Game 6 Post-Game Reaction Podcast – It was fun – Raptors Republic
The season is over and in this solo podcast, Zarar tries to take a look at the game, the series, and the season.
Saying goodbye, and other post-game notes – Raptors Republic
I know probably nobody cares at this point, but I gotta go out doing me.
Benchnik Termites: No, I won’t drop the name. It’s perfect. The James-and-bench group was a minuscule plus-2 in five minutes, pushing them to a +32 in 35 minutes for the series.
Starters: The Raptors’ group was -7 in six minutes, which is why Luis Scola didn’t start the second half or see the floor. The group that started the half, with Patrick Patterson, was a -3 in 13 minutes. The Cavs’ starters were a ridiculous plus-15 in 23 minutes.
JV impact: Jonas Valanciunas was a team-high plus-4, including a pair of stints with mostly makeshift lineups that produced positives. Some of that was on Valanciunas, who looked great at times on the offensive end, and some of it was being on the floor as those around him heated up. The development he showed in the postseason is one of the most encouraging things about this run.
Reminder from Lowry: Lowry was terrific but earned a -30, worst on the team. This is your usual reminder that all of these lineup notes and individual plus-minus marks are just descriptive, and we need bigger-picture, larger-sample trends (or to dig in to the qualitative behind the quantitative) to draw conclusions.
How these Toronto Raptors raised the bar and set a new standard – ESPN
Toronto GM Masai Ujiri built a roster that embodied the city, a roster full of hardworking players who overcame adversity to become part of the core.
Kyle Lowry went from immature backup to two-time All-Star leader. DeMar DeRozan, a Raptors lifer, went from being part of all those losing teams to being part of all these winning teams. Jonas Valanciunas went from overseas question mark to interior force. DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph went from D-Leaguers to multimillionaires. Bismack Biyombo went from lotto bust to veteran beast.
And, of course, Dwane Casey went from the speculation of being fired daily to potentially earning a long-term contract extension to remain as head coach.
Yes, these Raptors made everyone proud, handling the swings of the playoffs like true pros.
Their fans came out to support them in full force, packing Jurassic Park on a nightly basis for games both home and away, in weather both hot and freezing cold.
Local TV ratings were shattered, too.
The Raptors overcame a lot, getting where they did despite Valanciunas being out for a long stretch in the postseason, and Lowry, DeRozan and Carroll — well, pretty much everyone — playing hurt at some point. It was the definition of a grind — especially given Lowry and DeRozan’s shooting struggles — but they made it work, defying critics who said they were done on numerous occasions.
But now that they’ve gotten to this point, the question becomes: How do they get over the hump?
No shame in Raptors loss to Cavaliers in Game 6: Arthur | Toronto Star
This is life in the Eastern Conference at this stage of history, and the Raptors did all they could. There are maybe four or five NBA players who can move the needle like him. You can’t just go and acquire them. Make shots, miss shots, but this is the real difference.
So LeBron James is the first leading man to go to a sixth straight final since Bill Russell in the 1960s, and, along with teammate James Jones, the first non-Celtic. Before the game Lowry was talking about this ride — this six-week, agony-and-ecstasy, make-and-miss, tension-and-release ride, unlike anything this franchise has ever delivered — and he boiled it down to simple things. “I’m just living, every day, every hour, every minute,” he said, grinning. “I’ve played bad, I’ve played good, I’ve played bad and played good. I’m just living for the day and enjoying it. That’s it.”
That was the playoffs for Toronto, in which record numbers of Canadians watched games: two years ago the Raptors topped out at just over 900,000, and this year the high end was at least 1.8-million. This was the first time in a generation that the Raptors provided actual success. This was a good year for basketball in Canada.
Now comes the annual afterlife, and bigger questions. Someone else will make Bismack Biyombo rich, probably. The frontcourt needs an upgrade, regardless. The smart money is on re-signing DeRozan. Casey stays. GM Masai Ujiri isn’t likely clambering back down into the 45-win muck on purpose.
