Everything Dwane Casey

[Barolt]

I want to as well. But i don't expect to go from "joke of the NBA" Raptors to "best organisation in sports" Spurs within three seasons. That's the difference.

I don't expect us to be the Spurs, but at the same time, we'll never be the Spurs until we start expecting ourselves to behave like the Spurs.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Oh, come on. You were predicting a 64 win season, then? 41-0 at home? No? Didn't think so. Is the Casey Derangement Syndrome so strong I am now going to read about how they underachieved with 56 wins cause it hurts so much to concede even that they had a great season? The only teams that won more games than them were: a historic 73 win team, a historic 67 win team and a 57 win team that features the greatest player of his generation. Gimme a break. I mean, I get that the cognitive dissonance must be painful, bordering on debilitating, but this is the biggest reach I have read yet on here.

Of course I wasn't predicting that many wins.

Pre-season, I was quite torn. I liked the moves they made, replacing Vasquez, Williams, Amir and Hansbrough with Joseph, Carroll, Scola and Biyombo. I also thought they had a strong draft; no future stars, but solid depth that could contribute right away (Wright more than Powell). I really liked the new assistant coaches brought it, and thought the defensive changes would have a huge impact (especially for JV).

However, some other teams made what seemed like good moves on paper, while others were expected to take an organic step forward. I never bought into the NY hype, but thought teams like Detroit and Milwaukee would be greatly improved, while teams like Miami, Indiana and Charlotte would all be better thanks to being healthy.

The thing is, once the season starts and teams start playing, expectations can be changed. Several teams either didn't take a step forward as expected, took a step backwards, or were ravaged by injuries. Many teams fell into these categories, in both conferences, with the league having an upper tier, lower tier and huge middle tier (much less overall parity).

Toronto was clearly in the top tier, and wound up being much more talented and deep than expected. Lowry was fit and healthy. DeRozan stopped taking forced long 2's, became a better facilitator, and [finally] developed a respectable 3pt shot. Joseph fit in immediately and was better than advertised. Without having to scramble on defense, JV became a force at both ends. Ross woke up. Biyombo showed signs of being the defensive anchor he was hyped as having the potential to become leading up to his draft. FIBA Scola rejuvenated his fledgling NBA career. Patterson was as steady as ever. JJ seemed to 'get it'. Even Bebe showed signs of becoming a true rotation player, when JV was injured. That was all without Carroll ever even being healthy.

There was still too much reliance on 2 players, despite other players proving themselves capable of playing a larger role, consistently. There was still too much forcing players to play roles they weren't built for. The Raptors performed well, set new team records, and finished 2nd in the East, but it seemed all season like they were capable of being even better. They showed signs of how good they could be, when Lowry and DeRozan didn't force their own games, when other players (ie: JV, Patterson, Ross, Joseph, etc...) were relied upon to do more offensively in a team-first, pass-happy offense. Those other players also seem to be much more engaged defensively, when they're contributing to the team offensively. They beat the Spurs, played competitively down to the wire against Golden State twice.

Casey gets the most out of Lowry and DeRozan, but I'm not convinced he gets the most out of his team; the full 9/10 man rotation and/or 15 man roster. And no, I'm not saying that another coach necessarily would. JV is the obvious one, in that I don't think the Raptors maximize the benefits of what he is capable of providing offensively, because the system is extremely guard-centric. Could a more balanced offensive game-plan enable the team to take advantage of more mismatches, whether in the front or back court? I don't think it's crazy or anti-Casey to think so.

[KeonClark]

These are Toronto sports fans. We can go years without even sniffing the playoffs; then, once we have a legitimate team they want to trade everyone away because we aren't winning championships. Thank christ for Masai. This guy has got a long-term plan in his head and the patience to pull it off. Let's just hope the Toronto media and fans let him do it.

I think you mean let's hope ownership let's him do it. Fans and media can raise as much stink as they want, Masai ain't giving 2 shits.

[ogi]

I don't expect us to be the Spurs, but at the same time, we'll never be the Spurs until we start expecting ourselves to behave like the Spurs.

How long have you been following the Raps? If you don't see the tremendous growth that this organisation has experienced from top to bottom then I really don't know what to tell you.

[Mess]

How long have you been following the Raps? If you don't see the tremendous growth that this organisation has experienced from top to bottom then I really don't know what to tell you.

DeMar taking over for Bosh is not quite the same as Timmy taking over for David.

But does that make Sam Mitchell our Larry Brown?

