Casey's Coaching Conundrum

[connected]

It seems the biggest quarrel people have with Casey this season is his use of JV but here is a look at the other side of the coin.

Limited minutes = keeping JV Fresh

As long as we make the playoffs whether it's 1st-5th Casey has done his job. Just as long as we don't have to face the Bulls, Hawks or Cavs. So, if lose a game or two over JVs limited minutes just think of it as keeping him fresh and spry for the playoffs.

At 200 minutes last year JV had the 3rd most playing time during the playoffs behind DeMar and Lowry.

Learning vs Confidence

JV is still has a ton to learn to be on par with the best Cs in the NBA. Sure getting yanked out of a game doesn't help with his confidence especially his panicked decision making when double teamed. However, JV is the future of the franchise not the current. We don't have to put undue pressure on him to perform at such a young age when we can feed PP or Amir more touches.

Potential Financial Savings

This one may be a stretch but could be huge for the Raptors. At such limited minutes JV won't get an allstar nod or the league wide recognition he deserves. If this continues to next year that could be extending JV at 10mil a year vs a max contract. Look at what the contracts of Curry and Nowitzki (max value players at a lower pay scale) have meant for their respective teams.

And it's not if JV will be a allstar but when and how many times over.


So let's judge Casey on his playoff execution rather than the regular season and at that point we can gather the pitchforks and Mark-Jackson-him at that point.



No, I can't defend Casey and his love for Lou's hero ball antics


Also just to tag this onto here -- Raptor Conspiracy Theory -- is it conceivable that DeRozan could be the linchpin to the Raptors defense? We've fallen into the bottom 10 in defensive rating since he's been out.

[Scraptor]

I think you can spin it any way you want, but the fact of the matter is we have a guy who's 10th in the league in ORating and 11th in the league in total rebounding percentage, and has steadily improved his rim defense, yet he's playing fewer minutes and taking fewer shots than he did last year.

If limiting minutes for young players was an effective strategy then you'd see it used more often. But you learn from experience. So young players get plenty of minutes until they learn and adapt.

There is a time value to a player; each contract is a wasting asset. Delaying development is simply wasting an asset. You want to bring forward a player's peak, not delay it into the future. If that costs you more, that's a good thing.

As for judging Casey on his playoff execution, he drew up the final play of game 7 for the wrong side of the floor, and our out-of-timeout playcalling has often been laughably bad, so I think the onus is on him to prove that he is a next-level coach.

[DogeLover1234]

Im not sure why they would rest the young JV instead of Amir. In a game like last night, when they get down by 20 i dont see why you keep him out, If its close and you think Amir+PPat is better than im fine with that, but once there is a considerable lead, why not give him some minutes, at least to see how he would do against GS and similar teams in the future.

[Raptorsnz]

I think it's incredibly stupid that every single time Casey goes small everyone says we're matching up to the other team instead of forcing them to match us by playing JV. This goes back to what Doc Rivers said about our team being a mirage, where it looks like we're a big and physical team but we actually run teams out of the building with our guard play. When Casey goes small I don't see it as matching up with the other team, I see it as using our best line ups to win the game at that moment. Obviously it doesn't help JV's development but I just think us going small ball works effectively to win games, and our record shows that.

[caccia]

This goes back to what Doc Rivers said about our team being a mirage, where it looks like we're a big and physical team but we actually run teams out of the building with our guard play. When Casey goes small I don't see it as matching up with the other team, I see it as using our best line ups to win the game at that moment.

I think Coach Casey has been smart by using his team's depth & versatility to win in different ways against different teams. Writers note how a different guy seems to step up in wins, but that is partly because the team can playing winning basketball in a variety of ways, with the side effect that a number of players--not just Lowry and DeRozan--have the chance to star.

I especially like what Lowry said the other day: the team tries to ensure that every player has a chance to be successful.

[Reboc]

I feel like JV has improved throughout the season so far.