This team has no obvious route to jumping up to the true championship contender rung, because it requires the next level of star, and they cannot be bought. Nothing to do but stay good, and wait for a chance to get better.
James’ talent on display as Cavs oust Raptors | Toronto Sun
James was the difference, as has been the case so many times for one of the best players to ever hit a basketball court.
James rained threes on the Raptors, terrorized them on the defensive end and handed out his usual pinpoint assists.
He had 14 points after a quarter, stepped up the defence in the second, played nearly the entire third to prevent the Raptors from getting too close, then made some crucial plays in the fourth to finish the job.
Cleveland’s red-hot shooting was too much for the Raptors to overcome, but without James, most of the open looks don’t happen. Nobody surveys the floor and makes the right play like the four-time MVP. There’s no shame in falling short against a generational talent like this. Those of that ilk are hard to topple, especially when a strong supporting cast is assembled alongside them.
It has not been a good idea to get behind a James-led team in the playoffs.
He has never lost a series when up 2-0 and before Game 6 Friday, had gone 8-1 in sixth games when up three games to two. The only loss game against Detroit during James’ first trip to the post-season.
Make it 9-1.
He is 11-5 in Game sixes overall and has seldom been the reason why his team has lost a series.
Kelly: Yes, losing is disappointing, but the Raptors’ season was anything but – The Globe and Mail
An important note – no one was cheated here. The Cavaliers were just better.
It’s right to be disappointed. It’s okay to hate the refs. But it would be wrong to call it a failure. It’s the opposite of that.
When you get to the playoffs, the view tightens. Every game is its own world. Everything that happens is a sign of something either ominous or auspicious (but usually neither).
Unused as we are to this process, the emotional swings become a little exaggerated. Or more than a little. Okay, enough to require a few hard slaps.
Maybe the Raptors don’t need to trade Kyle Lowry and maybe Bismack Biyombo is not Bill Russell reincarnated. We got a little carried away. It happens.
Now that it’s over, the camera can pan back a bit.
After 21 years, the Raptors finally delivered. One series victory would have been enough. Two was seismic. Pushing the Cavs to six games was – and this is meant in its breezy sporting context – heroic.
Two months ago, this franchise was still widely considered a potential embarrassment to its fans and a running joke to everyone else. Around the time they were handing Cleveland its collective head last week, that ended. People will continue to overlook the Raptors, but they have stopped being an ESPN punch line.
They were never going to win this series. Not because they aren’t good enough (which they aren’t), but because they’ve never been here before. The Cavaliers – and LeBron James in particular – have learned how to win at this stage. Almost none of the Raptors had the benefit of that wisdom. They may now, but that’s for next year.
What’s for right now is enjoying a job marvellously done. It was occasionally choppy, but it’s a results business. It’s about winning rather than sticking landings, and they won.
Raptors’ playoff run has earned them plenty of respect around NBA | Toronto Star
After so many years as the league’s afterthought — tried to watch Raptor highlights in the States before this season? — Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan’s team and the visual of Jurassic Park exploding in support outside of a packed Air Canada Centre changed that long-standing perception of basketball in Toronto.
“I think it does wonders for them,” Smith said of the Raptors’ season. “They’ve got tremendous talent, they’ve got great young guys. They’ve got two unbelievable all-stars on that team, so it’s a lot of upside.”
Cavs centre Tristan Thompson already knew what the basketball environment in Toronto had become, but the Brampton product had to take a moment to take in what he’d seen in the final game of the series.
“They were proud to the end of the game, cheering them on so much,” he said of Raptors fans. “The NBA has grown so much (in Canada) and their love for basketball and the city . . . it makes you feel good to come home and know that basketball’s growing and that I’ve done my part to help that.”