[Miekenstien]

How long have you been following the Raps? If you don't see the tremendous growth that this organisation has experienced from top to bottom then I really don't know what to tell you.

want it now. now. now. or tear it down again and give the next group 2 years and then we will know if they failed. forget 2 hall of famers and the greatest pf ever to build around, not to mention the high quality of their personalities. now. now. now.

[Primer]

How long have you been following the Raps? If you don't see the tremendous growth that this organisation has experienced from top to bottom then I really don't know what to tell you.

If you guys think Casey is a better coach than Vogel then I can't reason with you. That's beyond fucking insane. We have way way way way more talent than the Pacers. Outside of PG that's pretty much a dog shit roster.

If Casey was a great coach BC would still be GM. The play has improved as the roster has improved, it has zero to do with Casey. Swap any NBA head coach out with Casey and we're still the 2 seed in the East, and probably 1 seed depending on which coach we swapped him for.

[Barolt]

This stuff about our roster not being better than teams like Boston and Indiana is insane. Bench strength matters a lot during the regular season because it impacts how you deal with inevitable injuries, because every team has to deal with injuries at some point.

We had the second best bench in the league, and that allowed us to get through a few major injuries. The Pacers have an awful bench. The Celtics struggles without Crowder and Bradley show their lack of depth.

[Miekenstien]

If you guys think Casey is a better coach than Vogel then I can't reason with you. That's beyond fucking insane. We have way way way way more talent than the Pacers. Outside of PG that's pretty much a dog shit roster.

If Casey was a great coach BC would still be GM. The play has improved as the roster has improved, it has zero to do with Casey. Swap any NBA head coach out with Casey and we're still the 2 seed in the East, and probably 1 seed depending on which coach we swapped him for.

i disagree with this so much. this is the "win in spite of him" and "lose because of him" argument. it is garbage. by this reasoning phil jackson is not a good coach.

[Fully]

The common refrain was 'but look what Casey has to work with', but I felt that the Raptors actually could have been better this season, or at least played at their best more consistently (more wins regardless). Just look at the number of losses they had to terrible non-playoff teams, despite being healthy (ie: Denver, Denver, Sacramento, Sacramento, NY, Phoenix, Minnesota).

Yes this team is young and yes they're not a finished product, but I don't think the strategies (more offensively this season) necessarily maximize the talent on the floor or on the roster.

This simply isn't how this stuff works. Any team is going to have losses during the season that look bad in hindsight, but that doesn't mean that they underachieved over the course of an entire season. To take it to an extreme - did Golden State underachieve at 73 wins because they were only underdogs in two games all season (the two trips to San Antonio)? According to your theory, they should have been 80-2.

[Barolt]

This simply isn't how this stuff works. Any team is going to have losses during the season that look bad in hindsight, but that doesn't mean that they underachieved over the course of an entire season. To take it to an extreme - did Golden State underachieve at 73 wins because they were only underdogs in two games all season (the two trips to San Antonio)? According to your theory, they should have been 80-2.

To a large extent, I'm not talking about underperforming in terms of wins and losses.

I'm talking about underperforming in terms of using the regular season to prepare your team and systems for a long, tough playoff run.

[Fully]

This stuff about our roster not being better than teams like Boston and Indiana is insane. Bench strength matters a lot during the regular season because it impacts how you deal with inevitable injuries, because every team has to deal with injuries at some point.

We had the second best bench in the league, and that allowed us to get through a few major injuries. The Pacers have an awful bench. The Celtics struggles without Crowder and Bradley show their lack of depth.

I didn't see anyone really say that; that the Pacers and Raptors had an equal amount of talent. I think people took exception to your idea that the talent gap between the rosters is so wide that the Raps could win 11 more regular season games than Indiana (with a bumbling idiot for a coach no less), and still have you frame it that the Raptors underachieved because it wasn't an even bigger margin.

[Fully]

To a large extent, I'm not talking about underperforming in terms of wins and losses.

I'm talking about underperforming in terms of using the regular season to prepare your team and systems for a long, tough playoff run.

Okay - but don't you have to, you know, actually see the playoff run end before you start grading that type of thing?

[Barolt]

Okay - but don't you have to, you know, actually see the playoff run end before you start grading that type of thing?

That's fair, maybe we'll make a big run. But at this point you can easily say we've been the least impressive top 2 seed.

[Fully]

That's fair, maybe we'll make a big run. But at this point you can easily say we've been the least impressive top 2 seed.

Of the playoffs? Yes - you're right. The Spurs have been much better.