George Karl: Casey 'one of the best coaches' in NBA

[raptors999]

Our starters typically outplay other starters. Our bench typically outplays other benches. But our bench does not typically outplay other team's starters.

If the opposition's starters are playing 36 minutes, ours should too. We can't be going long stretches giving up that much talent when teams shorten their rotations. Perhaps a slightly longer bench than other teams, but not on the order of 20 MPG like we've seen in the regular season.

Joe Johnson and Plumlee played 38 min on a B2B and would have played 40 if the game were closer. Nobody on the Raptors pushed 32. Melo, Lebron all played 40. Our bench stretches team but in the playoffs there are no B2B and players play 40 minutes.

[DanH]

Joe Johnson and Plumlee played 38 min on a B2B and would have played 40 if the game were closer. Nobody on the Raptors pushed 32. Melo, Lebron all played 40. Our bench stretches team but in the playoffs there are no B2B and players play 40 minutes.

Yeah, and the Nets suck and we lost to CLE twice in a row. Solid point.

[MixxAOR]

if Casey plays our starters 40 minutes Thibs style by the time playoffs come they'll be exhausted

[DanH]

if Casey plays our starters 40 minutes Thibs style by the time playoffs come they'll be exhausted

Of course. You only tighten the rotation IN the playoffs.

[Mediumcore]

Our starters typically outplay other starters. Our bench typically outplays other benches. But our bench does not typically outplay other team's starters.

If the opposition's starters are playing 36 minutes, ours should too. We can't be going long stretches giving up that much talent when teams shorten their rotations. Perhaps a slightly longer bench than other teams, but not on the order of 20 MPG like we've seen in the regular season.

Wearing down their starters with our bench, so that our starters come in the fourth and out play their starters could be a strategy in itself. We do have some noteriety as being a strong team in specifically the fourth quarter. There are factors at play which creates those results and this seems like a logical one.

[Nilanka]

Also depends on who our matchup is. If Celtics somehow manage to finish 8th, I would have no problem with our bench playing 20mpg

[SamMitchells]

As much as I dislike the isolation basketball we see so often with the raptors and as much as I dislike Dwayne Casey's approach on offense.. I got to give him credit for the chemistry he's brought to this team, the fact that everyone "buys in" is huge.
It really seems like all our players are happy to be here and happy with the whole situation, even our bench are proud to be bench players just so long as the team is successful. God alone knows where we would be if DD didn't get injured , it's quite possibly we wouldn't have lost vs Cleveland and LAL...

Mind you , the players don't seem to have a problem with the offense like we online critics do. In fact I remember DD saying " coach lets us do what we want on offense " and he seemed glad about that..
Personally I agree with the many others who are critical about this play style and how it's much tougher against strong defensive teams (remember Chicago?)
At least the guys are happy and FACE IT, we won't win a chip with this group/coach but the development / culture / respect around the league ( and officials ) that is being made can only be better for us in the years to come.. Who knows , maybe a super-superstar player or coach will be aquired and it will be enough to take us to that next level...

[Reboc]

Dwane Casey is a legend.

[Mediumcore]

Worried that Toronto is winning due to depth over anything else. Toronto can play good for 48 straight minutes. The bench depth really puts pressure on teams to play almost playoff style basketball. When benches shorten in the playoffs does Casey follow or do what the Spurs do and ride the team depth. If Lowry and Co. play 40 min in the playoff we lose.

The thing I go back to is that we have a deep team and it's a strength which should be utilized. But we don't necessarily have a talented team. Compare our roster to any other playoff team and outside of Lowry, whom really stands out as a player that on any given night can be the best player on the court? Maybe DD, but I'm still on sold on how legit he is because I don't think I've ever seen him dominate a match up against another good SG or SF.