Lowry and DeRozan wore the pain of the loss on their faces Friday night, far from ready to have their season come to an end, even if this is the latest the Raptors have ever played. But there are no more jokes about the Raptors, not like there used to be.
The punchline is gone and, as the franchise continues to make its climb, that’s a major victory.
Raptors will have to plenty to think about this off-season | Toronto Sun
How do they go from Eastern Conference contenders to true title threats? How do they make sure momentum doesn’t stall like it did after Vince Carter’s miss in Philadelphia?
Things have changed and we finally don’t have to talk about Carter and his teams anymore, but the Raptors need to ride this wave.
They need to figure out how to add more shooters to make the offence more dangerous; how to integrate Jonas Valanciunas better into the offence; how to bring DeMar DeRozan — an unrestricted free agent who will be heavily courted by his hometown Los Angeles Lakers — back and if there is any way to retain Bismack Biyombo as well.
There likely isn’t.
This will be it as Raptors for James Johnson and Jason Thompson and likely for Luis Scola and Biyombo as well.
Ujiri and the front office have a ninth pick to either put on the trade market or use to draft a key part of the future.
“It’s too early to think about that,” Dwane Casey said when it was over.
But he knows what is coming.
“Some guys have decisions to make themselves, they’ve put themselves in that position.
“I know Masai and Jeff (Weltman) and the front office will do a great job of making the right decisions to help us make the next step.”
Casey only has a team option remaining on his contract. Expect an extension to be one of the first pieces of business taken care of.
Best Raptors team ever scrapped, clawed to within sight of NBA Finals | Sportsnet.ca
In a record-setting season of firsts the Raptors didn’t make their first NBA Finals, as their 113-87 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals would indicate.
But no one in the 20,800 at the ACC held it against anyone. When Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan subbed out with three minutes to play – the white flag – the crowd roared, as loud as any time in the night: “Let’s Go Raptors!”
It’s how a building full of satisfied customers say, “Thank you.”
There was a lot to give thanks for, and the gesture caught the eyes and ears of LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers star who has seen almost everything in his 13 seasons, but not something exactly like this.
“It’s an unbelievable atmosphere,” said James said of the scene inside and outside the ACC. “These fans, they mean a lot to their team, and I think the team gave everything they could throughout the season. To go to a place they’ve never been before, to get to the Eastern Conference Finals and to win two games on their home floor as well, in front of their fans … it just showed their appreciation.”
The game never really seemed to tilt in the Raptors’ favour. If there was one statistical shortcoming it’s that the Raptors shot just 29 per cent from deep in the series. In Game 6 Lowry was 6-of-12 but the rest of the team just 2-of-13. They didn’t land enough punches to score a knockout.
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James just too much for Raptors | Toronto Sun
COMING UP BIG
Cleveland’s Big 3 would come up big in Game 6, underscoring the difference between the Cavs and Raptors.
Ultimately, it proved to be the decisive factor in the series.
For the sixth time this post-season run, the Cavs’ Big 3 of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving each had 20 or more points. It was the second straight time they did that against Toronto — both wins.
James and Irving had 33 and 30 points, respectively, while Love posted a 20-10 game on Friday.
Combined, the Big 3 scored 83 points.
The Raptors don’t have three dominant players capable of taking over games, even as Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were doing their best to keep Toronto within striking distance.Game 6 was never in doubt and Cleveland’s Big 3 made sure of it in a 113-87 win.
Lowry’s best not enough for Raptors in Game 6: Feschuk | Toronto Star
Lowry wasn’t perfect on this deep spring run. He lived through more than one crisis of confidence and various inconsistencies. But he never ceased trying.
“I play bad, I play good, and I play bad, I play good,” Lowry said before Friday’s game. “(But) I’m happy . . . to be able to talk to you guys and be here and play basketball.”
