Everything Dwane Casey

[DanH]

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

Casey is average at best, ridiculously bad at worst.

Casey has average tendencies, and ridiculously bad tendencies. But he also has very good tendencies. All in all he grades out above average, I would think. Not elite, not a game changing coach. But solid.

Pisses me off to no end because the weak spots in his coaching are so obvious and easy to fix. Don't let fury over obvious mistakes confuse the big picture accomplishments though. No one thought 56 wins. No one thought conference finals, let along taking two wins. No one.

[KHD]

Casey has average tendencies, and ridiculously bad tendencies. But he also has very good tendencies. All in all he grades out above average, I would think. Not elite, not a game changing coach. But solid.

Pisses me off to no end because the weak spots in his coaching are so obvious and easy to fix. Don't let fury over obvious mistakes confuse the big picture accomplishments though. No one thought 56 wins. No one thought conference finals, let along taking two wins. No one.

i don't have fury about it.

Based on the situation they were in, conference finals was pretty much a requirement, was it not? They played a terrible 1st round opponent to seven games because of horrible play from their all stars and a lack of adjustment. Then they lucked out against the injured miami team.

Taking 2 off cleveland was nice although it wasn't as though they actually did anything different, lowry and derozan just happened to be hot, cavs shooters happened to not, and they got a ridiculous performance from biyombo.

At what point does reality intrude? Is there any stage that could be reached where you are willing to concede you are wrong on this or would the goal posts keep moving?

in what way have the goalposts ever moved? Casey does stupid things that he's been doing for years. I don't think he's a particularly good coach.

Casey is Mark Jackson without the weird religious rants. I'd rather have our steve kerr analogue.

[Cody73]

I'm glad Rex is staying. I hope Greer and Nurse do too, as both are also getting HC interest.

[Chr1s1anL]

Some people are just going to hate no matter the sucess. We could get to the Finals next year but, same people will still be saying that he's a bad coach. Haters gon hate.

[Gambino]

I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but it seems like not a single black coach has a reputation for being smart or intelligent, seems like they only ever get credit for relating to players or getting them to work hard.

Irks me a little bit, but maybe it's just coincidental.

[DanH]

Based on the situation they were in, conference finals was pretty much a requirement, was it not? They played a terrible 1st round opponent to seven games because of horrible play from their all stars and a lack of adjustment. Then they lucked out against the injured miami team.

Taking 2 off cleveland was nice although it wasn't as though they actually did anything different, lowry and derozan just happened to be hot, cavs shooters happened to not, and they got a ridiculous performance from biyombo.

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.

[DanH]

I'm glad Rex is staying. I hope Greer and Nurse do too, as both are also getting HC interest.

I don't think either are getting HC interest, not anything I've seen reported anyway. More being poached for other staffs.

[Gambino]

It's crazy how the goalposts have shifted now that the season ended. Every projection I saw at the start of the season from any respectable site had the Raptors winning around 45 games, getting a bottom 4 seed and going out in round 1.

But all of a sudden 56 regular season wins and 10 playoff wins were the expectation.

[Gambino]

I don't think either are getting HC interest, not anything I've seen reported anyway. More being poached for other staffs.

Not sure if Nurse was in some rumors, but ESPN gave him a shoutout for HC candidates like 2 months ago http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15...s-watch-summer

[DanH]

It's crazy how the goalposts have shifted now that the season ended. Every projection I saw at the start of the season from any respectable site had the Raptors winning around 45 games, getting a bottom 4 seed and going out in round 1.

But all of a sudden 56 regular season wins and 10 playoff wins were the expectation.

Well, to be fair, some of us though about 50 wins and a playoff round were the expectation.

We can make the point that 56 and ECF were exceeding expectations without ignoring that there were indeed a range of expectations.

[DanH]

Not sure if Nurse was in some rumors, but ESPN gave him a shoutout for HC candidates like 2 months ago http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15...s-watch-summer

Sure. But actual teams actually interviewing them? Not a whisper.

[Gambino]

Well, to be fair, some of us though about 50 wins and a playoff round were the expectation.

We can make the point that 56 and ECF were exceeding expectations without ignoring that there were indeed a range of expectations.

I said around 45, most sites I saw had the Raps at anywhere from like .500 to 50 wins. I guess I should've said 41-50 range, but 50 was definitely on the higher end of most estimates.

[Bendit]

I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but it seems like not a single black coach has a reputation for being smart or intelligent, seems like they only ever get credit for relating to players or getting them to work hard.

Irks me a little bit, but maybe it's just coincidental.

Oh I dont know....just off the top...KC Jones & Paul Silas of the Celtics weren't thought of that way I dont think. Bernie Bickerstaff was a long time coach as was Lenny Wilkens (who I dont think was very good...but then again he coached in TO too ...lol). Lately Nate McMillan I always felt was pretty good and just got the job with the Pacers after quite a wait which was surprising. Of course there is Rivers...no one ever called him dumb.

[Chr1s1anL]

Casey says team needs more defensive toughness and shooting

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

[OldSkoolCool]

Casey says team needs more defensive toughness and shooting

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

Two terms not analogous with DeMar Derozan