Everything Dwane Casey

[Chr1s1anL]

Two terms not analogous with DeMar Derozan

Casey and DeRozan are back. Just deal with it man.

[KeonClark]

Casey says team needs more defensive toughness and shooting

http://www.tsn.ca/video/casey-on-his...n-plans~884630

What a revelation. An nba team would like more defense and shooting.

[Sinbad]

Two terms not analogous with DeMar Derozan

And yet Masai is about to hand the keys to the franchise to him. Casey praised Masai for going out and getting "playoff-ready" players in his presser today, but I would love to see Casey coach a roster that didn't have DeRozan on it. He has to go out of his way to hide him on defense, and his shooting limitations put a ton of pressure on everyone else to compensate for him.

[The Great One]

Which situation, exactly? Getting the second seed? That's not the baseline, that's an accomplishment. Look back to the start of the season. Who had them as the second seed? I was one of the more optimistic thinking they would be around 50 wins and fighting for that 3rd seed again.

The upside of winning lots of games is getting a weaker first round opponent. Lowry was hurt, clearly, and couldn't shoot to save his life. In that situation any team will struggle. DeRozan being an idiot in the early rounds was a problem and Casey deserves some blame for that, but he also made moves I would never have expected from him, including benching DeRozan when he was struggling in the 4th of a key game (and it got them a win). He benched Scola, something I didn't think he would do, and it won us the series. Would I prefer he did it earlier? Yes. Does a good coach always make perfect rotations? No. Just look at Frank Vogel, one of the best coaches in the game, crapping that series away with his rotations.

Lucked out against MIA? Their best player (Lowry) was still hurt and mostly unable to shoot until the last couple games. Their second best player was dominating the Heat through two and a half games and the series was going to be over in 5 (JV was a combined +49 in the Heat series and was averaging 40 minutes a game), but then he got hurt, too. And they still pulled out the series win (they did get lucky that the Heat had one important injury too, but I'd peg JV as the far better missing player, nevermind Lowry not being at full strength).

You can try to explain away taking two off of CLE as players happening to be hot or cold, but we'll have to disagree there. The Raptors took stuff away from the Cavs with specific strategic adjustments. CLE had enough weapons that in games 5 and 6 they had counters that the Raptors simply weren't equipped to deal with, but that doesn't take away from what the Raptors took away from the Cavs in the first place. The Cavs didn't beat the Raptors the way they beat the Hawks or the Pistons. They had to adjust for the first time all playoffs.

*mic drop*

[rocwell]

in case you missed it

[Apollo]

Continuity is great but only when you have an actually good coach.

Casey is average at best, ridiculously bad at worst.

This is the part where I say "you're wrong" and then I go on to list why you're wrong. We then spend three pages going back and forth until we just get tired of going no where.

I've seen enough of the revolving door at Toronto Raptors HQ to last me a lifetime. Through those eras for the most part they amounted to jack shit. Casey's not perfect but they just rolled to game six of the ECF and that's a lot better than anyone else ever done in Toronto and it's better than 26 other teams in the league this year. They overcame TWO game sevens. I'm glad he's back because I'd much rather more of this path than the alternative.

If they did it your way, whatever way that is, the best case scenario is they're probably losing in game six of the ECF.

[SkywalkerAC]

It's a great time to be a Raptors fan. Sustainable growth baby. d

[Billy103]

This is the part where I say "you're wrong" and then I go on to list why you're wrong. We then spend three pages going back and forth until we just get tired of going no where.

I've seen enough of the revolving door at Toronto Raptors HQ to last me a lifetime. Through those eras for the most part they amounted to jack shit. Casey's not perfect but they just rolled to game six of the ECF and that's a lot better than anyone else ever done in Toronto and it's better than 26 other teams in the league this year. They overcame TWO game sevens. I'm glad he's back because I'd much rather more of this path than the alternative.

If they did it your way, whatever way that is, the best case scenario is they're probably losing in game six of the ECF.

Well said man its funny all these people being critical forgot the days when we used to be constantly in the lower end of the lottery and not getting better.

[S.R.]

Which situation, exactly? Getting the second seed? That's not the baseline, that's an accomplishment. Look back to the start of the season. Who had them as the second seed? I was one of the more optimistic thinking they would be around 50 wins and fighting for that 3rd seed again.

