#FireCasey

[RandomGuy]

i'm not trying to come off all doom and gloom but unless key players (Ross, PP, GV, DD, JV, Lou, Lowry) start playing much better this is a first round exit team

you said they should adapt right here, that they should start playing much better even if they are limited by the flawed system. Casey should step up his game first. You can't really expect that from them, it's one of the rare occasions when the scapegoat is obvious and it's our coaching staff.

[Primer]

I feel like its 90% chance we get the 4 seed this year. No one in our division is going to catch us, Brooklyn is 10 games back and playing even worse than we are. To nab the 2 or 3 seed, we have to outplay Chicago and Washington for the second half of the season. Considering we just went 3-7 over our last 10, and have barely scrapped by those 3 wins against not so good teams, I don't see us catching Chicago or Washington. The 5 seed is looking like it will be Cleveland (who might have a better record than us by the end of the season). Does anyone think we beat Cleveland in the 1st round of the playoffs? Keep in mind, the refs will basically be playing for Cleveland in that series. More Lebron in the playoffs equals more money for the NBA.

My point is our early season play has locked us in as division champ no matter how bad we play. Unfortunately that probably makes it very difficult to fire Casey during the season. I've gone from hoping for ECF, to hoping JV gets more minutes and touches so he's ready to dominate for our next coach.

[stooley]

So many people here seem less interested in figuring out what's going on and more interested in shouting opinions at each other.

It's just assumed as fact that "Casey's defensive system doesn't fit the personnel".

Could it be that the players are still learning the system? And that, rather than the players being incapable of executing this type of system, they are indecisive and making poor choices?

[S.R.]

I feel like its 90% chance we get the 4 seed this year. No one in our division is going to catch us, Brooklyn is 10 games back and playing even worse than we are. To nab the 2 or 3 seed, we have to outplay Chicago and Washington for the second half of the season. Considering we just went 3-7 over our last 10, and have barely scrapped by those 3 wins against not so good teams, I don't see us catching Chicago or Washington. The 5 seed is looking like it will be Cleveland (who might have a better record than us by the end of the season). Does anyone think we beat Cleveland in the 1st round of the playoffs? Keep in mind, the refs will basically be playing for Cleveland in that series. More Lebron in the playoffs equals more money for the NBA.

My point is our early season play has locked us in as division champ no matter how bad we play. Unfortunately that probably makes it very difficult to fire Casey during the season. I've gone from hoping for ECF, to hoping JV gets more minutes and touches so he's ready to dominate for our next coach.

A Cleveland matchup will still depend on whether or not the Raptors manage to right at least some of the current wrongs, and if Cleveland figures anything out or if that situation continues to deteriorate. Honestly, they're making mid-season panic trades already - obviously there's no Pat Riley running the show, and Blatt doesn't look like he's on Spo's level. Just a lot more general incompetence in Cleveland than in Miami, and that makes me skeptical about them "figuring it out". It's mid-January, and they just sat Kevin Love for an entire fourth quarter in order to try and win a game (!). That's a bad situation - they never sat Wade or Bosh in Miami. There's serious fit problems there with Kyrie and LeBron both being at their best with the ball and Love's evident lopsided strengths/weaknesses as a player.

That said, just LeBron and the refs can definitely win a first round series. Also, if the Raps continue to play like hot garbage I don't think they deserve a second round appearance either.

[Letter N]

Could it be that the players are still learning the system? And that, rather than the players being incapable of executing this type of system, they are indecisive and making poor choices?

Everyone other than JJ has been on this team for at least 2 years now, if they don't know it by now they're not ever gonna know it. It's a defensive scheme, not quantum physics.

[MixxAOR]

you said they should adapt right here, that they should start playing much better even if they are limited by the flawed system. Casey should step up his game first. You can't really expect that from them, it's one of the rare occasions when the scapegoat is obvious and it's our coaching staff.

Relax. He basically said we're not winning the first round unless the unlikely happens

[S.R.]

So many people here seem less interested in figuring out what's going on and more interested in shouting opinions at each other.

It's just assumed as fact that "Casey's defensive system doesn't fit the personnel".

Could it be that the players are still learning the system? And that, rather than the players being incapable of executing this type of system, they are indecisive and making poor choices?

I'm not at the top of the Casey critics list, but I think that's actually a really good point. They need a system that allows JV to be Roy Hibbert instead of asking him to be Tyson Chandler. JV and Amir have actually put up really good rim protection numbers together, but I'm tired of seeing JV benchings while guards dominate the ball and FGA while putting up horrible shooting numbers. JV is showing himself not only to be a core future piece, he's one of the most impactful players right now. More and more outside observers are starting to ask why that guy isn't getting more burn.

[RandomGuy]

So many people here seem less interested in figuring out what's going on and more interested in shouting opinions at each other.

It's just assumed as fact that "Casey's defensive system doesn't fit the personnel".

Could it be that the players are still learning the system? And that, rather than the players being incapable of executing this type of system, they are indecisive and making poor choices?

then those players should be benched accordingly after poor plays, sadly we see double standarts. If he would bench them accordingly and wouldn't have different size of leashes then it would be much more obvious to most of the fans out here.

[ceez]

you said they should adapt right here, that they should start playing much better even if they are limited by the flawed system. Casey should step up his game first. You can't really expect that from them, it's one of the rare occasions when the scapegoat is obvious and it's our coaching staff.

I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT ADAPTING

i said they need to play better. like last year. swing the ball around more. play with more intensity, like you give a shit.