If improved body composition was last off-season’s project, maybe the coming break will see Lowry begin ironing out his unevenness. It’s all relative, mind you, and he’s been steady enough to achieve more than one rare feat. This week Lowry was named to the all-NBA third team. It’s an under-the-radar honour; for some reason more prestige is afforded to the members of the mid-season all-star teams. But only two other Raptors have previously been named to an all-NBA team — Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. So it’s a big deal. And the Air Canada Centre faithful offered up a brief standing ovation on Friday night when Lowry’s nod was announced during a stoppage in play.
Only a few years ago, when then-GM Bryan Colangelo was fired while expressing a vision that a team built around Lowry and DeRozan could prove formidable, it would have seemed far-fetched that such a team would find itself in Game 6 of the Eastern final. Only a few years ago, when Lowry arrived in Toronto with a reputation as a difficult underachiever and was nearly dumped by Colangelo’s replacement, Masai Ujiri, in a trade with the Knicks that was nixed at the 11th hour, it would have been far-fetched to imagine Lowry being an all pro. Lowry, for his part, called the honour “a group award . . . a great accomplishment for our organization.”
Cavaliers blow out Raptors to end historic playoff run | Toronto Sun
Down 24 points with 2:38 to go in the game and the contest over, Dwane Casey subbed out his starters while the fan base stood and cheered them with a “Let’s Go Raptors” chant.
For the remainder of the game, that chant filled the arena. It only stopped when it was replaced by one more “We the North” chant by an appreciative fan base that was still on its feet through the final horn.
It was a fitting sendoff for a team that did its city proud.
The fight the Cavaliers had in Game 5 in Cleveland made the trek to Toronto this time and was met with an equal physical force, but the Raptors just didn’t have the depth or experience to make it count.
LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were just too much for the Raptors, who fought to the bitter end but could not match the Cavs Big 3 primarily because they could not come close to matching their three-point shooting. Toronto evenually fell113-87 to the Cavs, who became the first team in this series to win on the opponent’s home court.
Cleveland now advances to the NBA Finals, where the Cavs will take on the winner of the Western Conference final between Oklahoma City and Golden State.
“I’m so proud of our guys to go through what they have been through with two seven-game series and a six-game series, but I did think mental fatigue did set in,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “When we talk to guys next year about a situation, they can refer back to how hard it was in the Indy series or how hard it was in the Miami series or how hard it was in this series and the kind of focus and attention to detail you have to have.”
ECF Game 6: Raptors 87, Cavs 113 | Toronto Raptors
UNDERRATED RAPTORS PLAYER OF THE GAME
DeMar DeRozan was right behind Lowry, finishing with 20 points on 9-for-18 field goals. He was 2-for-2 from the free throw line and also added three rebounds and three assists in 42 minutes as he and his backcourt mate did all they could to try to continue the magical postseason run that was possible largely because of their play during the regular season.
Raptors landmark season comes to an end in Game 6 loss to Cavs – Raptors HQ
The final pages of the 2015-’16 yearbook were written in Game 6 against the Cavs. For the second-straight game, Toronto simply looked outclassed by a team with superior talent. It wasn’t quite the demolition Game 5 was, but for much of a disjointed, foul-ridden first half, Cleveland’s lead hovered around double digits as LeBron James countered every Raptors’ jab with a Draymond Green-like kick to the face.
More of a distributing force throughout the series, James took it upon himself to leave the Raptors in the rear view. He hit three of four three-pointers and scored 21 points while at the other end the Raptors clanked crucial open three after crucial open three. At the half, it was 55-41, and so began the eulogizing on Twitter.
Lowry wasn’t quite ready for the final pages to be written on this landmark season, though. After the Cavs had pushed the lead to 20 in the third, Lowry kicked it into eff you mode one last time. The way Lowry kicked and screamed and drove and scored in the final six minutes of the third quarter and into the fourth was indicative of how this year’s Raptors became the greatest team in franchise history. He poured in 18 points on 5-of-9 from three point range to give the 20,000 absolutely bonkers fans in attendance hope for one last moment to store in this season’s overflowing memory bank.