The upside of winning lots of games is getting a weaker first round opponent. Lowry was hurt, clearly, and couldn't shoot to save his life. In that situation any team will struggle. DeRozan being an idiot in the early rounds was a problem and Casey deserves some blame for that, but he also made moves I would never have expected from him, including benching DeRozan when he was struggling in the 4th of a key game (and it got them a win). He benched Scola, something I didn't think he would do, and it won us the series. Would I prefer he did it earlier? Yes. Does a good coach always make perfect rotations? No. Just look at Frank Vogel, one of the best coaches in the game, crapping that series away with his rotations.

Lucked out against MIA? Their best player (Lowry) was still hurt and mostly unable to shoot until the last couple games. Their second best player was dominating the Heat through two and a half games and the series was going to be over in 5 (JV was a combined +49 in the Heat series and was averaging 40 minutes a game), but then he got hurt, too. And they still pulled out the series win (they did get lucky that the Heat had one important injury too, but I'd peg JV as the far better missing player, nevermind Lowry not being at full strength).

You can try to explain away taking two off of CLE as players happening to be hot or cold, but we'll have to disagree there. The Raptors took stuff away from the Cavs with specific strategic adjustments. CLE had enough weapons that in games 5 and 6 they had counters that the Raptors simply weren't equipped to deal with, but that doesn't take away from what the Raptors took away from the Cavs in the first place. The Cavs didn't beat the Raptors the way they beat the Hawks or the Pistons. They had to adjust for the first time all playoffs.

You know what else is great about this? The Raptors were not at their peak through so much of the playoffs, but still clawed their way to the third round. That's the biggest reassurance re: the concern about already hitting a treadmill. Lowry, DeRozan, and Carroll can all be healthier and better than they were. I think that after this year's experience, it's reasonable to expect that they will be better and hopefully healthier next year. We also lost JV at the start of the second round. There are always injuries and challenges to overcome in the playoffs (which these guys managed to do), but hopefully your four best players are healthier than what we saw this spring. I think a healthier Raptors squad with this year's experience under their belts can definitely give Cleveland a better series next year. The Raptors were the least experienced of the final four teams this year.

[OldSkoolCool]

This is the part where I say "you're wrong" and then I go on to list why you're wrong. We then spend three pages going back and forth until we just get tired of going no where.

I've seen enough of the revolving door at Toronto Raptors HQ to last me a lifetime. Through those eras for the most part they amounted to jack shit. Casey's not perfect but they just rolled to game six of the ECF and that's a lot better than anyone else ever done in Toronto and it's better than 26 other teams in the league this year. They overcame TWO game sevens. I'm glad he's back because I'd much rather more of this path than the alternative.

If they did it your way, whatever way that is, the best case scenario is they're probably losing in game six of the ECF.

Coaches get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose

Biggest reason the Raptors had the best season ever was because they had the best roster they have ever had. It's no surprise that looking back, every jump we made coincided with the removal of a major negative player....who was massively overplayed by Casey

I think this team as constructed could perform better with better coaching...that's the reasoning to replace Casey

[Gambino]

Coaches get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose

Biggest reason the Raptors had the best season ever was because they had the best roster they have ever had. It's no surprise that looking back, every jump we made coincided with the removal of a major negative player....who was massively overplayed by Casey

I think this team as constructed could perform better with better coaching...that's the reasoning to replace Casey

Do you think we should've beaten Cleveland?

[Apollo]

Coaches get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose

Biggest reason the Raptors had the best season ever was because they had the best roster they have ever had. It's no surprise that looking back, every jump we made coincided with the removal of a major negative player....who was massively overplayed by Casey

I think this team as constructed could perform better with better coaching...that's the reasoning to replace Casey

Who are you replacing him with? What if he says no? Who are the plan b's?

[Gambino]

Who are you replacing him with? What if he says no? Who are the plan b's?

Just replace him at all costs! Grass is greener and all that jazz.

[OldSkoolCool]

Do you think we should've beaten Cleveland?

This year no

Who are you replacing him with? What if he says no? Who are the plan b's?

Personally, Ime Udoka

I'm not sure about plan b's...but then again I'm not a high level NBA recruiter and that isn't a remotely relevant question pertaining to Casey's abilities as a head coach

[Deino]

Coaches get too much credit when they win and too much blame when they lose

Biggest reason the Raptors had the best season ever was because they had the best roster they have ever had. It's no surprise that looking back, every jump we made coincided with the removal of a major negative player....who was massively overplayed by Casey

I think this team as constructed could perform better with better coaching...that's the reasoning to replace Casey

I agree, many times this year I felt this roster was ahead of the coach.
Ps: since Casey is coming back,the team needs a modern day tactical offensive specialist to join the sidelines(a la Messina).