The Toronto Raptors have announced (by not announcing) that Dwane Casey will remain as the team’s head coach next season, as Sportsnet’s Michael Grange reported on Tuesday:
There will no announcement confirming Dwane Casey staying on with Raptors. He is the head coach. There are no plans to make a change. /1
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) May 12, 2015
Casey will have final say on staff, but will obviously consult with Ujiri. Very unlikely to be full overhaul. My bet is 1 or 2 changes /2
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) May 12, 2015Standing pat with Casey is understandable – the team is coming off back-to-back seasons where they set the franchise mark for wins and continuity and consistency go a long way in helping a team improve.
But you have to wonder if the Raptors wouldn’t be better served taking a page out of the Golden State Warriors’ book and moving in a different direction even though Casey is the one that has steered them towards their two best seasons?
Golden State jettisoned Mark Jackson after three seasons when the former All-Star point guard (and former Raptor) took the team from 23 wins in 66 games during his first season to 47 wins and a second round playoff appearance in Year Two and 51 wins and a close Game 7 loss in the first round in his third year.
There was a disconnect between the coach and team management and feeling that they had been as successful as they could be under Jackson’s leadership, they moved on, bringing in Steve Kerr, who guided the team to 67 wins and the best record in The Association this past season.
Casey has done an admirable job with the pieces he has, but Toronto fell from 10th in defensive rating in 2013-14 to 25th last season, a slide that reflects poorly on the defensive-minded head coach. While some of that can be attributed to injuries and ineffectiveness down the stretch, when it is coupled with the fact that this team got trounced in the first round of the playoffs after losing to Brooklyn in seven last year, you start to wonder if this team has started to tune out Casey?
Because it’s not like the bench boss has led a rag-tag group of misfits to a pair of great seasons.
Toronto came out of the gates white-hot last season, with 36 wins by the All-Star Break, yet failed to reach the 50-win plateau. Kyle Lowry’s play dropped off significantly in the second half after he competed at an All-Star level and logged a ton of minutes early. Jonas Valanciunas has failed to progress in his development and Terrence Ross has gone backwards after being selected with the 8th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
There was no real flow to Casey’s rotation and the offense stagnated in the playoffs when it became abundantly clear that Toronto relied on Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Lou Williams to get their own shots and had no Plan B when they couldn’t. That falls on the coach and unless there are wholesale changes to Casey’s assistants, why should anyone expect different next year?
What’s frustrating is that the Raptors look capable of taking the next step, but just can’t seem to do it and you have to wonder if Casey is what’s holding them back. Just like Golden State in their three seasons under Jackson, Toronto has shown flashes over the last two years, but maybe they need someone else at the helm to really unlock this team’s full potential?
We’ll have to wait and see.