Of course, LeBron is LeBron, and the Cavs are the Cavs, so Lowry’s 33 points ultimately and predictably fell just short. And there’s absolutely no shame in that. The six-foot-eight insurmountable wall in the East that is James has been the reality for the rest of the conference for more than half a decade now. That the Raptors failed to miraculously leap over it — hell, they fell off pretty violently a few times as they tried — isn’t some sort of indictment of the team and doesn’t suggests that everything accomplished since October is Fool’s Gold.
Aside from the final game, everything about this season in Toronto was a win. Simply scratching and clawing to earn the right to be James’s final Eastern Conference stepping stone is a hell of an achievement — especially for an organization that has typically a way lower rung on the NBA ladder.
Cleveland Cavaliers advance to NBA Finals with 113-87 Game 6 win over Toronto | Cleveland.com
They felt it. It didn’t look like Toronto had much of anything left in the tank.
In the third quarter, the Cavaliers kept their foot on the gas and stretched the lead to 21. Then things got a little interesting. An 18-point quarter by Lowry brought his team within 12 entering the final quarter. A DeRozan midrange jumper trimmed the margin to 10 early on in the fourth quarter, but that was their limit. That’s all the Cavaliers were giving them.
Cleveland pushed it up to 26 points in the final seconds, their largest lead of the evening. It was a nice run for the Raptors. They made it to the conference finals for the first time in the franchise’s history. They just ran into a better team.
When the Cavaliers were 2-0 in this series, most believed a sweep was inevitable.
“They won 56 games this year,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “They were second in the East. They played well all season. I know a lot of you thought it should be different, but we knew we had to take it one game at a time. This is a hostile environment. They play very well here.”
The Eastern Conference champs will await to see if Oklahoma City Thunder can complete a stunning triumph over Golden State or if the Warriors return to The Finals. Cleveland won both games against OKC during the regular season while losing both games to Golden State.
The first game of The Finals tips off on June 2.
InstaCap: Cavs 113, Raps 87 (Just Keep on Comin’ On) – Cavs: The Blog
LeBron James just kept coming tonight. He played a high-usage 41 minutes, notching 33 points (on just 22 shots), 11 rebounds, 6 dimes, and 3 blocks. He played hard defensively the whole night and he, Kyrie, and J.R. Smith kicked off a handful of transition opportunities in the 1st half. Kevin Love stepped into a couple 3s off those opportunities and finished with 20 points (on just 11 shots), 14 boards, and 4 dimes himself. Kyrie Irving struggled to find space in the half-court in the first half but broke the seal in the second half. His 12 points in the 3rd quarter kept the feisty Raptors at bay, and eventually they just couldn’t keep up. LeBron and the Cavs just kept coming.
Or as Toronto coach Dwane Casey said before the game, “This is what … his sixth time fighting for The Finals? He knows. He understands. Plus, he’s got the ability to do something about it … a little bit.”
Make that a lot.
James scored 14 of the Cavs’ 31 points in the first quarter. At the half, James had 21 points and played all but 37 seconds as the Cavs had a 55-41 lead.
Before the game, James promised “urgency from the start all the way to the end.”
The man was good to his word.
Casey compared James to “a freight train” earlier in the playoffs. James has compared himself to “a tank.”
He had that look … that stare … that raging heart of a man who was going to lead his team to The Finals — again.
It was a dominating performance not just for James, but the Cavs. They did it on a court where they had not won a game this season — at least not until it meant the most.
James finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Just as important, he had plenty of help from Kyrie Irving (30 points, nine assists) and Kevin Love (20 points, a game-high 12 rebounds). This was the sixth time in the playoffs that every member of the Big Three scored at least 20 points. It only happened twice in the regular season.
