Henry Abbott predicts Dwane Casey will be win "Coach of the Year"

[minks77]

I could see Casey winning this year, if the raptors go from being the 2nd worst team in the eastern conference to making the playoffs, he will win it for sure. That is something that I can see happening. From what I have seen so far in the preseason in terms of our defensive coverages, there has been HUGE improvement, the offense will come around, every player in the NBA has made it this far because they have focused on their offense their whole lives, everyone in the NBA is a "Scorer", its defense that is harder for these guys to learn. Our team has a lot of offensive talent, its only a matter of time until it comes together. I see the raptors going 2-1 in the first week of the season, and finishing close to .500 for the year, with a the 7th or 8th seed in the East. Go raps Go.

There is no way this team is making the playoffs. At our best I can see them playing like the first preseason game but on average I think this squad is much closer to being akin to the one we saw in the second game. This team is really poor to almost average at every position. Our best 2 players are Kerry Kittles and Toni Kuckoc lite. This team is built to rise NEXT year.

barring any major injury or trade the east will look like this (in no particular order): Boston/NYK/ATL/ORL/CHI/MIA/IND/76ers/MIL with a rogues gallery of CHA/NJN/CLE/TOR/DET/Was scrambling for a top pick.

[SuperRaptor]

There is no way this team is making the playoffs. At our best I can see them playing like the first preseason game but on average I think this squad is much closer to being akin to the one we saw in the second game. This team is really poor to almost average at every position. Our best 2 players are Kerry Kittles and Toni Kuckoc lite. This team is built to rise NEXT year.

barring any major injury or trade the east will look like this (in no particular order): Boston/NYK/ATL/ORL/CHI/MIA/IND/76ers/MIL with a rogues gallery of CHA/NJN/CLE/TOR/DET/Was scrambling for a top pick.

I don't understand why people put teams like Milwaukee, Indiana, and Philadelphia on a different level as us. I see us competing with those teams for the 6-8th seed in the east.

[NoPropsneeded]

think about it. Milwaukee has Brandon Jennings, stephen jackson, and andrew bogut. Indiana has David West, Danny Granger,and paul george. Philli is ok they are a mediocre team so they aren't really any threat. We will sure as hell compete for the playoffs next year but this year is getting the new defensive system in place and developing the young guns. Next year we bring in JV and the Franchise player and we skyrocket up the eastern conference for the next few years and win a title.

[RaptorsFan4Life]

think about it. Milwaukee has Brandon Jennings, stephen jackson, and andrew bogut. Indiana has David West, Danny Granger,and paul george. Philli is ok they are a mediocre team so they aren't really any threat. We will sure as hell compete for the playoffs next year but this year is getting the new defensive system in place and developing the young guns. Next year we bring in JV and the Franchise player and we skyrocket up the eastern conference for the next few years and win a title.

76ers are mediocre? WTF?!

Iggy, Meeks, Evan Turner, Hawes, Jrue Holiday, Eltron Brand, Taddeus Young...

76ers are loaded with potential.

[NoPropsneeded]

76ers are mediocre? WTF?!

Iggy, Meeks, Evan Turner, Hawes, Jrue Holiday, Eltron Brand, Taddeus Young...

76ers are loaded with potential.

those players are declining except for holiday, turner and young. Even those 3 aren't that good, they are borderline all stars at best. They are basically just another atlanta hawks type team. Thats not loaded

[Balls of Steel]

Well, this is an interesting piece today:

The Mavericks defense, which after two games ranks 24th in points allowed per 100 possessions, is most to blame for the team's 0-2 start, Dirk Nowitzki said Wednesday.

"It really starts defensively where we’re having problems just getting stops and then our offense looks bad, too, because we can’t play off of flow; we’ve got to take the ball out, we’ve got to play a slow-down game, and we weren’t good at that even last year," Nowitzki said. "We were at our best when we got stops, when we pushed the ball up, when we play in flow, when we move the ball and that’s hard to do if you take the ball out every time.

"So, we’ve got to work on our defense, got to get sharper, got to trust each other, work on our rotations and work on our coverages, so we’ve got a lot of work to do."

Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...#ixzz1ht4g3CVs

I guess Casey's impact can never be ignored. And Coach of the Year, I'm not going to rule it out. I missed tonight's game in its entirety but losing the game against the pacers but keeping it close and under a 100 is very fine with me.

[NoPropsneeded]

we'll win against the mavs. I have a hunch that we'll come out of the gates strong and maintain the lead throughout. The team is too old and casey is on our side now. Expect DeRozan to drop 30 on Vince Carters head

[Red and White]

I think Dwane Casey proved tonight vs the pacers that he is a legitimate coach. I do not think him as COY is as farfetched after i saw the defense we were running.

[NoPropsneeded]

our defense was shut down. Our offense in the first half was the main problem, if we had scored a little more and hit our free throws this would have been a win.

[Soft Euro]

we'll win against the mavs. I have a hunch that we'll come out of the gates strong and maintain the lead throughout. The team is too old and casey is on our side now. Expect DeRozan to drop 30 on Vince Carters head

Dallas isn't suddenly too old about half a year after winning it all. They will get it together because they are a very good team and we are underdogs by a longshot. If they plays as bad on defense as in the first two games we might have a chance, but there is an even bigger chance that we will be behind by over 20 at some point in the game.

[Red and White]

Dallas isn't suddenly too old about half a year after winning it all. They will get it together because they are a very good team and we are underdogs by a longshot. If they plays as bad on defense as in the first two games we might have a chance, but there is an even bigger chance that we will be behind by over 20 at some point in the game.

No, the team is not old, but it is nowhere near last years team in personel or coaching. If you look at the matchups, the only one that is really favourable to any team is shawn marion / lamar odom at the 3. Other then that, the raptors match up well. As long as we keep them to a modest three point game, and play defence close to the way we played against Indiana, it will be a lot closer then you think. The Mavs have shown that they wont be the same team in terms of rebounding.

Do not expect a blowout, or the underdog/favourite to play any role in this game.

[Soft Euro]

No, the team is not old, but it is nowhere near last years team in personel or coaching. If you look at the matchups, the only one that is really favourable to any team is shawn marion / lamar odom at the 3. Other then that, the raptors match up well. As long as we keep them to a modest three point game, and play defence close to the way we played against Indiana, it will be a lot closer then you think. The Mavs have shown that they wont be the same team in terms of rebounding.

Do not expect a blowout, or the underdog/favourite to play any role in this game.

It's not that they suddenly won't be able to play defense without Casey or that they won't be able to rebound without Chandler. They still have Haywood who should be decent and they have Odom now who can rebound very well. Nowitzki is a terrible match-up for any team (forgot about him?), that didn't change. In my opinion some people are too quickly thinking Dallas is a suddenly no threat anymore. I don't think they will win it all, but I didn't expect that last year either. They are out of shape, maybe because of partying too much... I expect them to still win 50+ games (related to a 82 games schedule) like always, which is about 40+ games this year and be a threat to anyone in the play-offs.

[Red and White]

It's not that they suddenly won't be able to play defense without Casey or that they won't be able to rebound without Chandler. They still have Haywood who should be decent and they have Odom now who can rebound very well. Nowitzki is a terrible match-up for any team (forgot about him?), that didn't change. In my opinion some people are too quickly thinking Dallas is a suddenly no threat anymore. I don't think they will win it all, but I didn't expect that last year either. They are out of shape, maybe because of partying too much... I expect them to still win 50+ games (related to a 82 games schedule) like always, which is about 40+ games this year and be a threat to anyone in the play-offs.

They have had horrible defensive problems this year, and their rpg have dropped significantly. But you bring up a good point. Tons of teams that are on their hangover from a championship start off slow the following season, and with the lockout, they are probably going to wake up. Still, I believe enough has changed in personel that does not give them as big as an edge that they previously had. Saying there is a bigger chance they will win (i believe you said 20 point blow out) then a close game is just not correct to me.

I guess we will have to see

[Soft Euro]

I meant a bigger chance that we fall behind by 20+ than us winning.

[NoPropsneeded]

we'll see, but you never know. Casey knows the Dallas offense pretty well so its kind of a favorable match up. We might be able to pull it off