Coaching is a funny business. Everyone who knows Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey has pushed hard for him to land a coaching job.

He's a great guy, a respected coach around the league and he deserves another shot at running a team after getting short-changed and run out of Minnesota by then-GM Kevin McHale and owner Glen Taylor. Casey had the Timberwolves off a to 20-20 start in his second season and was canned. Assistant Randy Wittman was promoted and promptly finished off the year 12-30.

This offseason, Casey's had multiple interviews, but has been passed up by Philadelphia, Chicago, New Jersey, New Orleans and Atlanta. Now he's a candidate for the Los Angeles Clippers' job, reportedly with fired Bulls coach Vinny del Negro, who had no coaching experience when Chicago hired him two years ago.

But, is coaching the castoff Clippers a good thing? Does such a shabbily run franchise that plays second-fiddle to Kobe Bryant deserve a man like Casey?

Probably not, but if you're Casey, it's a tremendous opportunity to lift one of sport's all-time most failed operations. There is hope. The Clippers have a somewhat interesting roster with point guard Baron Davis, who can be a tremendous player when he's fully engaged, and that would be Casey's first challenge.

There's shooting guard Eric Gordon and always improving center Chris Kaman. Last year's first overall pick Blake Griffin is set to make his debut after an awful preseason injury last year, and last week's draft picks of forward Al-Farouq Aminu, guard Eric Bledsoe and local product Willie Warren (Oklahoma, North Crowley High School) add more dynamic, albeit unproven, youth.

Even with owner Donald Sterling still in control, there is hope.

And Casey deserves a shot to harness it.