NBA Playoffs 2016: Cavs reach NBA Finals with big victory in Toronto over Raptors – Fear The Sword
Credit to the Raptors. They won two games in the series, the only games the Eastern Conference took from this Cavs team. Their fans were nuts, Kyle Lowry was nuts. They deserved this run to the Conference Finals, and they got more of a series than many expected. When the Cavs were expected to put the foot down, in Game 4, they didn’t. In Game 5 they did. In Game 6, they did.
Toronto Raptors end historic season with Game 6 loss to Cavaliers | Raptors Cage
Offence: B
The Raptors weren’t able to keep up with the Cavaliers offence, because of a slow start that forced them to trail for the remainder of the game.
Lowry had an 18-point third quarter performance, which included the last 12 points for the Raptors, but it was too late with the Cavaliers already up by 14 at halftime. The Raptors shot 40 per cent from the field and a painful 16.7 per cent from 3-point distance in the first half, missing on many open looks. It wasn’t their night even though Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had solid performances, combining for 55 points on 50 per cent shooting.
No one else on the Raptors scored in double-digits, instead they combined for 33 per cent shooting from the field. Turnovers were also a problem for the Raptors, since they gave up more of them (12) than assists (10.)
Playoff run is step in right direction for growing Raptors – TSN
It’s not something that can be simulated. Most of this Raptors’ core got its first taste of the post-season in that Brooklyn series – a learning experience in and of itself. Then there was the sweep to Washington – a wakeup call, a cold shower and a reminder that nothing about playoff basketball comes easy. They’ve taken the next step this year, accomplishing just about every reasonable goal they set for themselves entering the campaign, and then some.
Friday’s was their 102nd game of the season, 20th of the playoffs. They were playing basketball into late-May. For the Cavs, that would hardly be a cause for celebration. It would be a failure, in fact, but what this series reminded us, more than anything else, is the Raptors aren’t the Cavs. Cleveland is a better, more talented team to be sure, but there’s more to it. As long as LeBron is wearing the wine and gold, the expectation is that they’ll be competing for championships. He’s set that precedent. So have the Warriors and the Thunder and the Spurs.
The Raptors are the new kids on the block. They’re not at that level and, although they’re striving to be, that last step is the hardest one to take. It’s pretty remarkable that they’re even within striking distance of the NBA’s giants given where they’ve come from. Three years ago they were on the verge of tearing down their foundation and tanking for Andrew Wiggins. Rudy Gay, their most expensive player, had been moved and Kyle Lowry was supposed to be next out the door when they caught lightning in a bottle. Just about everything they’ve accomplished since has been a first.
Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, like the Raptors organization, had never won a best-of-seven, now they have two under their belt. This post-season has been anything but smooth sailing for Toronto’s All-Star duo. They’ve both been humbled, they’ve both been vindicated, humbled again, then vindicated again, and so on and so forth.
Through it all, what have they learned?
“Don’t lose Game 1,” said Lowry, drawing some laughs. They dropped the opener in all three series, to Indiana, Miami and then to Cleveland. “Seriously, that’s truthful. Don’t lose Game 1.”
HQ Overtime Post-Game Show: Let’s talk about the end | Raptors HQ
Parting is such sweet sorrow. The Raptors lost their Game 6 bout with the Cleveland Cavaliers, 113-87, which ends their season. I’m joined by Daniel Hackett to talk about the game, Kyle Lowry’s heroics, the crowd, and what we can expect to see in the off-season.
Cavaliers 113 – Raptors 87: dream deferred | Raptors Rapture
Dwane Casey’s biggest weakness as a coach could be viewed by some as a strength. He sticks with those players who’ve won for him in the past, even if their present play is disappointing. His second-biggest is his almost mystical belief in defense as the curer of all ills. Defending a juggernaut like Cleveland is Mission: Impossible; you must outscore them, a mental leap he never made.
Luis Scola started again, for no reason anyone can think of. After his usual contribution of zeros, he was pulled. Five minutes of nothingness.
The Raptors needed to make shots, and the Cavaliers were giving them every opportunity. 2-Pat had open looks, but came up empty. Cleveland was gang-rebounding so the Raptors were frequently one and done.