[RandomGuy]

I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT ADAPTING

i said they need to play better. like last year. swing the ball around more. play with more intensity, like you give a shit.

like chillout, it's fine. I may have misinterpreted you.

[3inthekeon]

This thread is as much a look at the human psyche as it is about Casey.

The same people who are calling/implying Casey is some incompetent fool are the same people who were saying that last year.

Summer rolled around and Casey was rehired. For the most part, these people were shocked i.e. My assessment of Casey can't be wrong so there must be some other reason than being able to competently coach.

That's when excuses were invented,

Excusae 1. Some people stuck to their guns and simply believed Masai was not very smart either, Certainly not as smart as they were about coaching NBA basketball..

Excuse 2. Continuity, as if a competent GM would rehire a totally incompetent coach, because the team had minimal success the year prior.

Excuse 3. Signing Casey was simply done to resign our FA's. Which assumes Lowry, Vasquez and Patterson are so stupid, they can't tell their coach is an absolute idiot who will lead them nowhere even though they spend more time with him than their families.

Now some have pointed out the 2 yr+ deal wasn't a ringing endorsement. That part I'm sure is true. That is the sort of deal an OK, definitely not a great or even really good NBA coach would receive. Casey may be fired at any time without a large cost to the organization, and he may well be - or he may not. Masai deals with him. I'm guessing pretty well on a daily basis. If there are the massive fundamental flaws in his coaching some suggest, Masai would see these and either have Casey change or hire someone else. He hasn't yet.

As far as the human psyche, people, especially demonstrative people, have self confidence about their abilities, whether merited or not. Because they are successful at some things, they believe they are experts at other things, even though they are absolutely incompetent at some of those other things. Doesn't mean they're wrong about whether Casey should be fired, because Masai at some point might feel it necessary. But he's the one person who does have the facts and knowledge to actually make an informed decision.

[Primer]

I'd be fine with JV getting benched if it improved the defense or resulted in wins. It doesn't seem to do either. It usually results in the game getting away from us and someone going into full on hero ball.
We have much better players than Milwaukee, and much more continuity than Milwaukee, yet we barely beat them. Anyone doubt the talent disparity, Milwaukee starts a guy named Johnny O'Bryant. Has anyone ever even heard of him? They also start Khris Middleton. That's two starters who would likely be in the NBDL if they were on a different team.
Kidd drew up a nice play at the end of the game to get Milwaukee a wide open 3, and the Raptors were lucky it didn't go in. I'm not confident we beat Milwaukee in a 7 game series, and that's really really not good.

[Letter N]

3intheKeon, that sure was a lot of words to say nothing.

[Primer]

This thread is as much a look at the human psyche as it is about Casey.

The same people who are calling/implying Casey is some incompetent fool are the same people who were saying that last year.

Summer rolled around and Casey was rehired. For the most part, these people were shocked i.e. My assessment of Casey can't be wrong so there must be some other reason than being able to competently coach.

That's when excuses were invented,

Excusae 1. Some people stuck to their guns and simply believed Masai was not very smart either, Certainly not as smart as they were about coaching NBA basketball..

Excuse 2. Continuity, as if a competent GM would rehire a totally incompetent coach, because the team had minimal success the year prior.

Excuse 3. Signing Casey was simply done to resign our FA's. Which assumes Lowry, Vasquez and Patterson are so stupid, they can't tell their coach is an absolute idiot who will lead them nowhere even though they spend more time with him than their families.

Now some have pointed out the 2 yr+ deal wasn't a ringing endorsement. That part I'm sure is true. That is the sort of deal an OK, definitely not a great or even really good NBA coach would receive. Casey may be fired at any time without a large cost to the organization, and he may well be - or he may not. Masai deals with him. I'm guessing pretty well on a daily basis. If there are the massive fundamental flaws in his coaching some suggest, Masai would see these and either have Casey change or hire someone else. He hasn't yet.

As far as the human psyche, people, especially demonstrative people, have self confidence about their abilities, whether merited or not. Because they are successful at some things, they believe they are experts at other things, even though they are absolutely incompetent at some of those other things. Doesn't mean they're wrong about whether Casey should be fired, because Masai at some point might feel it necessary. But he's the one person who does have the facts and knowledge to actually make an informed decision.

I think the Raptors making the playoffs after such a long drought, and the explosion of fanhood around Canada that happened as a result, tied Masai's hands and made it impossible to replace Casey. The contract he gave Casey basically spells that out (what other coach has been given a 2 year deal recently?). Casey needed to show some improvement this year to solidify his job, and he was on track to start the year, but the wheels are falling off. At this rate we won't improve on last years win total, and in an even more dysfunctional East where our entire division is tanking other than us, that looks pretty damn bad.

[Mediumcore]

But what were you expecting for Casey to do? It's been said before (including from myself) he isn't a coach that is going to win for you in the playoffs. He's not a great tactician or inventive with play calling. He's a great defensive coach that is here to teach good solid fundamentals and create a system. Just because fans are getting all Bryan Colangelo around here and want to see us make the ECF doesn't mean that the team is ready for that. Look at our roster top to bottom and tell me we have a contender? Tell me the guy we are pinning our hopes on (JV) is ready to to be a star. We don't and he isn't, and if you think DD and Lowry are good enough to make us contenders you haven't watched any basketball other than Raptors basket ball.

When this team is ready and has a roster which can contend then call for Casey's firing, but right now he's doing an excellent job with getting this team to where it needs to get to.