Things could get interesting over the Toronto’s final 20 regular season games as Dwane Casey is on the hot seat.
Toronto has a firm grasp on the Atlantic Division and as such have a lock on home court in the first round in the playoffs. While winning back-to-back division titles looks great on paper, the reality is the distinction doesn’t mean much and is like spraying cologne in a garbage can in a lacklustre attempt to mask the pungent scent.
The Raptors are stuck in a huge funk after starting the season 24-7. The team is just 14-18 in 2015 after enjoying the best record in the Eastern Conference on December 31.
Toronto finds themselves mired in a nasty 1-9 skid and the schedule doesn’t show any signs of letting up and giving the team a chance at a couple of easy wins. But it’s not like Toronto has taken advantage of “easy” games recently as they have had some tough losses in 2015 against the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and the Charlotte Hornets.
Yes, the same Knicks team that is currently trying to secure as many ping pong balls as they can for the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery and will likely finish with the worst record in the NBA this season.
Toronto also had tough losses at home to Cleveland and on the road in Oklahoma City already this month.
Getting crushed by the San Antonio Spurs earlier this week didn’t give fans warm fuzzies, either.
Casey admitted last week that he will spend the final 20-something regular season games tinkering with his starting line-up, rotations and adding some new plays.
“We have been throwing in some plays and some sets,” Casey admitted to the media last week before a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Patrick (Patterson) starting the other night was a semi-experiment. We are going to do some other things. We still got to get our zone in for those situations you may see some of that. The hard thing right now is that there is very little practice time so that time you use in the game is part of your practice. I hate to minimize games like that, but it’s kind of what it is. We are going to be doing some other things like that. At the same time, we want to win. We aren’t going to dismiss that at all. At the end of the day, we want to compete to win, but the number one thing is to try new things and try to get better.”
Hearing a coach admit that he’s tinkering with playing rotations, starting lineups and adding new plays in the stretch run of a playoff push is the equivalent of waiving a white flag and throwing the towel in on the season.
Casey is admitting that there’s something seriously wrong with the team, but ever more worrisome, he’s also admitting he has no clue what’s wrong and how to fix it. That’s a huge red flag for Masai Ujiri, the rest of the front office, and, more importantly this season, to the players in Toronto’s locker room.
Casey’s right that the final 20 or so games of the season are meaningless because Toronto essentially has the Atlantic Division locked up and with that, home court in the first round.
There’s also merit in facing the Atlanta Hawks in the second round as they’ve beat that team twice this season.
But when a coach admits in a roundabout kind of way that he’s unable to put a patch on the dam that’s about to burst it puts a huge target on a his back.
When you throw into the mix that only the following season of Casey’s contract is guaranteed – the third season is a team option – and it makes firing Casey this summer an easy option if Toronto flames out in the first round of the playoffs.
The fact Casey is a holdover from Bryan Colangelo’s tenure means that Ujiri won’t have as much loyalty to him as he would to a coach he had personally hired.
Toronto’s one hope in the first round might be facing the Washington Wizards who are slumping right now too and don’t appear to have any answers either.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Toronto’s final 20 games play out and what happens in the playoffs. If the Raptors flame out in the first round then Casey could find himself on hot seat.