Terrence Ross had an open corner-3, and clanked it. Shortly after, he was yanked in favour of DeMar DeRozan. TRoss had less floor time than Scola in the first half.
There’s little sense of loss in this series from a Raptors perspective. The Cavaliers are a comprehensively superior team, and will give the Western winner a mighty tussle for the NBA title.
Masai Ujiri never promised the fans anything this year, yet delivered a remarkable team which did the city proud. Here at the Rapture, we join with you, our Nation, in saying congratulations to the Toronto Raptors on a brilliant season, the best ever.
The correct road travelled got the Raptors to this point | Toronto Star
I know Masai toyed with the idea of blowing it up further way back in the day and who knows what would have happened had he convinced the Knicks to take Lowry in that eventually-aborted trade.
But he also saw something that made him pull back from the total decimation of the roster on the off chance there would be some lottery miracle. He could have moved anyone if he really, really, really wanted to, he could have basically given Lowry and/or DeRozan away shortly after the Rudy Gay trade and I know there were all kinds of proponents of doing just that.
He knew, somehow, that the core he had assembled might be able to grow into something and he took a step back from the blowing up process.
It has led to a sustained stretch of success, and incremental improvement, that is basically unrivalled in franchise history.
The Vince Ere team was more a lightning bolt than this one and it burned out far more quickly.
This has been a lot of fun for fans, I would suspect. Year after year of good teams and good games and good success and it came without the pain of bottoming out, a pain that would have taken so long to go away that I bet more than a few “fans” would have fled.
As we said, this might be the last game of the year here, it might be the last game of the season or it might not.
Whatever it is, it’s been fun, as has the ride and its genesis was a decision to do the right thing.
Talks on contract extension on tap for Dwane Casey of Toronto Raptors | ESPN
Casey has one season left on his current contract at the Raptors’ option for $4 million next season.
If talks progress as expected, Casey should land a new deal in circumstances not unlike Portland’s Terry Stotts.
Leo Rautins, Toronto treasure, is living lifelong dream as Raptors broadcaster | syracuse.com
He grew up maybe three miles west of the ACC, where he now broadcasts NBA basketball games. They called him “the Kid from Keele Street,” the electric basketball prodigy who would go on to play major college basketball at SU and become the first player from Canada selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. For Rautins, a Toronto treasure, witnessing the Raptors’ NBA rise occupies a significant hold on his heart. That he can experience it so intimately sweetens his joy.
“What I’m doing is the next best thing to playing. If you love what you do, you’re not working,” he said. “So I haven’t worked. Ever. Since coming out of college, I haven’t worked. At all. Everything I do is what I want to do and is fun for me. It’s great.”
He plotted this course of employment in ninth grade at Toronto’s St. Michael’s College School, when he realized numbers so terrified him he needed to find a career that did not depend on their computation. His guidance counselor/basketball coach, upon hearing Rautins’ desire to write and relate to people, suggested journalism.
“We used to do NBA games and John Saunders, he knows how bad I am with numbers. He’d say, ‘How much did that lead change, Leo?’,” Rautins said. “And I’d say, ‘Uh, well, significantly.'”
His basketball career, so tattered by numerous, onerous knee surgeries, provided a path to practice sports journalism. A Newhouse professor once told him resumes meant more than diplomas, resonant advice that shaped how Rautins approached his career aspirations. If surgery sidelined him, he sought out radio opportunities, or pursued publications. He wrote for an Italian newspaper during his overseas pro career, composed a column for the Syracuse Newspapers. He dabbled in TV. In France in 1992, his playing career finally and fatally debilitated by “my 18th surgery or whatever,” he downed a few beers, woke up the next morning, called contacts in Syracuse and landed a job broadcasting Orange games for a local Fox affiliate.
Did I miss something? Send me any Raptors-related article/video to rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
