer and Chuck Davisson will remain on staff as Lowe's assistants.
McCloskey said he will give Lowe a chance to prove he cand coach in the NBA, and perhaps earn a shot at the permanent job.
'He's an individual who's very tough,' the general manager said. 'He's an aggressive person, someone I think that can demand and command respoect from his players. I know he's going to work them hard. He's someone I think that deserves this chance.'
Lowe inherits a young team, and he said he will insist his players give premium effort.
'We are going to demand that our team get out there and play hard every night,' he said. 'The coach's job is to make sure we put our players in the position to win every night, which means we have to practice and prepare for each game we play.
'I'm not coming in here trying to win everyone over. I'm the same person. I'm not going to change. It's an interim position, but I'm going to approach it the same way I've always done, and that's to work hard, to work together. The main focus is to try to improve this ball club.'
Although Minnesota finished with the NBA's worst record last year, expectations grew after McCloskey, the new general manager, selected Laettner with the third pick in the draft. McCloskey also pulled a major trade before the season, dealing Pooh Richardson and Sam Mitchell to Indiana for Chuck Person and Micheal Williams.
But the Timberwolves continued to slump, winning only two of their last 18 games (both against woeful Dallas). Six of the club's last seven losses have been by double digits. The game that appeared to seal Rodgers' firing was last Wednesday's 98-78 loss at home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
This season the Timberwolves often looked unprepared at the start of games. Other times, they played well in the second and third periods only to falter in the final minutes.
'I don't think we have received that effort from our players,' McCloskey said. 'We have to demand that. Also, we didn't have the scoring punch coming off the bench that we'd like to have. We're hoping we can develop some of our younger players to do that. Those two things made it difficult for (Rodgers). We haven't been able to overcome that.'
Bill Musselman coached the Timberwolves during their first two seasons, compiling a 51-113 record.