I feel like Casey is doing a great job with the talent and depth at his disposal against young, inexperienced teams that may have more talent than ours as well as against teams which aren't as talented as ours. He's also led us to wins against a few teams like Atlanta whom you could argue have equal or better talent than us. Wizards as well. He's been consistent with his coaching and it's been working. If we lose to teams like Clevland or Dallas, it's not because he's a bad coach. It's because they have really good players. I think people get carried away with our wins and for some reason think we are on an equal standing with the upper tier of the NBA. Nothing has changed, elite talent still trumps all in the NBA (unless you are the D. Howard Lakers...what a hot mess that was)

[stooley]

Depth is a good thing for the playoffs I think. It provides two benefits:

1. We can play the hot hand on a given night.

2. We can put different looks on the floor which can get an opponent out of his groove or mess up his timing (like throwing Landry at Joe Johnson for three quarters and then putting James Johnson on him and forcing him to adapt).

[3inthekeon]

Whatever...this is nice and all, but has anyone ever seen an NBA coach throw another NBA coach under the bus? It's a big lovefest between NBA coaches. Don't know if I've ever seen a coach do anything but praise another, no matter how bad a job they were doing.

True. And it's not just confined to NBA coaches. Last night, Jack mentioned Hollins' dismissal from Memphis

Hollins had an acrimonious relationship with some members of management, especially Hollinger after the Gay trade, including an incident where he screamed at Hollinger to leave the court in front of his players at practice.

According to Jack, Holllins was let go because Memphis wanted to play a more uptempo style , but then they ended up going back to the grind it out style Hollins had used. And of course, no mention of the rift with management.

[special1]

Guys .....Toronto just won 34 straight games at home when leading after 3 quarters. We're 17-1 this year when leading after 3 quarters. Our record is 20-6 and played 10 games without our lone all-star last year. We're freaking 62-28 since trading Rudy Gay and hold the East's best record over that span. Give Dwayne Casey some fucking credit!

Casey motivates his players better than any other coach we've ever had and better than most coaches around the league.....just look at our talent level compared to other teams and be honest. We have Lowry, Derozan, JV and a bunch of role players (very good role players who accept their roles i should mention). We took a very good Brooklyn team last year and came within 1 point in a game 7 loss *with T Ross and John Salmons looking like absolute shit.* We had/have one of the best offenses and defenses with sophomores and now 3rd year players in the starting lineup.

Casey IS one of the best coaches in the NBA! There's no more debate for me. *drops mic*

[Chr1s1anL]

Guys .....Toronto just won 34 straight games at home when leading after 3 quarters. We're 17-1 this year when leading after 3 quarters. Our record is 20-6 and played 10 games without our lone all-star last year. We're freaking 52-24 since trading Rudy Gay and hold the East's best record over that span. Give Dwayne Casey some fucking credit!

Casey motivates his players better than any other coach we've ever had and better than most coaches around the league.....just look at our talent level compared to other teams and be honest. We have Lowry, Derozan, JV and a bunch of role players (very good role players who accept their roles i should mention). We took a very good Brooklyn team last year and came within 1 point in a game 7 loss *with T Ross and John Salmons looking like absolute shit.* We had/have one of the best offenses and defenses with sophomores and now 3rd year players in the starting lineup.

Casey IS one of the best coaches in the NBA! There's no more debate for me. *drops mic*

+1,000,000

[Bonus Jonas]

Guys .....Toronto just won 34 straight games at home when leading after 3 quarters. We're 17-1 this year when leading after 3 quarters. Our record is 20-6 and played 10 games without our lone all-star last year. We're freaking 52-24 since trading Rudy Gay and hold the East's best record over that span. Give Dwayne Casey some fucking credit!

Casey motivates his players better than any other coach we've ever had and better than most coaches around the league.....just look at our talent level compared to other teams and be honest. We have Lowry, Derozan, JV and a bunch of role players (very good role players who accept their roles i should mention). We took a very good Brooklyn team last year and came within 1 point in a game 7 loss *with T Ross and John Salmons looking like absolute shit.* We had/have one of the best offenses and defenses with sophomores and now 3rd year players in the starting lineup.

Casey IS one of the best coaches in the NBA! There's no more debate for me. *drops mic*

We're 62-28 since the Rudy Gay trade, not including the playoffs.

[stooley]

Raptors are overachieving.

I think that pretty much sums it up.